NS&I Premium Bond Payout Rates Cut
Published / Last Updated on 25/02/2026
National Savings and Investments (NS&I) has confirmed that its headline prize fun payout rate for premium bonds will be cut by 0.3% to 3.30% from April 1st (Fools Day).
This means that the odds to win various prize levels will sit at:
|
Odds of Win |
1:23000 |
|||
|
Prize Rate |
3.300000% |
£50,000 Invested, % Chance of Winning in Each Monthly Draw |
Approx Wins Per Annum |
Max Est. Time Needed to Guarantee Jackpot Win |
|
£1,000,000 |
0.000034% |
0.000074% |
8.86957E-06 |
1 win every 113,000 years |
|
£100,000 |
0.001195% |
0.002598% |
0.000311739 |
1 win every 3,207 years |
|
£50,000 |
0.002406% |
0.005230% |
0.000627652 |
1 win every 1,593 years |
|
£25,000 |
0.004779% |
0.010389% |
0.001246696 |
1 win every 802 years |
|
£10,000 |
0.011980% |
0.026043% |
0.003125217 |
1 win every 320 years |
|
£5,000 |
0.023961% |
0.052089% |
0.006250696 |
1 win every 160 years |
|
£1,000 |
0.252985% |
0.549967% |
0.065996087 |
1 win every 15 years |
|
£500 |
0.758956% |
1.649904% |
0.197988522 |
1 win every 5 years |
|
£100 |
25.854336% |
56.205078% |
6.74 |
Over 6 wins per year |
|
£50 |
25.864336% |
56.226817% |
6.75 |
Over 6 wins per year |
Comment
As you can see, for a little bit of fun, we worked out that to guarantee a jackpot win whilst holding the maximum £50,000 in premium bonds, you may need to wait 113,000 years!
This means you should not focus on the jackpot; you should always consider whether NS&I is the right investment choice for you:
- Secure, your money is underwritten and protected by the UK Government.
- Tax free pay outs i.e., think of this as tax free interest.
- If you hold £50,000, the odds are you should win around 13.5 times per year split between the £50 and £100 prizes. That’s approximately £1,011.50 pa tax free ‘interest’. A real return of 2.02% tax free. The equivalent of 2.52% for a basic rate taxpayer and 3.37% for a higher rate taxpayer.
- That’s as good as, if not better than many bank and building society deposit savings schemes plus the chance of winning bigger every 5-15 years to boost your return.