April has rolled around, and today, the government-backed savings bank National Savings and Investments (NS&I) has revealed the results of this month’s Premium Bonds prize draw. This month, the prize fund was in excess of £100million.

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The total number of prizes in April is more than 3.5million.

There were 86,430,926,941 eligible Bonds for the draw, NS&I has revealed.

The results include two jackpot prizes meaning two Premium Bonds holders are getting payouts of £1million.

There was also six winners of a £100,000 prize each, and 12 people have been selected for a £50,000 prize.

There are a number of ways to check for if one has won Premium Bonds prizes, and this includes via the NS&I website and its prize checker app.

Amid the coronavirus crisis, NS&I is urging Premium Bonds customers not to call NS&I to check to see if they have won.

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The savings bank has said that customers should only call if they absolutely have to, allowing them to keep the phone lines clear for customers who don’t have online access or have an urgent need to speak to NS&I.

With Premium Bonds, rather than getting a regular income or guaranteed returns on the holder’s savings, those who have them are in with the chance to win tax-free money in the monthly “prize draw”.

Currently the annual prize fund interest rate is 1.40 percent, and the odds of winning for each £1 Bond number is 24,500 to one.

However, changes which were announced back in Febraury this year will come into effect next month, from May 2020.

It came interest rates on a number of NS&I savings products were cut.

This includes the Premium Bonds annual prize fund interest rate dropping by 10 basis points to 1.3 percent, effective from May 1, 2020.

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As such, this will affect the odds of any £1 Bond number winning any prize, which will decrease to 26,000 to one from May 1, 2020.

Ian Ackerley, NS&I Chief Executive, said in February: “Reducing interest rates is always a difficult decision. We need to ensure our interest rates are set at an appropriate position against those of our competitors.

“These changes reflect NS&I’s requirement to strike a balance between the needs of our savers with taxpayers and the stability of the broader financial services sector.

“We believe our new rates offer our customers a fair return and the assurance of the 100 percent HM Treasury guarantee on all their holdings with NS&I.”

NS&I has released estimates about the number of prizes available in May 2020.

The savings bank has said it expects there to be two £1million jackpot winners, and five winners of the £100,000 prize.

In both February and March this year, six people have won payouts of this value in the Premium Bonds prize draw.

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