NS&I and Premium Bonds

NS&I (National Savings and Investments) is part of government. Money with NS&I is 100% backed by HM Treasury, with no limit, so the FSCS and its £120,000 limit don't apply. Our FSCS planner shows NS&I money separately and never adds it to a bank's total.

NS&I accounts that pay interest

Every NS&I account we list, highest AER first. In our search and best-buy tables they sit alongside banks' accounts, ranked by AER in the same way.

#	Account	AER	Access	Min to open	Manage by
1	NS&I Guaranteed Growth Bonds, 5-year (Issue 75)HM Treasury backedBeats inflationAged 16+Online only	5.17%	Fixed for 5 years	£500	Online
2	NS&I Guaranteed Income Bonds, 5-year (Issue 75)HM Treasury backedBeats inflationAged 16+Online only	5.17%	Fixed for 5 years	£500	Online
3	NS&I Guaranteed Growth Bonds, 3-year (Issue 83)HM Treasury backedBeats inflationAged 16+Online only	5.10%	Fixed for 3 years	£500	Online
4	NS&I Guaranteed Income Bonds, 3-year (Issue 83)HM Treasury backedBeats inflationAged 16+Online only	5.10%	Fixed for 3 years	£500	Online
5	NS&I Guaranteed Growth Bonds, 2-year (Issue 81)HM Treasury backedBeats inflationAged 16+Online only	5.07%	Fixed for 2 years	£500	Online
6	NS&I Guaranteed Income Bonds, 2-year (Issue 81)HM Treasury backedBeats inflationAged 16+Online only	5.07%	Fixed for 2 years	£500	Online
7	NS&I Guaranteed Growth Bonds, 1-year (Issue 93)HM Treasury backedBeats inflationAged 16+Online only	4.99%	Fixed for 1 year	£500	Online
8	NS&I Guaranteed Income Bonds, 1-year (Issue 93)HM Treasury backedBeats inflationAged 16+Online only	4.99%	Fixed for 1 year	£500	Online
9	NS&I Green Savings Bonds (Issue 10)HM Treasury backedBeats inflationAged 16+Online only	4.73%	Fixed for 3 years	£100	Online
10	NS&I Direct ISAHM Treasury backedBeats inflationAged 18+, UK resident for tax	3.80%	Easy access	£1	Online, Phone
11	NS&I Direct SaverHM Treasury backedBeats inflationAged 16+	3.75%	Easy access	£1	Online, Phone
12	NS&I Income BondsHM Treasury backedBeats inflationAged 16+	3.75%	Easy access	£500	Online, Phone, Post

Who holds the money: NS&I

NS&I

Held by: NS&I (National Savings and Investments)
Status: UK government: an executive agency and non-ministerial department, accountable to HM Treasury
Regulated: Not by the PRA or FCA: NS&I is part of government, accountable to HM Treasury
Protection and disputes: HM Treasury backing (100% of the money, with no limit) and Financial Ombudsman Service
Capital: Not applicable: savings are backed by HM Treasury, not by NS&I's own capital
Protection: 100% backed by HM Treasury, with no limit. The FSCS does not apply.

Premium Bonds

Premium Bonds don't pay interest. Each £1 bond is entered into a monthly prize draw, and prizes are tax-free. Because there is no interest rate, there is no AER, so we never rank Premium Bonds against savings accounts. These are the figures NS&I publishes.

4.35%Prize fund rate, variable
21,000 to 1Odds of each £1 bond winning in a month, variable
£25 to £50,000Smallest purchase and most you can hold
16+Age to buy; a parent or guardian can buy for a child under 16

Source: NS&I: Premium Bonds, read 30 October 2026. NS&I raised the rate to 4.35% and the odds to 21,000 to 1 from the September 2026 draw (NS&I press release, 18 August 2026).

Where the prize money goes

In the October 2026 draw NS&I paid 6,546,849 prizes worth £498,378,775. NS&I, October 2026 draw

Prize	Number of prizes	Share of the prize money
£1,000,000	2	0.4%
£100,000	96	1.9%
£50,000	191	1.9%
£25,000	382	1.9%
£10,000	957	1.9%
£5,000	1,914	1.9%
£1,000	19,934	4.0%
£500	59,802	6.0%
£100	2,371,145	47.6%
£50	2,371,145	23.8%
£25	1,721,281	8.6%

The average, and what a typical holder wins

The prize fund rate is an average across every bond: NS&I pays out about 4.35% of the money in Premium Bonds as prizes over a year. What one holder wins depends on luck. Most prizes are small, and the large ones are very rare, so most holders win less than the average and a few win far more.

The £25, £50 and £100 prizes make up 80.0% of the prize money. A holder who only ever won those would get about 3.48% a year (4.35% × 80.0%).
Each £1 bond has a 1 in 21,000 chance each month. With £1,000 in bonds, that's 1,000 × 12 ÷ 21,000 = 0.571 prizes expected a year, and a 56.5% chance of winning nothing in a year.

Prizes in a year by amount held
Held for a year	Average at 4.35%	Typical (median) win	1 in 10 holders win less than	1 in 10 win more than	Chance of no prize
£1,000	£44	£0	£0	£100	56.5%
£5,000	£218	£150	£25	£375	5.7%
£10,000	£435	£350	£150	£675	0.3%
£25,000	£1,088	£925	£575	£1,500	Under 0.1%
£50,000	£2,175	£1,900	£1,350	£2,750	Under 0.1%

How we worked these out: the average is the amount held × 4.35%. The typical win and the 1-in-10 figures come from 20,000 simulated years of 12 draws each, using NS&I's published odds and the October 2026 prize table; the chance of no prize is (1 − 1/21,000) raised to the power of the amount held × 12. They assume the rate, odds and prize table stay as they are, which NS&I can change at any time. Inflation reduces what any fixed sum is worth.

Also from government

Help to Save adds 50p for every £1 saved, for people getting Universal Credit who are working. NS&I's Junior ISA is in our children's savings tables.

Rates read on NS&I's own website, 3 November 2026. Complaints about NS&I can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This page sets out facts and arithmetic; it isn't personal advice.

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