NS&I Premium Bonds holders told how 'region' affects prize distribution

NS&I has illuminated a peculiar aspect of how Premium Bonds prizes are distributed. Customers are assigned to specific regions of the UK, such as 'Manchester' and 'Lincolnshire'.

However, in some cases, there will be a region for an entire county and then a separate region for an area within that county. For example, there is a region for 'Lancashire', but also a separate one for 'Preston', which is within Lancashire.

The situation becomes particularly baffling when it comes to London, with regions for 'Outer London', 'London' and 'Inner London', with other regions for specific boroughs of the capital, such as 'Wandsworth' and 'Barnet'.

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When asked to clarify how these geographical regions and boundaries function, NS&I explained: "Each month NS&I publishes a full list of prizes won, including the winning Bond number, size of holding and the location of the Bond holder.

"However, to protect the identity of individual Premium Bonds' holders, we identify the location based on at least 100,000 Bond holders living in the area. This could be the town or city, county or local authority, Government Standard Region or country.

Further explaining how this applies to London, NS&I said: "Some areas of London will meet the 100,000 criteria, such as Barnet or Croydon, but other areas in London do not meet this criteria, so they will be identified as Inner or Outer London using standard government regions. The provider also warned that the situation may change in the future."

NS&I said: "The area given is for public reporting and transparency purposes. Areas named will fluctuate depending on if an area currently meets the 100,000 criteria or not."

Additional information about how prize winners' locations are determined can be found on the NS&I website, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Each £1 Premium Bond has an identical opportunity of securing a prize in the monthly draw, with the current odds of winning at 22,000 to one. However, the prize fund rate for the scheme has recently dropped, falling from 3.8 per cent down to the current 3.6 per cent.