Why don't Premium Bonds winners ever seem to come from the Channel Islands or Isle of Man?

Why is it that every month, when the winners of Premium Bonds prizes are announced, we never see any winners listed from the Channel Islands or Isle of Man?

I've observed in your monthly compilation of victors that there is consistently a lack of prize winners from these locations.

Considering the abundance of affluent individuals residing in these areas, one would anticipate a greater frequency of announcements regarding significant award recipients who are rooted in these locations. Communicated through electronic mail.

Premium Bonds are a widely favored savings option among people in the country, necessitating a starting amount of at least £25.

Helen Kirrane, a writer for This is Money, responds: It is quite puzzling that there are no regulations preventing individuals residing on these landmasses from purchasing Premium Bonds.

If you reside in the Isle of Man or the Channel Island and want to possess Premium Bonds, NS&I simply indicates that you need to have a UK bank or building society account that is capable of receiving BACS transfers.

There are no regulations or statutes in effect that would bar individuals born or residing in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man from owning Premium Bonds or being a customer of NS&I.

Wealthy individuals from Britain have been drawn to the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands due to their advantageous personal tax rates, absence of capital gains tax, stamp duty, and inheritance tax.

Why aren't Premium Bonds winners mentioned in these particular countries?

The solution is solely determined by how NS&I disclose the whereabouts of individuals who win prizes.

NS&I establishes guidelines upon revealing the whereabouts of prize victors in order to safeguard their identities.

Every individual customer is linked to a specific municipality, local governing body, state or public administrative division, and nation.

If a town has fewer than 100,000 individuals who hold Premium Bonds, NS&I employs the following ranking system to determine a winner. This process continues until the area in question has a minimum of 100,000 account holders.

The first tier of the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF) is the town level, for instance, a place like Blackpool.

Tier 2 municipality or regional governing body (similar to Lancashire);

Level 3 Regional Standard for Government (similar to the North West).

Level 4 Nation (similar to England).

However, when it comes to individuals who own Premium Bonds and reside abroad, NS&I will only disclose the specific country if there are a minimum of 100,000 holders residing within that particular country. If the number of holders is less than this threshold, NS&I simply categorizes the location as 'overseas'.

This category includes the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

Additional recipients of the August 2023 accolades

According to a representative from NS&I, in case a lucky individual from Isle of Man, Guernsey, or Jersey were to win £1 million, their residency would be categorized as "overseas".

This occurs due to a regulation we have implemented to safeguard our winners who receive £1million.

If the region they originate from has fewer than 100,000 individuals holding Premium Bonds, we will direct our report to the next neighboring region with over 100,000 Premium Bonds holders.

Since the quantity of bond holders in Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man is relatively small, we are unable to provide further categorization beyond 'overseas'.

According to Helen Kirrane, Guernsey has a little over 19,000 individuals who hold Premium Bonds, while Jersey has slightly over 29,000. When you combine these numbers, it is evident that the total amount of Premium Bonds holders in the Channel Islands is significantly less than 100,000. Therefore, NS&I would not classify this data as belonging to the Channel Islands.

The typical response for announcing a victor from any of these regions would be 'abroad'.

NS&I did not possess the customer figures pertaining to the Isle of Man.

Since NS&I introduced the £1 million jackpot in April 1994, there have been five fortunate champions from foreign lands. However, NS&I has chosen to remain tight-lipped about the specific countries or regions, such as the Channel Islands, where these winners resided.

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