The first lucky woman from Manchester bought the winning bond just six months ago in June 2020 and holds £30,010 invested. She scooped the £1m prize with bond number 398MV229074.

She becomes the 4th £1m jackpot winner from the area.

December’s second millionaire is a woman from South Gloucestershire. The winning bond number 263SP726460 was bought in January 2016 and is part of a maximum £50,000 holding. This is the eighth Premium Bonds millionaire from Gloucestershire.

The big winners are announced on the first working day of the month ahead of other prize winners as ‘agent million’ visits homes with the surprise £1m news. Those who win a higher value prize result between £1m and £1,000 will also be notified today.

However, remaining Premium Bonds holders will be able to check if they’ve won a lower amount via the nsandi.com prize checker and prize checker app the following day so this will be available from tomorrow (Wednesday 2 December). You’ll need your Premium Bonds holder’s number.

There were 2.86 million prizes up for grabs in the December draw, worth £82.4m. This is much lower than the 3.97 million prizes up for grabs in the November draw, worth £113m, following NS&I’s raft of cuts which took effect last week.

There were 98.9 billion eligible bonds for the draw, up from 97.4 billion last month. Since the first draw in June 1957, 507 million prizes have been drawn with a total value of £21.3bn.

Paper warrants will be phased out

NS&I recently announced it would phase out the use of prize warrants (like a cheque) from December 2020 draws, with the February 2021 Premium Bonds draw being the last time they’re sent.

However, it has also today announced it is postponing the phasing out of Premium Bonds prize warrants until spring 2021 due to the difficulties some customers have had when trying to register their bank account details with NS&I.

Customers can instead get any prizes they win paid straight into their bank account or automatically reinvested up to the maximum £50,000 in Premium Bonds. However, customers need to act to ensure NS&I has latest contact details.

The change ensures that all Premium Bonds prizes will be paid more quickly and more securely, it added.