Get a deed poll £18.50

The deed poll itself

Is there an official UK deed poll office?

Only one: the High Court's Deed Poll Office, which enrols deed polls for £53.05. Every website called an office, registry or department is a private company.

Checked against GOV.UK Updated

A drawing of a stone court building with a document on its steps

The short answer

Yes, one. GOV.UK refers to the Deed Poll Office at the High Court, which handles enrolment for £53.05 and nothing else. There is no register to join and no official body that issues or approves deed polls. Every website that calls itself an office, registry, agency or department is a private company. So are we, and we say so.

Key facts

The official one
The Deed Poll Office of the King's Bench Division of the High Court, for enrolment only
What it costs
£53.05 to enrol, which is optional
A register?
Enrolled deeds are announced in The Gazette; unenrolled deeds are recorded nowhere
Websites called "office"
Private companies, the "specialist agencies" GOV.UK mentions
Us
Deed Polls Online is an independent private company and does not enrol deeds
Need a deed poll? £18.50, drafted by a paralegal, posted the same working day, guaranteed to be accepted.Get one
On this page 4 sections
  1. The one official office
  2. Nothing else is official
  3. What the names mean
  4. How to judge a deed poll website

The one official office#

There is a Deed Poll Office, and it belongs to the High Court. GOV.UK's guidance on enrolling a deed poll says you can ask "the Deed Poll Office" for an update on your application six months after you apply. Its job is enrolment: recording a change of name on the court's public register for £53.05, on the court's own forms, with a notice of your new name and address published in The Gazette. It does not draft deed polls, it does not approve them, and it has nothing to do with the deed poll most people make, the unenrolled kind, which GOV.UK says you can make yourself and use straight away.

The National Archives describes the same office's history: enrolment goes into the Enrolment Books of the Supreme Court of Judicature, formerly the Close Rolls of Chancery, and enrolled changes have been announced in The Gazette since 1914. It estimates that fewer than 1% of changes of name by deed poll are enrolled, which is to say that for 99 people in 100 the official office plays no part at all.

Nothing else is official#

There is no register that an unenrolled deed poll goes on, no licence a deed poll company holds, and no approval scheme. GOV.UK's guidance mentions that a specialist agency or a solicitor can make a deed poll for you and may charge a fee; it does not list, endorse or regulate any of them. A deed poll is your own act, signed in front of witnesses, and it is valid because of how it was made, not because of who printed it. HM Passport Office's guidance to its own staff makes the point from the other side: staff must accept an unenrolled deed poll that is properly signed, witnessed and dated, and must not make inappropriate comments about the company that issued it.

What the names mean#

Companies in this field call themselves offices, registries, departments, agencies and services. Those are trading names, chosen because they sound official, and none of them describes a public body. A "registry" keeps no register that any organisation consults. A "department" is not a government department. The only office with a claim to the word is the court's, and it enrols.

We are Deed Polls Online, a private company trading since 2000. We are not part of His Majesty's Government or the courts, we do not enrol deed polls, and every page of this site says so in the footer. What we sell is a deed drafted and checked by a paralegal, printed on certificate paper, posted the same working day and guaranteed to be accepted, for £18.50.

How to judge a deed poll website#

Look for the things a real company has to have: a registered address and company name, a price that includes the deed rather than a "free" deed with paid essentials, a return or refund policy, no monthly charge, and no claim to be official. Then look for the thing that matters most: what happens if an organisation refuses the deed. A company that stands behind its deeds in writing is offering you something; a name with "office" in it is not.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these on . If a source has changed since, tell us and we will correct the page.