Nothing to register#
An unenrolled deed poll is a document you hold, not an entry on a list. Once you have signed it in front of your witnesses it is complete, and GOV.UK says you can use it straight away as proof of your new name. Nobody stamps it, nobody approves it, and no government department keeps a copy. The Deed Poll Office at the Royal Courts of Justice deals only with deeds that are being enrolled; it does not issue or record unenrolled ones.
Websites that offer to "register" a deed poll with an official body are describing something that does not exist.
What enrolment is#
Enrolment is the one real register, and it is optional. It records a deed with the King's Bench Division of the High Court, on the court's own forms, for a fee of £53.05, and GOV.UK says it can take several months. The change of name, with your address, is published in The Gazette. Adults enrol at 18 or over; a parent or guardian enrols for a child with the agreement of everyone who has parental responsibility or a court order.
Enrolment does not make a deed poll more likely to be accepted. HM Passport Office, DVLA, banks and employers accept unenrolled deed polls every day, because fewer than 1% of changes of name by deed poll were ever enrolled, according to The National Archives. If an organisation has specifically asked you for an enrolled deed poll, that is what it is asking for; ask it to confirm before you spend the money and the months.
What people picture, and what exists#
- A register of deed polls: does not exist. Keep the original safe and let certified copies do the travelling.
- An office that approves them: does not exist. A deed is valid because of how it was signed.
- Enrolment with the High Court: exists, is optional, and is a public record rather than an approval.
Enrolled and unenrolled deed polls sets the two side by side.
