Free advice charities that can help with a name change

Which free advice charities can help with a change of name?#

For general advice, start with Citizens Advice in England and Wales, Citizens Advice Scotland, or Advice NI's network of independent advice services. For housing and homelessness, Shelter, Shelter Scotland, Shelter Cymru, Housing Rights in Northern Ireland, Crisis and St Mungo's can help, and for free legal advice there are Law Centres and LawWorks clinics.

Of these, only Citizens Advice Scotland publishes a full guide to changing your name, because the Scottish routes differ. The others help with what surrounds a new name: proving who you are without the usual documents, telling a landlord, council or benefits office, paying for anything that costs money, and getting through a court process if one is needed.

What does a change of name involve?#

For most adults it is a deed poll, signed before two witnesses, and then telling organisations one by one. In brief:

• The deed poll is free to make. GOV.UK publishes the wording; from 16 you write it out, sign it in front of two witnesses aged 18 or over, and can use it at once. Can I get a deed poll for free? explains what a paid one adds, and help paying for a deed poll looks at the costs around it.
• Your housing records follow the deed. Changing the name on a tenancy agreement, council tax and Universal Credit and other benefits each have their own guide.
• Who to tell, and in what order, is in who to tell after changing your name.
• In Scotland, Citizens Advice Scotland explains recording a change with National Records of Scotland, a statutory declaration and a deed poll. Changing your name in Scotland compares them.
• A child's name needs everyone with parental responsibility to agree, or a court order. GOV.UK's Help with Fees scheme can reduce a court fee for people on low incomes or certain benefits: see charities that help with a child's name.

Charities that can help#

What each kind of charity can help with#

General advice

• Citizens Advice helps through local offices, online and by phone in England and Wales; most local Citizens Advice can only help people who live or work in their area. Its page on young people and family links to GOV.UK's deed poll guide, and its divorce guidance says to explain on your application if your name differs from your marriage or civil partnership certificate.
• Citizens Advice Scotland has the fullest advice-charity guide: recording a change with National Records of Scotland if you were born or adopted there, the children's forms, and a warning that a recorded change sits on a public register, which may not suit someone escaping domestic abuse. It also sets out the limits: over 16, a first name can be recorded as changed once and a surname three times, five years apart, though you can still change your name beyond that without recording it.
• Advice NI is the network of independent advice services in Northern Ireland, with advice on benefits and debt.
• AdviceUK supports the UK's largest network of independent advice services, many of them local.

What to ask: which organisations you need to tell, how a new name affects a benefit claim, and whether any costs can be met.

Housing and homelessness

Shelter's guide to ID documents says some banks accept a letter from the manager of a hostel, refuge or supported housing project when you lack the usual ID, and some accept one from a prison governor or probation officer. Shelter Scotland, Shelter Cymru and Housing Rights advise on housing in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Crisis and St Mungo's support people who are homeless, and akt supports LGBTQ+ people aged 16 to 25 facing homelessness or a hostile home.

What to ask: which address to use on a deed and on forms if you have no settled home, whether a letter from your project can stand in for ID, and how to tell your landlord or council about a new name.

Proving who you are, before and after

A new name is only useful once organisations will accept it, and that usually means showing an identity document alongside the deed. Shelter's guide lists what banks may take instead of a passport or photocard licence: a citizen's card, a birth certificate, or a letter from your employer, DWP, HMRC, your council, a GP, a teacher or a social worker. It adds that a homeless advice centre or day centre may help you apply or pay for new ID, and that there is a special way to register to vote without a fixed address, which can help banks confirm who you are. Using a deed poll as ID explains what a deed can and cannot prove on its own.

Free legal advice

The Law Centres Network supports local Law Centres, which help people in poverty with legal problems, and LawWorks helps you find a free legal advice clinic near you. Support Through Court does not give legal advice, but its trained volunteers help people facing the civil and family courts alone to understand the process and complete court forms. GOV.UK explains when legal aid is available.

Money

Turn2us has a free benefits calculator and a grants search for people finding it hard to make ends meet.

How do I reach them?#

Use each charity's own website for its contact options, since phone lines, chat hours and drop-in times change. Citizens Advice and Shelter both offer online chat for some problems as well as phone help. If you are in a hostel, refuge or supported housing, ask your key worker whether they can contact an advice service with you.

Can I make the deed poll myself, for free?#

Yes. Anyone aged 16 or over can write out GOV.UK's published wording, sign it before two adult witnesses and use it straight away, at no cost. Think about which address to put on it: GOV.UK's wording includes one, and our deed prints the address you give when you order.

A paid deed poll adds a checked draft on certificate paper, optional certified copies, and a refund if an organisation refuses it. These charities are listed for the help they give. A listing does not mean any of them recommends us, and none has reviewed this page.