Helping someone change their name: a guide for support workers

When is GOV.UK's free deed poll enough?#

Most of the time. GOV.UK publishes deed poll wording that anyone aged 16 or over can write out, sign and use straight away, at no cost. HM Passport Office's guidance to its staff (version 28.0) says an unenrolled deed poll has no set format, may be drawn up by the customer, and must be accepted if it is signed in the old and new names, witnessed by at least one person who need not be a solicitor, signed in wet ink and dated. A client who can copy the wording carefully needs nothing more: can I get a deed poll for free? walks through it.

Two limits are worth knowing. The free wording is for people aged 16 and over; for a younger child, GOV.UK points to a specialist deed poll agency, a solicitor or enrolment. And GOV.UK warns that some organisations may not accept a home-made deed poll.

What does a paid deed poll add?#

Ours costs £18.50. A paralegal drafts it and checks the names letter by letter, it is printed on certificate paper and posted the same working day with a signing guide, and it carries a written guarantee: if an organisation refuses it, we take the matter up, and refund the client if it is still refused. Certified copies, from £6 for 2, up to £25 for 20, let a client send evidence to several organisations at once while the original stays safe. These are conveniences rather than legal requirements: in law, a home-made deed and a drafted one have the same standing. Help paying for a deed poll covers the cost side, including what councils' care leaver offers say.

Should my client enrol the deed poll?#

Usually not, and rarely if safety is part of the reason. Enrolment records the change with the High Court for £53.05 and can take several months, and GOV.UK says a public record of the change and the address is then published in The Gazette. A client with a strong reason can ask the judge to publish only a first name or only a surname, which limits the notice but does not prevent it, and a married applicant may be asked for their spouse's or civil partner's written consent.

Enrolment makes almost no difference to acceptance. GOV.UK notes that some banks, mobile phone companies or energy providers may accept only an enrolled deed poll, so ask the organisation; among the banks we compare that set a condition, it is usually ID in the new name rather than enrolment. Unenrolled and enrolled deed polls sets the two side by side.

What does the deed show, and who sees it?#

More than the two names. GOV.UK's wording opens with the old name "of [your address]". Ours prints, in its opening words, the address given at our checkout, beside the old and new names with the title chosen for each, and a line saying whether the person is a UK citizen or resident. Each witness adds their own name and address as they sign. Anyone shown the deed or sent a copy sees all of it, and many organisations keep the copy on file.

Our checkout takes one address, and it does both jobs: the deed prints the address it is posted to. So the address a client gives is a safety decision, best agreed before anyone orders. HM Passport Office's list of what makes an unenrolled deed acceptable does not include the address, and a later move does not affect the deed (deed polls and moving house).

Where should the deed be sent?#

Somewhere safe both to receive post and to show on the deed, since with ours they are the same. Usually that is one of three:

• An address the client controls that the person they need to avoid does not know.
• A refuge's correspondence address. Refuge says the addresses of its refuges are confidential, and in a 2023 High Court case Refuge, Women's Aid and Latin American Women's Aid told the court that every refuge provides a PO Box or office address for residents' correspondence. Changing your name in a refuge covers this in full.
• Your service's office, in which case the office address is the one printed on the deed.

We post by second class, first class, tracked, or tracked and signed delivery (prices and delivery). The last needs someone there to sign for it.

Who can witness it?#

Any adult who is independent of the client. HM Passport Office needs at least one witness, who need not be a solicitor. GOV.UK's wording has two, aged 18 or over, and warns that some organisations will not accept a witness who is a close relative or who lives at the same address, which rules out other residents of a refuge or a shared house. Our deeds have space for two witnesses, and we recommend using both.

A support worker or colleague can witness, if your service's own policy allows it. They must be in the room when the client signs, sign in wet ink themselves, and write an address that is safe to show: the service's correspondence address, never a refuge's. A video call, or a signature added later, does not count. Who can witness a deed poll? has the full list.

In what order should records be updated?#

Planned with a worker, the order usually runs like this (changing your name to stay safe has the client's version):

1. Agree the timing, as part of the client's safety plan, before changing anything another person might notice.
2. Secure what someone else can see: a shared email account, a phone on someone else's contract, location sharing, joint bank accounts and cards. Refuge's tech safety site has guides to each.
3. Open an account of the client's own, if they need one. Surviving Economic Abuse notes that some banks may accept a refuge or safe house address with a PO Box, and may consider a letter from a refuge, a social worker or a local authority in place of the usual documents.
4. Make and sign the deed, and keep the original somewhere the other person cannot reach.
5. Get ID in the new name first, if the client's bank needs it (see the next question). A driving licence costs nothing to change: GOV.UK says to send form D1 to DVLA with the old licence and original documents, and the client can keep driving while they wait. A passport needs the deed poll and a document showing the new name in use, such as a payslip or a letter from the council.
6. Then tell everyone else, giving the new contact details in the same message as the new name, so nothing in the new name goes where the other person can see it. Who to tell, and in what order lists them.
7. Redirect post safely. Royal Mail's redirection page asks anyone moving home because of domestic abuse to apply by phone, and gives the number.
8. Keep the address off the electoral register. A client at risk can register anonymously. The form's list of people who can sign the supporting attestation includes a police officer of inspector rank or above, a director of children's services, a registered doctor, nurse or midwife, and anyone who manages a refuge (keeping an address off public records).
9. Break financial links. Experian removes a financial association from a credit file once the client shows the connection has ended; with a mortgage still shared, after more than six months living apart and with every other joint product closed.

Which banks want ID in the new name first?#

Several. Lloyds accepts an unenrolled deed poll only with a valid driving licence or UK or EU passport in the new name. Santander asks for an unenrolled deed poll plus one ID document in the new name, such as a passport or driving licence. Barclays takes a deed poll for a new surname, but wants government photo ID in the new name for a new first name, middle name or full name, spelling changes included. Our comparison of 24 banks found the same condition at Halifax, Bank of Scotland, TSB, Revolut, Chase UK and the Coventry and Yorkshire building societies when it was checked on 22 October 2026.

At those banks the licence or passport comes first, then the bank. A deed poll is evidence of a change of name, not proof of identity, so a client with no photo ID needs a plan for getting some.

What about children's names?#

A child's name can change only with the agreement of everyone who holds parental responsibility, or a court order, and GOV.UK says you must try to reach agreement first. That stays true when the other parent is the person the family needs to be safe from. Where agreement is impossible, in England and Wales the application is for a specific issue order on form C100, with a court fee of £270 and help for people on benefits or a low income. Form C8 keeps the parent's and the children's contact details to the court and Cafcass (or Cafcass Cymru). Changing your name after domestic abuse covers the mediation exemption, form C1A and legal aid.

Some court orders add a rule of their own. While a child arrangements order about where a child lives, a special guardianship order or a care order is in force, the Children Act 1989 says no one may cause the child to be known by a new surname without the written consent of everyone with parental responsibility or the court's leave. HM Passport Office asks for everyone's consent to a change of name for anyone under 16, and under 18 where a care order or other court order is in place. A young person of 16 or 17 with no order makes their own deed poll (changing your name at 16 or 17).

Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own courts and law: a disagreement goes to the sheriff court or the Court of Session under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, or to the family courts in Northern Ireland under Article 8 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. See a child's name in Scotland and in Northern Ireland.

What about looked-after children and care leavers?#

Under a care order the council has parental responsibility, shared with the parents, and the surname rule above applies; HM Passport Office will not accept a change of name for a child in care without everyone's consent or the court's leave. A child accommodated by agreement is different: HM Passport Office's guidance for social services says the council then does not hold parental responsibility, so the decision stays with those who do, and it adds that foster carers cannot give parental consent for a passport application.

A care order ends at 18 at the latest, and from then the young person decides for themselves. HM Passport Office says a customer aged 18 or over whose name changed before they turned 16 needs no parental consent, provided they show the change and that they use the name. In England, GOV.UK says the council must provide a personal adviser until 21, or until 25 if the young person asks. The Department for Education's guidance on care leaver local offers, in effect since 30 September 2026, says each offer should set out the help available to obtain or replace identity documents. Changing your name as a care leaver has the detail, including what some councils say about paying.

What about refugees and clients with an eVisa?#

A deed poll works for every UK record except those the Home Office controls. Its names guidance (version 2.0) says holders of non-British passports and identity cards must change those first, unless there are exceptional circumstances, and that the names in them take precedence over a deed poll. GOV.UK says updating a name in a UKVI account needs an identity document showing the change, and cannot be done while a visa decision is pending. A deed poll alone does not change an eVisa.

The exception is people who cannot approach their own authorities. The Home Office will change the name on the eVisa of a recognised refugee, a stateless person or someone with humanitarian protection, through a Transfer of Conditions or a No Time Limit application, and cancels any Home Office travel document in the old name, so a new one is needed before travel. For a vulnerable victim of crime, such as someone escaping domestic abuse or stalking, the guidance says the application should be supported by an appropriate authority such as the police or a refuge service, and that using more than one name may be considered. Changing your name if you are not a British citizen and UKVI and eVisas go further.

What should I know about trans and non-binary clients?#

The name changes by deed poll exactly as for anyone else, with no medical evidence. A title is not part of a legal name: GOV.UK says a deed poll cannot change one, so each organisation is simply told which title to use. Our checkout asks for a title beside the old name and the new one and prints both, and Mx is offered for each.

A Gender Recognition Certificate is a separate, optional step. GOV.UK says one is not needed to update a driving licence, a passport, medical or employment records or a bank account, and that it can recognise only male or female. Changing the gender marker on a passport lists what HM Passport Office asks for. For checks at work, the Disclosure and Barring Service runs a sensitive applications route so that a previous name or gender need not appear on the certificate. For under-18s the consent rules above apply (a trans child's name).

Can a client with a conviction change their name?#

Yes, but a new name never avoids formal disclosure. Unlock, the charity for people with convictions, says plainly that changing a name is not a way to stop a record being disclosed on a criminal record check, and the DBS application form asks for every name used since birth, with dates.

GOV.UK says registered sex, violent and terrorist offenders must tell the police within 3 days, and that failing to is a criminal offence; section 84 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 runs the 3 days from first using the name. The Home Office may refuse a passport, travel document or eVisa in a new name to a registered sex offender or to someone convicted of a false documents offence. Section 125 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 will let a chief officer of police require some registered sex offenders to get authorisation before applying for a passport, driving licence or immigration document in a new name; legislation.gov.uk showed it as passed but not yet in force on 26 October 2026, so check there for a commencement date. Can I change my name if I have a criminal record? covers licence, probation and prison.

How do I keep my client's details safe when ordering?#

• Email. Our order emails (the confirmation, any question from a paralegal and the dispatch notice) go to the address given, and we may later email customers about our own services, with an unsubscribe link in each. Use an account only the client can open, not one shared or synced to a device someone else uses.
• Phone. A phone number is optional at our checkout.
• Questions we ask. We never ask why someone is changing their name. Our privacy policy keeps an order, deed included, for seven years, and says we will remove it sooner on request unless the law requires us to keep it.

Which charities can help?#

Charities that can help you change your name lists the charities we checked, with what each offers, by situation: domestic abuse and safety, trans and non-binary, children and families, care and adoption, refugees and migrants, criminal records and advice and housing. A listing is not a recommendation, and none of them has reviewed this guide. If your service would like a code for its clients, for charities explains how it works.

Is there a checklist I can print?#

Yes: this one, which fits a single sheet. Print the page from your browser.