Why the order matters#
Two organisations ask for more than the deed. HM Passport Office asks for one document showing you already use the new name, such as a bank statement, a payslip or a letter from HMRC or your council. DVLA asks for original documents that confirm the new name. So the organisations that produce those documents go first, and the passport and the licence go second. Everyone else can be told at the same time, in any order.
First: put the new name in writing#
These are quick, free, and each produces something in your new name within a couple of weeks.
- Your bank or building society. Each provider, not each account. Most keep a certified copy of the deed, and a statement in the new name follows.
- HM Revenue and Customs. GOV.UK says you tell HMRC your name has changed online, after signing in, or through the HMRC app. It updates your National Insurance record too, and a letter from HMRC counts as proof for a passport.
- Your council. Council tax and, if you claim them, benefits. A council letter is another document HM Passport Office accepts.
- Your employer and payroll. A payslip in the new name is the document most people use for the passport.
Then: passport, then driving licence, then the log book#
Each asks for your original deed poll, not a copy, and each posts it back, so they go one at a time.
- HM Passport Office. A change of name means a new passport: £102 online, or £115.50 on a paper form. Send the original deed poll and one document showing the new name in use. GOV.UK says the name on your passport must match the name you book travel in, and not to book travel until the new passport has arrived. Changing your name with HM Passport Office.
- DVLA, for your driving licence. Free. Form D1 from a Post Office, sent with your licence and original documents confirming the new name; GOV.UK says not to send photocopies. You can keep driving while you wait. Changing your name with DVLA.
- DVLA, for the V5C log book, if a vehicle is registered to you. GOV.UK says you must update it when you change your name, and it is a separate application from the licence.
Then: everyone else, in any order#
Most of these keep a certified copy, or look at the original and hand it back, so they can all run at once. Send copies, not the original.
Money. Credit card providers, loans and car finance, your mortgage lender, workplace pensions (each old employer's scheme), personal pensions, savings and ISAs, investments and share registrars, and the Student Loans Company if you are repaying a loan.
Home. HM Land Registry if you own property (a free application), your landlord or letting agent if you rent, the electoral register (register again online), your insurers (car, home, life, travel, pet), energy, water and broadband suppliers, and TV Licensing.
Work, health and study. Any professional body or licence you hold, your solicitor, accountant or financial adviser, your school, college or university, your GP (your NHS record is updated through your GP), your dentist and optician, and any hospital that holds records for you.
Immigration. If you have an eVisa, update the name on your UK Visas and Immigration account; it wants the deed poll and, usually, a passport already in the new name.
Last: the ones people forget#
None of these normally needs a certified copy, and they are the ones still writing to you in your old name a year later: your will (ask whoever holds it to update it), the vet and your pet's microchip record, breakdown cover, gyms, clubs and memberships, subscriptions and loyalty cards, and your email, social media and online accounts, where the display name and the recovery details should change together.
How many certified copies#
Count providers, not accounts. Banks, lenders, pensions, employers, professional bodies and solicitors usually keep the copy they are sent; identity documents, councils, GPs and utilities usually do not. Two banks, three old pensions, an employer and a professional body is seven before you start, and two spares are worth having. How many certified copies do I need? counts it properly.
Keep a list#
Write down who you have told and when. A year on, the organisation still using the old name is always one that was missed, and the list is how you find it.
What to send each organisation#
A certified copy of the deed, a short cover letter, and the reference number the organisation holds for you: an account number, a policy number, an employee number, a National Insurance number for HMRC. The letter says your old name, your new name, that the enclosed deed poll records the change, and that you would like your records updated. Some organisations have an online form or take the change in a branch, in which case the copy is shown rather than sent. Keep a note of the date and the reference number of any letter you post.
If an organisation refuses#
Ask what it needs. Most refusals come from a member of staff who has not seen an unenrolled deed poll before, and are resolved by pointing to the organisation's own policy or, for a government body, its published guidance. HM Passport Office's guidance to its staff says an unenrolled deed poll must be accepted provided it is signed in both names, witnessed by at least one person, signed in wet ink and dated. If a deed we drafted is refused, tell us: we take it up with the organisation, and refund you if it cannot be resolved.
