How to change the name on your driving licence with DVLA

Can you change the name on your driving licence online?#

No. You change the name on your driving licence by post: fill in form D1 (D2 for a lorry or bus licence), and send it to DVLA with your licence and the original documents that show your new name. It is free, and GOV.UK says you can still drive while you wait for the new licence.

GOV.UK's table of driving licence fees lists a change of name as not available online and free by post. DVLA's online service changes an address, and GOV.UK says that if you want to change your name at the same time you have to apply by post. The same applies to a full and a provisional licence. What else can be done online covers the passport, HMRC and the banks.

How to change the name on your driving licence#

GOV.UK's instructions are short. Fill in form D1, "Application for a driving licence", if you hold a car or motorcycle licence, or form D2 if you hold a lorry or bus licence. GOV.UK says the D1 and D2 packs are only available from a Post Office that offers DVLA services; they cannot be downloaded or ordered online. Send the completed form to DVLA with:

• your photocard or paper driving licence;
• any original documents that confirm your new name, which for most people is the deed poll itself, or a marriage certificate;
• with a deed poll or a statutory declaration, one document showing your new name, explained below.

What do I send to DVLA? turns this into a list for your own envelope, with the address and the cost. DeedPolls.org, our sister site, walks through filling in and posting the form step by step: changing the name on your driving licence.

GOV.UK says not to send photocopies of documents or laminated certificates, and that any certificates must be signed and dated. A certified copy of a deed poll is a copy, so send the original deed. GOV.UK says identity documents come back separately from the new licence, by second class post, and that you can enclose a stamped, self-addressed Special Delivery or Signed For envelope if you want to track them.

With a deed poll, one more document#

GOV.UK's page on the identity documents DVLA needs adds a rule for anyone using a deed poll or a statutory declaration: you must also send one document showing your new name. It can be one issued in the last 12 months, such as a letter from HMRC, an official letter from your employer, a school report, a letter from a government department or your council, a UK bank statement, a child benefit record, or a utility bill, including a mobile phone, broadband or streaming subscription bill. Alternatively, you can give your UK passport number, or send a non-GB driving licence, a non-UK passport or a national identity card; GOV.UK says that document must still be valid and have been issued after your deed poll and, if you already have a GB licence, after your most recent licence.

GOV.UK sets this rule for a deed poll or a statutory declaration, not for a marriage or civil partnership certificate. With a deed poll, the simplest extra document is often your new passport: once it arrives, its number is enough.

Where to send it#

Applications for a car or motorcycle licence go to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN. Applications for a lorry or bus licence go to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BR.

What it costs#

Nothing. GOV.UK says it does not cost anything to change your name or gender on your driving licence. Two things do carry a fee: changing your photo at the same time is £17 by cheque or postal order payable to DVLA, with no fee if you are over 70 or hold a medical short-period licence; and if you cannot send your old licence because it is lost, stolen or destroyed, you say what happened on the form and include £20.

Changing the name on a provisional driving licence#

It works the same way as a full licence. Send form D1 with your provisional licence and the original documents that show your new name, by post; it is free, and it cannot be done online. GOV.UK's online service changes the address on a provisional licence, but not the name.

If you change your name before you pass your driving test, note one rule. The examiner normally takes your provisional licence and DVLA sends the full licence automatically, but GOV.UK says you need to apply for the full licence yourself if your name is now different from the one on your provisional photocard. To do that:

• sign the declaration on your driving test pass certificate;
• fill in form D1;
• send it with your provisional licence and original documents confirming your identity to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN.

The first full licence is free, or £17 to use a different photo from your provisional. GOV.UK says that if you apply by post you must send the documents within two years of passing your test, or you will have to take it again.

While you wait#

You can still drive. GOV.UK says so in as many words, so there is no reason to delay the application, and no reason to worry about the gap. DVLA does not publish a processing time for a change of name, though its services update asks anyone who applies by post to allow 4 weeks before getting in touch. DeedPolls.org, our sister site, works out the dates for you: how long DVLA takes to change your name, and when to chase.

If you have a paper licence#

You must send a recent printed passport-type photo with the form, because the replacement will be a photocard.

Changing a title too#

The process is the same if you want to change your title, for example from Ms to Dr, and GOV.UK says you do not need to send evidence unless it is a hereditary title.

The log book is separate#

If a vehicle is registered to you, GOV.UK says you must also update your V5C registration certificate when you change your name. That is a separate application from the licence, using the log book itself. GOV.UK says it is usually free, that a new log book can take up to six weeks, and that you can be fined up to £1,000 if you do not tell DVLA when your name changes. Changing your name on your V5C log book explains what to send. Send it after the licence, or at the same time if you do not need the log book in the meantime.

The order to do things in#

DVLA wants the original deed poll and so does HM Passport Office, and each posts it back, so they go one at a time. Most people send the passport application first, because it takes longer, and because the new passport's number then serves as the extra document DVLA asks for with a deed poll. DVLA's own timing is the shorter of the two.

Northern Ireland#

GOV.UK notes there is a different process in Northern Ireland, where licences are issued by the Driver and Vehicle Agency rather than DVLA.