Changing your name with Nest

How do I change my name on my Nest pension?#

Online, in your Nest account. Nest's help page on updating your details gives the steps:

1. Log in to your online account and select Edit personal details on the dashboard.
2. Select Edit next to the details you want to change, which for a new name is your name.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Nest says it may require evidence before it makes a change on your account. Uploading the documents online, or sending them through your Nest mailbox, is faster than post, it says. You can also post them to Nest, Nene Hall, Lynch Wood Business Park, Peterborough, PE2 6FY.

Once Nest has received the evidence, it says it updates your details within five working days, and that it returns original evidence in the same manner you sent it.

What evidence does Nest ask for?#

Nest's public help page does not list the documents it accepts for a change of name; it says only that it may require evidence. For most people the evidence of a change of name is the deed poll, or a marriage or civil partnership certificate, so have it to hand before you start.

An upload keeps the original at home: will organisations accept a photocopy or a PDF? covers who takes a scan and who wants paper. If you send a file through the Nest mailbox, Nest's help centre says a message can carry up to three attachments of 4MB each, and that they should not be password protected, compressed or zipped.

If you post the original instead, Nest sends it back the same way, so use a tracked service if you want to follow it both ways.

Before you first log in: your employer can change it#

If your employer enrolled you, the name Nest first holds is the one your employer sent. Nest's employer help centre says that while a worker has not yet logged in, the employer can edit the worker's name and title, address, date of birth and gender. Once the worker has logged in, the employer can change only the National Insurance number, the alternative identifier, the worker's eligibility for tax relief and their Nest group, and the worker receives a message in their Nest mailbox confirming any change the employer makes.

So if you have never logged in to Nest, you can ask your employer to update your name there, or log in and change it yourself. Once you have logged in, it is yours to change. Changing your name at work covers what your employer needs.

Changing jobs#

A Nest pension pot stays with Nest when you leave a job. If your new employer also uses Nest, it may enrol you again, and Nest says that if the details do not match what it holds, it sends you a welcome back letter asking whether you are already a member. You complete the form and return it by post or through your Nest mailbox, and Nest merges the accounts. Telling Nest about your new name before you move helps the two records match.

Keep your reference to hand#

Nest says your Nest ID is a unique reference starting with MEM, that you will need it when you contact Nest, and that it is in your welcome letter and under My Account once you log in. Nest's contact page offers a secure message through your mailbox, live chat, and post.

If your name has changed after a divorce, Nest's divorce page adds that you may want to update your nominated beneficiary if you had named your spouse.

Who else to tell#

Your employer's payroll, HMRC and any other pension you hold each keep their own record of your name: pensions, savings and investments sets out how each scheme and provider works, and the State Pension goes to the Pension Service.