What pension schemes and providers ask for#
Every scheme, provider and share registrar keeps its own record, so each one needs telling, and no two ask for quite the same thing. Three patterns cover most of them.
Workplace schemes often start with your employer. NHS Pensions asks you to keep your personal details, your name among them, up to date with your employer, and the Civil Service Pension Scheme says your employer will update your details with it. Once you have left, or are drawing the pension, you tell the scheme yourself, and the evidence rules tighten: NHS Pensions asks pensioners for the deed poll as an original or as a copy certified and stamped by a solicitor, and the Civil Service scheme's forms ask for an original, which it returns.
Personal pensions and investment platforms mostly work online. Aviva runs an electronic check on the new name and asks for proof only if that fails. Nest and Vanguard take an upload through your account, and Hargreaves Lansdown an upload with photo ID, or a posted form. Legal and General's workplace pension form asks for a passport or photocard driving licence rather than the deed, one more reason to get the passport done early.
The postal routes are the strictest. Scottish Widows wants an enrolled deed poll, or a certified copy of an unenrolled one, certified by someone on its own list. Equiniti accepts only originals or certified copies. Computershare takes a copy only if a solicitor or notary certified it: changing your name on shares. NS&I says it cannot change a name online at the moment, because it needs your signature first. Where a provider publishes its own list of certifiers, as Scottish Widows and Hargreaves Lansdown do, that list is the one that counts.
Tell your bank first, so that pension payments and dividends arrive in an account in the name the provider now holds.
Our guides#
Changing your name on shares: Computershare and Equiniti 
Changing your name on your NHS Pension 
Changing your name on your State Pension 
Changing your name with Aviva 
Changing your name with NS&I and Premium Bonds 
Changing your name with Nest
Who to tell, and what each asks for#
| Organisation | How to tell them | What they ask for |
|---|---|---|
| The State Pension | The Pension Service, by phone or post; a name cannot be changed online | No published list of evidence |
| NHS Pension Scheme | Working for the NHS: your employer; otherwise NHS Pensions | Pensioners: the deed poll, original or certified and stamped by a solicitor |
| Civil Service Pension Scheme | In Civil Service work: your employer; otherwise its online change of details form | An original document, such as the deed poll; originals are returned |
| Teachers' Pensions | Online, in My Pension Online; not by phone, email or webchat | No published list of evidence |
| Local Government Pension Scheme | Your own fund, one of 86 in England and Wales; your employer can say which | Set by each fund; NILGOSC in Northern Ireland asks for the original deed poll and returns it |
| Nest | Online, through Edit personal details | Evidence if asked, uploaded or posted; updated within five working days |
| Aviva | Its online change of name form | An electronic check first; proof only if that fails |
| Legal and General | Online form for workplace pensions | An upload of a valid passport or photocard driving licence |
| Scottish Widows | Form 56124 by post; Ready-Made and self-invested products by phone | An enrolled deed poll, or a certified copy of an unenrolled one |
| Standard Life | Contact it; online, Your details covers contact details | No published process for a change of name |
| Royal London | Its online update your details form | It may ask to see the original documents |
| NS&I and Premium Bonds | A paper form or a letter, by post; not online | Your old and new names, each with its signature |
| Hargreaves Lansdown | Online upload with photo ID, by post, or by phone | The deed poll, original or certified; by post, 2 to 3 working days |
| AJ Bell | By email to its customer services team | A certified copy of the deed poll |
| Vanguard | Upload proof to your online account, then send a secure message | The deed poll, as a scan, PDF or photo; reviewed within 5 working days |
| Computershare | Its Change of Name form, from Investor Centre's Printable Forms, by post; gilts have their own | The original, or a copy certified by a solicitor or notary public (gilts: a solicitor, bank manager or JP) |
| Equiniti (Shareview) | A signed letter by post, listing every holding | An original or certified copy of the deed poll; within 5 business days |
| MUFG Corporate Markets | Its online update your shareholder details form, for shareholders MUFG has written to | An upload of proof, such as a change of name deed or marriage certificate |
Questions people ask
Can I change my State Pension details online?
Some of them. GOV.UK says the Manage your State Pension service handles some changes online, and that otherwise you tell the Pension Service by phone or by post. Its list of changes you must report includes marrying or forming a civil partnership and divorce. If you live in Northern Ireland, GOV.UK sends you to the Northern Ireland Pension Centre, and if you live abroad, to the International Pension Centre.
How do I find old pensions to tell?
GOV.UK's Find pension contact details service gives you the contact details of a workplace or personal pension scheme, as long as you know the name of the employer or the provider. It will not tell you whether you have a pension there or what it is worth, so ask the scheme itself when you write about your new name.
Can you change the name on an ISA?
Yes: you tell the ISA provider, in the same way as for its other accounts. Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell and Vanguard, in the table above, each publish how. For a cash ISA with a bank or building society, see changing your name with your bank; for NS&I accounts, the NS&I guide.
Who can certify a copy for a pension or investment provider?
Whoever the provider says. Scottish Widows accepts a UK solicitor, a bank employee, an FCA-regulated adviser or broker, a certified or chartered accountant, or an embassy official, and never you. Hargreaves Lansdown's list adds a teacher, a doctor, a minister of religion and a justice of the peace. NHS Pensions wants the copy certified and stamped by a solicitor. Who can certify a copy covers the usual rules.
Something else? Ask us, and a person replies by email, normally the same working day.
