Changing your name on your TV Licence

How to change the name on your licence#

TV Licensing's FAQ, "How do I change my name, address or other details?", puts name first among the details you can change when you sign in to update your details online, with your address, contact details, bank details, payment dates and how you receive your licence. "You'll need your TV Licence number to do this," it says.

The sign-in page asks for three things: your TV Licence or customer number, your last name "as it appears on the TV Licence", and the postcode of the licensed address. So sign in with the surname the licence shows now, which is your old one, and enter the new name once you are in.

The licence number is 10 digits long. TV Licensing says it is on your current licence and on any letters or emails it has sent you, and if you pay by Direct Debit some banks show it next to the payment on your statement, though a banking app may not.

No documents, and no new licence yet#

Beyond the details you sign in with, the FAQ asks for nothing. It does not mention a deed poll, a marriage certificate or any other proof, so there is nothing to post, and your deed poll stays at home for the organisations that do want to see it.

Nor does a new licence arrive. To the question "Will I receive a new licence if I change my details?" TV Licensing answers: "No. We will simply update our records which will mean you are correctly licensed." Your new details appear on the licence it issues at renewal.

A title is handled differently. If you do not want a gender-specific title on your account, TV Licensing asks you to give your preferred title through its contact us form. Mx and other gender-neutral titles covers titles more widely.

One name on each licence#

"A TV Licence is a legal document and can only have one name on it," TV Licensing says, so there is no joint licence for a couple. A licence usually covers the holder, their family and anyone visiting or working at the address, and its terms extend it to anyone who normally lives with you at the licensed place, though not to areas occupied only by tenants, lodgers or paying guests. If the licence is in your partner's name, your own change of name does not touch it.

Passing the licence to someone else at the address#

TV Licensing describes three situations in which a licence moves to another person at the same address. For each it asks you to call, using the number on its page:

• The licence holder moves out. The licence can be transferred to someone who is already covered by it and lives at the same address. If the other person moves in only after you have moved out, you cancel your licence instead.
• Someone at the address can get a free licence. The licence holder can transfer it to them, and TV Licensing updates the details on the licence before the free licence application is completed.
• The licence holder dies, covered below, where writing is an option too.

Paying for someone does not need a transfer. TV Licensing says you do not have to transfer the licence to pay for someone else: you can buy a new licence for them, or start paying for their existing one by Direct Debit.

If the licence holder dies#

"Anyone who is living at the address will still be covered by the current licence until it expires," says TV Licensing's page on what to do when a licence holder dies, so nothing has to happen straight away. There are then two routes. The licence can be transferred to someone at the same address, which TV Licensing arranges by phone, or you can write to Customer Services, TV Licensing, Darlington, DL98 1TL, giving the name and address of the person who has died. Or it can be cancelled, with an application for a refund, on TV Licensing's online cancellation form, for which you need the licence number, its expiry date and bank details. The number is on letters or emails sent to the licence holder, or on bank statements. TV Licensing says it will contact you again within 15 working days.

If the home is now empty, TV Licensing cancels the licence and stops writing to the address for six months, after which letters addressed to "the present occupier" start again.

A free over-75 licence goes on covering anyone who was living with the licence holder as part of their household until it expires. TV Licensing asks to be told who the new licence holder is, so that the renewal reminder reaches the right person. If the holder lived alone, the executor can cancel it, with no refund because it was free. Anyone else at the address who is 74 or over and receives Pension Credit can apply for a free licence. If you were married to the licence holder, your own name does not change unless you decide to change it.

Concessions follow the person named on the licence#

TV Licensing says the fee and any concessions are set in law by the Government, and it lists four: people aged 75 or over who receive Pension Credit, people who are blind (severely sight impaired), people in qualifying residential care who are disabled or over 60 and retired, and businesses that provide overnight accommodation. Two of them depend on whose name the licence is in.

• The free licence at 75. You can apply if "you, as the licence holder," are 75 or older and you, or your partner living at the same address, receive Pension Credit. TV Licensing checks Pension Credit with DWP and asks you to "ensure the name on the TV Licence matches the name held by DWP", so after a change of name, update both: see changing your name with DWP. If you are over 74 and share your home with a licence holder under 74, you can still apply in your own name once TV Licensing has updated the details on the licence.
• The blind concession. It halves the fee and covers everyone who lives with you, but if the licence "isn't in the name of the person who is blind", it has to be transferred into their name, which TV Licensing does through a first-time blind application that quotes the existing licence number.

Who to tell, and in what order lists everyone else, and changing your name for council tax covers the other bill that comes with your address.