How the count works
Count organisations, not accounts. A bank with three of your accounts needs one copy, and so does a pension provider holding two of your pots. What decides the count is what each organisation does with the evidence it is sent:
- It keeps a certified copy. Banks, lenders, pension providers, employers and solicitors usually file what they are sent, so each needs its own copy. Solicitors, accountants and financial advisers must keep copies of the identity evidence they check.
- It wants the original and sends it back. HM Passport Office and DVLA ask for the deed itself and post it back separately. There is one original, so they take turns.
- It looks at the original, takes a photo, or needs nothing. A branch that checks the deed in front of you, an app that takes a photo, and HMRC, which changes your name online, need no certified copy at all.
Every rule in the calculator comes from that organisation's own published process, set out in our organisation guides, which each row links to. Where an organisation publishes nothing, the calculator counts a copy, because that is the safe side to be on.
Why a spare or two
Because the copy that goes missing in the post, and the organisation you forgot, both turn up. Copies are ordered with the deed and certified from it, so it costs less to add two now than to order more later: the 10-copy pack at £15 costs £5 more than the pack of 6. How many certified copies do I need? works through a longer example.
The order that saves time
Keep the original at home until HM Passport Office or DVLA asks for it, and let the copies do the travelling. HM Passport Office wants your deed poll and one document showing you already use the new name, so tell an organisation that produces something in your new name first, such as your employer, HMRC or a bank that takes a deed poll on its own. Some banks, such as Lloyds, Halifax, Santander, TSB, Revolut and Chase UK, want a passport or driving licence in the new name before they will change it, so they come after it: banks compared. Who to tell, and in what order goes through the rest.
What a certified copy is
A copy of your deed poll certified as a true copy of the original. Ours are produced alongside your deed and certified by us. Many organisations refuse a plain photocopy but accept a certified one, which is what lets the original stay safe at home. What is a certified copy? explains more.
Questions people ask
How many copies of a deed poll do I need?
One certified copy for each organisation that keeps what it is sent, plus a spare or two. Banks, lenders, pension providers, employers and solicitors usually keep one; HM Passport Office and DVLA want the original and send it back; many others take a photo or scan, or need nothing. Two banks, three pensions and an employer is six.
Will DVLA accept a certified copy of a deed poll?
Not for your driving licence: GOV.UK says to send original documents, not photocopies, and DVLA posts them back. For the vehicle log book (V5C), a certified copy does the job.
How do I get certified copies of my deed poll?
Order them with your deed poll at the checkout: from £6 for 2, up to £25 for 20. We produce them alongside your deed, certify each as a true copy of it, and send them in the same envelope. We can only certify a deed we drafted. If you need more after your order, ask us: the same prices apply, plus delivery.
Can I send a photocopy instead?
Sometimes. The organisations this calculator marks "a photo, scan or plain copy is enough" take one, and the rest want a certified copy or the original. Will organisations accept a photocopy or a PDF? goes through who takes what.
Who can certify a copy of a deed poll?
Copies ordered with your deed are certified by us. For any other copy, the organisation asking for it decides whose certification it accepts, often a solicitor or another professional who is not related to you: who can certify a copy covers the usual rules.
Something else? Ask us, and a person replies by email, normally the same working day.
