Instant Deed Poll Online – PDF in Minutes

A deed poll is valid once you declare you abandon your old name, adopt the new one for all purposes, require everyone to use it, and sign in ink before two independent witnesses. No prescribed form, paper, issuer or registry. No solicitor, court or government approval.

Read the full process in our name change UK guide. The paper is titled CHANGE OF NAME DEED — see what a change of name deed is. Timing: how long a deed poll takes.

GOV.UK itself publishes the model wording and confirms that “a specialist agency or a solicitor can make the deed poll for you – they may charge a fee”. Our document uses that model wording with your details merged in. If you would rather copy it yourself, use the free template — the legal effect is identical.

HM Passport Office, the DVLA, HMRC, UK banks, the NHS, employers and universities all accept an unenrolled deed poll you print and sign at home. A printout you then sign in ink is an original document — what HMPO rejects is a photocopy of an already-signed document, not a freshly signed printout. Posted paper is not more legal.

For a passport you will also need one document showing your new name in use, dated within the last 12 months, such as a bank statement or payslip. See how to change the name on your passport. Honest comparison with a posted incumbent: vs UK Deed Poll Service.

You sign twice — once in your old name and once in your new name — while two witnesses, each 18 or over and independent of you (not relatives, partners or housemates), physically watch. They then sign and add their names and addresses. Print and sign three to four copies so you hold multiple originals. Never use an electronic signature.

HMPO and the DVLA require wet ink. If you later lose a signed copy, print again and sign a fresh original — lost deed poll guidance. Do not pay an archive retrieval fee for a scan.

Around 98–99% of people never need to enrol. Enrolment adds a permanent public record in The Gazette, not extra legal validity. The court fee is £53.05 from age 18 (GOV.UK, checked 13 August 2026). We do not sell enrolment. Ask the organisation that demanded it, in writing, before you pay the court.

Full comparison: enrolled vs unenrolled deed polls.

In Scotland a statutory declaration is the standard name-change instrument, and deed polls are also accepted. If an organisation specifically asks for a statutory declaration, our tailored 1835-Act PDF is £9.99 plus the statutory £5 witnessing fee. The Name Change Pack bundles both documents with notification letters for £25.

Stat dec: statutory declaration of name change. Bundle: Name Change Pack. Unsure: which-document checker.