Who is the official deed poll service?

"Who is the official deed poll service?" - that is a question that we're asked on an almost daily basis. There is a misconception that a deed of change of name (usually referred to as a deed poll) is issued by some official government department or agency and there are many websites that are all too happy to capitalise on this misconception by trying to mislead or trick their visitors into thinking that they are the official issuer.

The truth is that there's no such thing as an "official" or government deed poll service. Every website offering such services is owned and operated by a private company or individual. The UK government doesn't issue deed polls nor does it endorse or approve of any particular company that does.

Why isn't there an official deed poll service?

In order to understand why there is no official issuer of deed polls in the United Kingdom, you need to understand exactly what a deed poll is. You'll often hear people refer to a deed poll as a certificate – this is wrong. A deed poll is merely a legally binding document executed (signed) by an individual declaring that they:

• Renounce their old name
• Adopt and assume their new name
• Will use the new name exclusively
• Require everyone to call them by the new name

Now that you understand that a deed poll is a legal document, a contract of sorts, you'll hopefully understand why there is no "official" deed poll service. After all, there is no such thing as an official issuer of any other type of legal declaration or contract, so why would it be any different for a deed poll?

Does that mean my deed poll might not be accepted by some organisations?

Absolutely not! Deed polls issued by us are guaranteed to be accepted by all UK based organisations, including banks, government departments and agencies such as the Passport Service, DVLA and HMRC, and private companies. If you experience any trouble in getting your deed poll accepted, we'll issue a full refund of your application fee.

In the seven years that we have been providing deed polls to customers, we've never had to issue a refund for a refused deed poll.

Still have doubts?

If you still don't believe that there's no such thing as an official deed poll service, you might want to take a look at this page from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) website. It details a complaint made against one of our competitors (UK Deed Poll Service – ukdps.co.uk) over their use of terms such as "official website of the UK Deed Poll Service".

The ASA reviewed the complaint and found that UK Deed Poll Service was wrongly misleading consumers to believe that the website is for an official government service and told the company that they should not use the word "official" on their website. UK Deed Poll Service ignored the ruling by the ASA and continues to make claims of being the "official website of the UK Deed Poll Service" on its website and search engine advertisements.