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Your licence and GOV.UK
No. DVLA only takes a new name on paper, by post, on form D1. Its online services for an address, a renewal or a new photo all send you to the post once your name has changed. The D1 pack comes from a Post Office, the change is free, and GOV.UK says you can keep driving while the new licence is made.
A new address can be changed online at GOV.UK, says DVLA’s leaflet INS57P, Information on driving licences. A new name, it says in the next breath, needs form D1 or D2 and proof of the new name. GOV.UK’s name change guide is the same: the form goes in the post with your licence and “any original documents” that confirm the change.
Choose what you want to change or do. Each answer says whether GOV.UK lets you do it online, which form it takes, what it costs and how long it should take.
Every change, with its answer:
Choose a change to see whether it can be done online.
OnlineBy postOnline, unless your name changed
A new name, by Deed Poll
By post
No GOV.UK service takes a new name, so the D1 pack from a Post Office is the only way in. DVLA wants your original Deed Poll, with one document in the new name issued after it, or the number of a UK passport that already shows it.
My married or civil partner’s surname
By post
Form D1 goes to DVLA with your licence and the original marriage or civil partnership certificate, which comes back to you. If a UK passport already shows your married name, its number on the form can take the certificate’s place.
My name and my address together
By post
GOV.UK’s address service is online, but it turns away anyone whose name is changing at the same time and sends them to the post. A single D1 then carries the new name and the new address, with original proof of the name.
Only my title, such as Ms to Dr
By post
GOV.UK treats a new title exactly like a new name, free on form D1, with evidence needed only for a hereditary title. Its renewal page adds that once your title has changed, you can only apply by post.
A mistake DVLA made on my licence
By post
DVLA’s leaflet INS57P asks you to send a licence with anything wrong on it back to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN, with a letter explaining what is wrong. A spelling you chose yourself is a change of name, not a mistake.
Only my address
Online
GOV.UK’s change of address service costs nothing, and the new licence should arrive within a week. By post, the ‘changes’ section of letter D741, which came with your licence, does the same job in about 3 weeks.
A new photo, or my 10-year renewal
Online, unless your name changed
A photocard is renewed every 10 years, and the online service can use your passport photo. GOV.UK closes it to anyone whose name or title has changed since their current licence: they post a D1 with a printed photo and £17 instead.
A lost or stolen licence
Online, unless your name changed
GOV.UK’s replacement service should have a licence with you within a week. Its postal route is the one that provides for a new name: form D1, the same £20 and original documents confirming the change. Replacing by phone is only for people whose details have not changed.
Swapping an old paper licence
Online, unless your name changed
GOV.UK says plainly that you cannot apply online if you have changed your name. The swap then goes on form D1 by post, with a passport-type photo and original identity documents, and it is free if you still have the paper licence.
Showing my licence to a car hire firm
Online
GOV.UK’s view or share service makes a check code for a car hire company, valid for 21 days. It asks for your licence number, National Insurance number and the postcode on your licence, so make the code from the card you will actually show.
The log book (V5C) for my car
Online, unless your name changed
GOV.UK’s online log book service changes an address only. For a new name, write it in full in section 3, send the whole log book with a letter and proof such as your Deed Poll, and allow up to 6 weeks.
From GOV.UK’s licence, renewal, replacement, paper licence, check code and log book pages, and DVLA’s leaflet INS57P, checked November 2026.
Licence from Northern Ireland? The Driver & Vehicle Agency changes an address online, but nidirect says a new name cannot be reported to it online. Northern Ireland, below.
For each of these services, GOV.UK’s route changes on the day your name does, and the postal form D1 takes over. Here they are side by side, before and after.
Because DVLA asks for the original documents. GOV.UK’s name change guide asks for the originals that confirm your new name, and turns away photocopies and laminated certificates. Its identity documents page goes further and refuses certified copies, even those certified by the Post Office’s own document service.
Neither GOV.UK nor DVLA gives a reason for keeping a name off its online services, so we will not invent one. What sets the postal route apart is simple: it is the only one that carries your original Deed Poll or certificate to Swansea and brings it home again.
The original returns on its own, by second class post. To follow it home, GOV.UK suggests adding a prepaid Special Delivery or Signed For envelope addressed to yourself. What DVLA accepts as proof.
GOV.UK lists one route for a new name, so the speed comes from getting it right first time. Four steps, in the order that wastes the least time.
GOV.UK sends you to a Post Office that deals with DVLA photocard renewal or vehicle tax. There is no download, and DVLA’s own form ordering service cannot send a D1.
With a Deed Poll, DVLA also wants one document in your new name dated after it, such as a UK bank statement. If a UK passport already shows the new name, its number on the form counts as that document.
To DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN, with your licence and the originals, and the right postage. Your licence and Deed Poll are inside, so a tracked service is worth the extra.
GOV.UK says you can still drive meanwhile. A licence by post usually arrives within 3 weeks, and longer if DVLA needs to check your identity or medical details. Your dates.
Much of the rest of your list need not wait for DVLA. Many organisations accept a certified copy of your Deed Poll while the original is in Swansea, and some take a new name through an online account. The Deed Polls Online handbook, our sister site, sorts which organisations take a new name online from those that still want paper.
Every step in full, from the envelope to the photo: the guide to changing the name on your driving licence.
Search for an online name change and you may meet sites that look official and charge for help. DVLA has warned about them in its own words.
In DVLA’s words
“Beware of misleading third party websites passing themselves off as DVLA. These sites will often charge additional fees for services that you can get for free or at a lower cost on GOV.UK.”
Where we fit in. We draft and post the Deed Poll, which you order from us online. Form D1 is free and goes from you straight to DVLA, and nobody needs a go-between for it.
Licences issued in Northern Ireland come from the Driver & Vehicle Agency. nidirect’s page on keeping a licence up to date points to two online services, a change of address and a replacement for a lost licence, and is just as clear that a new name cannot be reported to the DVA online.
The new name goes on form DL1 instead, posted with the documents the DVA asks for. It aims to deal with a complete application within 10 working days, and asks you to allow at least six weeks before chasing a licence that has not come. Form DL1 in full.
Postnever online for a name
From nidirect and the Department for Infrastructure, checked November 2026.
Not online: GOV.UK has no service that takes a new name. It goes on form D1, from a Post Office, posted to DVLA with your licence and original proof. It is free, and you can keep driving while it is processed. What you can do online.
Only the address on its own. GOV.UK’s online address service sends anyone whose name is changing at the same time to the post, where one form D1 updates both together, free. Name and address together.
No. DVLA’s form ordering service says it cannot be used to order D1, D2 or D4 forms, and there is no download. The D1 pack comes from a Post Office that offers DVLA services. Form D1, part by part.
No. A married name goes on form D1 by post, with your licence and your original marriage or civil partnership certificate, which DVLA sends back. A UK passport already in your married name can stand in for the certificate: write its number on the form. Your licence after marriage.
Usually 3 weeks, GOV.UK says, and longer if DVLA has to check your identity or medical details. A licence applied for online should arrive within a week, but no online service takes a new name. You may keep driving while you wait. Your dates, and when to chase.
No. DVLA warns of third party websites passing themselves off as DVLA and charging extra for things that are free or cheaper on GOV.UK. Changing the name on a licence costs nothing, and there is no online service for any website to use. Sites to avoid.
Something else? Ask a paralegal and we will answer, usually the same working day.
Your Deed Poll is ordered online in about five minutes. A paralegal drafts it, it is checked and posted the same working day, and it is guaranteed to be accepted by DVLA, or your money back.
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