Unenrolled
- Official number
- None
- Register
- None: no government body files a copy
- The record
- The signed paper you keep, and our SafeKeep record if you chose it
Numbers and references
Does a Deed Poll have a serial number?
No. There is no national serial number for a Deed Poll and no register to look one up in, because an unenrolled deed is never filed anywhere. The only number on ours is our order reference, printed small in the top right corner: quote it when you write to us, and it is how we find your order for more copies, a replacement or SafeKeep.
- No national register
- Our reference on every copy
- Valid without a number
A Deed Poll works without a number
What makes a Deed Poll count is how it was signed: in both your names, in ink, in front of witnesses, and dated. Those are the things HM Passport Office’s caseworker guidance tells its staff to check, and a reference number is not among them.
On our Deed Poll
Where the reference is on ours
In the top right corner, in small bold type above the heading “Change of Name Deed”. It is a short run of letters and numbers, and it matches the reference in your order confirmation email and on every email we send after it.
Each certified copy is printed from the same details as your deed, so the same reference sits in the same corner of every copy. Our order letter and any cover letters in your envelope carry it as well.
Every part of our Deed Poll, labelled
Why it is there
What our reference is for, and what it is not
It is a filing number for your order with us. That makes it useful to you and to us, and to nobody else’s records.
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Writing to us
Quote it in any email to support@deedpolls.org and we can go straight to your order, whatever the question.
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SafeKeep, copies and replacements
With SafeKeep, give us the reference and we can issue a replacement or more certified copies from the record we hold, at 25% off. How SafeKeep works.
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An organisation checking with us
Our cover letters print it, so an organisation that wants to confirm a deed came from us has the reference to quote when it asks.
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What it is not
A government number, an entry on any register, or part of what makes the deed valid. It identifies our order, and your Deed Poll would be just as binding without it.
Looking one up
Is there a register of Deed Polls?
Only for the few that are enrolled. GOV.UK describes enrolment with the High Court as the way to put a change of name on public record; an unenrolled Deed Poll, which is what nearly everyone has, never goes on one.
Enrolled with the High Court
- Public record
- A notice in The Gazette, with the name change and, GOV.UK says, your address
- What identifies it
- The notice’s own ID, the date of the deed and the date it was enrolled
- The deed itself
- Sealed by the Deed Poll Office and posted back to you
Gazette notices are found by searching a name, not a number, at The Gazette, where enrolled changes are listed as “Changes of Name”. Enrolment costs £53.05 and can take several months, by GOV.UK’s account. Do you need to enrol?
Checking someone else’s Deed Poll at work? The Deed Polls Online handbook, our sister site, has a guide for the person at the desk.
Questions & answers
Deed Poll numbers, answered
Does a Deed Poll have a serial number?
No. An unenrolled Deed Poll is never registered, so it has no official number and there is no database to check one against. A number printed on a deed is the drafter’s own reference: on ours, the order reference in the top right corner.
Where is the serial number on a Deed Poll certificate?
There is no official serial number to find. On ours the only number is our order reference, printed small in the top right corner above the heading, and in the same place on each certified copy.
Can I look up a Deed Poll by its number?
No. Only an enrolled Deed Poll appears on a public record, and its notice in The Gazette is found by searching a name rather than a number. An unenrolled Deed Poll is not recorded anywhere, so there is nothing to search.
A form asks for my Deed Poll number. What do I put?
If yours is unenrolled, say that it is: there is no official number to give. Add the date it was signed, which is written on the deed, and send the deed or a certified copy if the form asks for one. If you are unsure what the form is after, ask the organisation.
I have lost my order reference. Can you still find my order?
Email support@deedpolls.org from the address you ordered with, and give us the names on the order and the postcode it was posted to instead. The reference is also printed in the top right corner of your Deed Poll and every certified copy.
Is the reference printed on my certified copies too?
Yes. Each certified copy is printed from the same details as your Deed Poll, so the same reference appears in the same corner of every copy.
Something else? Ask a paralegal and we will answer, usually the same working day.
Keep reading
Related answers
What does a Deed Poll look like?Ours, part by part, with the certified copies and everything else in the envelope.Read this Do you have to register it?Enrolment at court: what it does, what it costs, and who needs it.Read this Keeping your Deed Poll safeStoring the original, why it never expires, where records are kept, and SafeKeep.Read this
Need a Deed Poll, or a replacement?
Apply online in about five minutes. Every Deed Poll we draft carries its order reference, is checked by quality control and is posted the same working day, guaranteed to be accepted.
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