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Your licence and the law
Only once your name has actually changed, and then straight away. DVLA’s leaflet says to tell it immediately about a new name, and warns of a fine of up to £1,000 if you do not. A wedding does not change your name by itself, so if you keep your own there is nothing to tell. When you do change it, form D1 is free, goes by post, and you can keep driving meanwhile.
Section 99 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 says that when the name on your licence “ceases to be correct”, you must surrender it “forthwith”, and that failing to without reasonable cause is an offence. So the duty begins with a change of name, never with a wedding, a nickname or a plan. The same section has the new licence granted free of charge.
Choose the one closest to yours. Each answer says whether DVLA needs to hear from you, and what to send if it does.
Every situation, with its answer:
Choose a situation to see whether DVLA needs to hear from you.
Tell DVLA nowNothing to doNot yetYour choice
I married and kept my own name
Nothing to do
A wedding is no legal reason for your name to change, HM Passport Office’s guidance says, and nor is a civil partnership. Keep using your own name and the licence stays right, so DVLA needs nothing from you.
If you take your spouse’s surname later, the duty to tell DVLA starts on the day you start using it.
Keeping your name after marriageI married and now use my spouse’s surname
Tell DVLA now
Once you use your spouse’s or civil partner’s surname, the licence no longer shows your name. DVLA lists the marriage or civil partnership certificate as the proof, so you need no Deed Poll, and the change is free.
We married and made a new surname from both
Tell DVLA now
A surname blended from both, such as Ward and Hill becoming Wardhill, appears on neither certificate. DVLA then asks for a Deed Poll or a statutory declaration, sent with one document in the new name.
The Adult Deed Poll, £18.50I have changed my name by Deed Poll
Tell DVLA now
Our deed says you take the new name “from today”, meaning the day you sign it, so your licence stops matching your name from then.
I divorced and went back to an earlier surname
Tell DVLA now
Send form D1 with your decree absolute or final order and your birth or adoption certificate, or your UK naturalisation certificate. If a UK passport already shows the restored name, its number can stand in for them on the form.
Your licence after divorceI have not signed my Deed Poll yet
Not yet
Until you sign your Deed Poll, or start using a married name, the licence still shows your name correctly. Use the time to plan the order, because DVLA and HM Passport Office each want the original, one after the other.
Licence or passport first?I go by another name, but my legal name is the same
Nothing to do
A nickname, a shortened name or a name you use at work leaves your official name, and your licence, as they are. HM Passport Office asks everyone to keep to one name for all official purposes. If the other name becomes the one you use for everything, make it official first, and the licence follows.
Do you need a Deed Poll for your change?Only my title has changed
Your choice
GOV.UK describes changing a title as something you do if you want to, on the same free form D1, with evidence needed only for a hereditary title. A title sits outside your name: GOV.UK says a Deed Poll cannot change one.
DVLA has spelt my name wrong
A correction
DVLA’s leaflet asks you to check your licence, and if anything on it is wrong, to return it to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN with a letter explaining what.
A name spelt wrong on your licenceLicence from Northern Ireland? The same answers apply, with the Driver & Vehicle Agency in place of DVLA and form DL1 in place of D1. Northern Ireland, below.
One question decides it: has the name you use for official purposes changed? Everything else follows from the answer.
Three official sources make the same point in different words. None of them counts the time in days.
DVLA’s leaflet INS57P
Immediately
You must tell DVLA immediately about any change to your personal details, the leaflet says, on form D1 with proof for a new name. It adds that you could be fined up to £1,000 if you do not.
Information on driving licences, on GOV.UKRoad Traffic Act 1988, section 99
Forthwith
When the name on a licence is no longer correct, its holder must surrender it forthwith. Failing to without reasonable cause is an offence, fined at level 3 on the standard scale under the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988: up to £1,000.
Section 99, on legislation.gov.ukDVLA’s information charter
Promptly
By law, DVLA’s personal information charter says, you must give it accurate information and tell it promptly about changes such as a change of name or address.
The charter, on GOV.UKNot if you keep your own name, because nothing on the licence has become wrong. If you take your spouse’s surname, the licence stops being correct on the day you start using it, and section 99 then applies to you as it does to anyone with a new name.
A vehicle in your name? The log book is a separate duty. GOV.UK says you must update your V5C when you change your name, and that you can be fined up to £1,000 for not telling DVLA. Your V5C and a new name.
The fine: Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, Schedule 2, with level 3 set at £1,000 by section 122 of the Sentencing Act 2020 and, in Scotland, section 225 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. Checked October 2026.
You do not have to change it. HM Passport Office tells its own staff that marrying, or forming a civil partnership, is not in itself a legal basis for a new name anywhere in the UK, and GOV.UK says no new passport is needed if you marry and keep your name. The licence is the same: it still shows your name, so there is nothing to send.
Taking your spouse’s surname can wait as long as you like. The duty to tell DVLA starts when you start using it, and your marriage certificate is the proof DVLA lists, with no Deed Poll.
Married name with friends and your own at work, or the other way round? HM Passport Office asks for one name for all official purposes, and a driving licence is one of them. Deed Polls Online, our sister site, sets out every choice of surname after a wedding.
The clock starts when the name changes. From there, four steps take you to a licence in the new name.
You sign your Deed Poll, or start using your married name.
A marriage certificate needs nothing more. With a Deed Poll, DVLA also wants one document in the new name issued after it, such as a UK bank statement or a letter from your employer, council or HMRC, or a UK passport number.
Free, to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN, with your licence and the originals. GOV.UK says you can keep driving while you wait.
Usually within 3 weeks by post, GOV.UK says, and with a new licence number if your surname or initials changed. How the number changes.
No set number of days. DVLA says immediately and the Act says forthwith, and neither counts in days. One original goes to one office at a time, so if your Deed Poll is with HM Passport Office, the D1 follows the day it comes back. Licence or passport first?
nidirect puts it the same way: you must tell the Driver & Vehicle Agency immediately about a change to your name. It cannot be done online, so the new name goes on form DL1, posted with your licence and original proof, and the change is free.
The DVA, not DVLA, issues Northern Ireland licences, and it aims to deal with a complete application within 10 working days. Form DL1 in full.
Freeto change your name
From nidirect and the Department for Infrastructure, checked October 2026.
Only if you take a new surname. Marriage does not change a name in UK law, so keeping your own needs nothing from DVLA. Once you use your spouse’s surname, send form D1 with your marriage certificate; it is free and needs no Deed Poll. Find your situation.
Once your name has changed, yes. Section 99 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 says a licence whose name is no longer correct must be surrendered forthwith, and failing to without reasonable cause is an offence. Keeping your own name after marriage is not a change, so the duty does not arise.
Up to £1,000. DVLA’s leaflet INS57P gives that figure, and the offence in section 99(5) carries a fine at level 3 on the standard scale, which is £1,000. GOV.UK gives the same maximum for not telling DVLA about a new name on a vehicle log book.
No set number of days. DVLA says to tell it immediately and the Act says forthwith. In practice, post form D1 once you have the proof: your marriage certificate, or your original Deed Poll with one document in your new name issued after it.
Yes. GOV.UK confirms that you may carry on driving while DVLA makes the new licence, and one applied for by post usually arrives within 3 weeks.
GOV.UK describes changing a title, such as Ms to Dr, as something you do if you want to. It uses the same free form D1, with evidence needed only for a hereditary title.
Something else? Ask a paralegal and we will answer, usually the same working day.
Apply online in about five minutes. A paralegal drafts your Deed Poll, 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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