Updating Your Child's Documents After a Name Change
Once your child's deed poll is signed and witnessed, their name is legally changed. You then update their records with each organisation directly, showing the deed poll as proof.
There is no deadline for any of this, and anything missed can be updated whenever it comes up.
What You Need
Organisations will ask to see your child's original deed poll, and usually proof of your own identity as the parent or guardian. Some may also want to see your child's birth certificate.
School and Education
Contact your child's school office with the deed poll and proof of your identity. The school updates class registers, records and reports, ID cards and contact details. Future exam certificates will show the new name.
Inform any nursery, childminder or childcare provider the same way. If your child is at college or university, the student records office handles it, updating their records, ID and future certificates.
If you're applying for school places, use your child's new name on the application and provide the deed poll as supporting evidence.
Medical Records
Contact your child's GP surgery with the deed poll, and their health records will be updated to the new name. In Northern Ireland, your child's Health and Care Number stays the same, so their medical history follows them.
Your child's dentist and optician keep their own records, so inform them separately. If you have a health visitor for a young child, tell them too.
Benefits and Government Records
Contact HMRC to update your child's name on Child Benefit records, with your Child Benefit reference number to hand.
If you receive Universal Credit or other benefits, inform the Department for Communities, which administers benefits in Northern Ireland. Payments can be delayed if your child's records don't match.
Passport
If your child has a passport, apply for a new one in their new name. You'll need their current passport, their deed poll, and evidence that they're using their new name, such as a letter from their school.
There's no obligation to do this straight away. Your child can continue using their current passport until it expires, as long as any travel is booked in the name it shows.
Birth Certificate
Your child's birth certificate cannot be changed. It is a record of the facts at their birth, and it stays the same after a name change.
This causes no problems in practice. When you need to prove your child's identity, you show their birth certificate and deed poll together, and every organisation accepts this as normal. The two documents work as a pair: the birth certificate proves who they are, the deed poll proves their current name.
Money and Savings
If your child has a bank or savings account, contact the bank to update their name. Requirements vary by bank. The same applies to a Child Trust Fund or Junior ISA, contact the provider directly.
If your child is named on any insurance policies, such as travel or health insurance, inform the insurer.
Clubs, Activities and Everything Else
Inform any sports clubs, music teachers or activity groups your child attends, so their membership records and any competition registrations are updated. Library cards and other memberships can be updated as they come up.
Ready to Change Your Child's Name?
Apply online and receive your child's deed poll by post within days. Each document is drafted to Northern Irish requirements, printed on parchment paper and embossed with a seal.
Once signed and witnessed, it is legally binding and guaranteed to be accepted in Northern Ireland and throughout the UK.