Your passport says O’Connell; the bank dropped the apostrophe years ago. Your degree certificate spells a transliterated surname one way and your visa another. A payroll system stored an initial where a forename should be. None of these is a name change — but try telling that to the onboarding team that has just frozen your application because two documents disagree.
What a “One and the Same Person” Declaration Is
It is a statutory declaration made under the Statutory Declarations Act 1835: a sworn statement listing each version of your name and the document it appears on, declaring that they all refer to one person — you. Two properties make it the right instrument:
- It changes nothing. The declaration states in terms that no change of name has taken place and that you have not given up any of the spellings. That is exactly what a bank or employer asked to reconcile records wants — and exactly what a deed poll (which renounces a name) would get wrong. Sign a deed poll to explain a spelling difference and you have told the organisation you changed your name, which isn’t what happened.
- It is sworn. You sign it before a solicitor or commissioner for oaths, under the criminal penalty in s.5 of the Perjury Act 1911 for a false statement. That oath is what gives a one-page document its weight.
The Swearing: Where, Who, and the £5
Any solicitor or commissioner for oaths in England and Wales can take the declaration — many high-street firms do it on the spot. The fee is fixed by law at £5 per declaration, inclusive of VAT where payable; some firms add a small admin charge of their own. We cannot take the oath ourselves: administering oaths is a reserved legal activity, and we are a document service, not a person authorised to carry it out — which is why your declaration is posted to you to swear locally.
The One Case It Cannot Fix
If the differently-spelled document is issued by another country and you need HM Passport Office to accept it — a foreign passport or foreign birth certificate on a British passport application — a statutory declaration will not resolve it. HMPO’s guidance asks for evidence from the authority that issued the document: an embassy, consulate or government body. Our order form asks about this and will stop the order rather than sell you the wrong document. For banks, employers, universities, the DVLA and other UK organisations, the declaration is the standard instrument.
What You Get, and What It Costs
Our Name Discrepancy Declaration is prepared from the exact spellings you give us — character for character, mistakes included, because the whole point is reproducing what each document actually says. £34.99 including VAT buys two printed originals posted free by Royal Mail Tracked 24; the £5 swearing fee is paid to the solicitor on the day. (Why two originals? Because one gets handed over and kept by the organisation — the second is yours.) The full price landscape, including solicitors’ own drafting fees, is in our cost guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many versions of my name can it cover?
Up to five on our form — passport, birth certificate, bank, employer and driving licence covers the realistic worst case. Each version is paired with the document it appears on.
Is this the same as correcting the record?
No. The declaration reconciles records without touching them. If you want the wrong spelling actually corrected — a birth register error, say — that is a correction process with the issuing body, and for maiden/married name questions see our guide to surname mismatches.
Who can make one?
Anyone aged 16 or over making it about their own name. For a child under 16, contact us and we will advise on the right route.
Will every organisation accept it?
Each organisation sets its own requirements and we won’t promise acceptance. It is the instrument organisations themselves name for this job; if yours has issued specific wording requirements, send them to us before you order.