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How to become a notary public
Both qualified lawyers and non-lawyers; the Notaries Society publishes separate guides for law graduates and for practitioners.
Legal basis. Qualification is governed by the Notaries (Qualification) Rules 2017, made by the Master of the Faculties.
The route
- Satisfy the academic stage, or apply for a Certificate of Exemption from it if you are already a qualified lawyer.
- Complete the Notarial Practice Course: a two-year distance learning course run on the Faculty Office's behalf by University College London.
- Apply to the Master of the Faculties for admission.
- Practise under post-qualification supervision before holding a full practising certificate.
How long. Two years for the Notarial Practice Course, plus the post-qualification supervision period.
What it costs
- £175 application fee, paid to the Faculty Office on application for training, qualification or a Certificate of Exemption.
Fees change. Each figure here was read from the regulator’s own page on the date shown at the foot of this page, and the regulator’s page is the one to check before paying anything.
How many get in
This cannot be counted from the register. The Faculty Office publishes no qualification or admission date on the register, so there is nothing to count from it. Its Registrar's annual report does publish admissions, and those are shown instead.
What the regulator reports instead
The register carries no date, but the regulator’s annual report does publish how many people it admitted.
New notaries admitted
| Year | people | Read from |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 51 | Registrars annual report 2026 “During the course of the calendar year 2025 the Master admitted 51 new notaries – so the growth of numbers in the profession is being maintained with once again a small increase.” |
Students passing the UCL notarial course
| Year | people | Read from |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 41 | Registrars annual report 2026 “In addition, the Master has also admitted 7 new notaries so far in 2025/26; we have also been advised that 41 students have successfully passed the UCL course at the first sitting with more likely to follow after the second/retake exam.” |
Read from the regulator’s own published reports — see what the regulators report about themselves.
What the work pays
By occupation code, not by profession — for most of these professions those are not the same thing. See what they earn for why.
| Occupation | Median |
|---|---|
| Legal professionals n.e.c. | £33,822 |
Where to apply
Faculty Office’s own page. This site is not the regulator and cannot admit anybody to anything; everything above is a summary of what they publish, and where the two differ they are right.
Where these facts come from
- primary — read from the regulator's own page on the date shown
- statute — the Act or regulations named, which can be checked against legislation.gov.uk
- measured — computed from the register snapshots this site holds
- secondary — recorded from a source other than the regulator's own page and not verified against it
Read from the regulators’ pages on 2026-09-28.