Estate admin · Share registrars
None of the five registrars checked says where on the certificate the number is printed, and only three say what it looks like.
There is no single format. Six registrar rows were checked on 6 September 2026. Computershare's Shareholder Reference Number (SRN) is a C or an I followed by 10 digits, printed on the certificate or a share statement. Equiniti's is 11 digits ('usually', on its own bereavement page), and where it sits on the certificate is not stated. MUFG Corporate Markets, through both Investor Centre and Signal Shares, calls it an Investor Code: 11 digits usually beginning with 0, on any certificate, invitation or statement it issued.
Two rows publish no format. Neville Registrars never uses the term and its portal logs in with a posted Activation Code. SLC Registrars, inside the Equiniti group, has no reachable website.
Only Neville and Signal Shares publish a lost-certificate list that omits the number; Computershare asks for the SRN when a death is notified but accepts what you have.
Why the number looks different from one certificate to the next
The number belongs to the registrar, not to you and not to the company. Each registrar labels it and shapes it its own way: Computershare's Deceased Estates Guide V1.3 defines the SRN as '10 numbers preceded by a C or an I', MUFG Corporate Markets describes its Investor Code as '11 digit number usually beginning with 0', and Equiniti asks callers for an '11 digit Shareholder Reference Number'. Signal Shares adds that you hold 'a separate investor code for each' company, so one person with three holdings at the same registrar has three numbers.
Two of the six rows are one registrar wearing two portals. MUFG Corporate Markets was Link Group; its Signal Shares portal was Link Market Services. Both help centres publish the identical sentence about the Investor Code, word for word. A certificate or dividend voucher issued years apart may therefore carry the same 11-digit code under three different brand names, which is why matching a number to a registrar by its look alone does not work.
Silence is a finding, and it has a reason. Neville Registrars' public FAQ never uses 'shareholder reference', 'SRN' or 'investor code' because its ShareGateway portal logs in with a posted Activation Code, not a reference number. SLC Registrars publishes nothing at all: five plausible domains returned no DNS record on 6 September 2026, and Companies House shows the company active at Highdown House, Yeoman Way, Worthing BN99 3HH, Equiniti's own building, with Equiniti David Venus Limited as its sole person with significant control.
The lost-certificate route is priced by value band, and the bands differ. Equiniti charges no administration fee under £150 of share value and £50 including VAT at or above it. Signal Shares is free under £125 and £50 over. Computershare's table opens at £0.00 administration and £0.00 countersignature waiver for shares worth £0 to £50. Neville says only that 'a fee may be applicable'. Each of those figures was read on 6 September 2026 and each can move.
What to do with the certificate in front of you
- Read the registrar's name off the certificate before you read the number. Eleven plain digits could be Equiniti or MUFG Corporate Markets, and two of the six rows publish no format at all, so the shape of the number cannot tell you who to ring.
- Look for a C or an I at the front. A letter followed by 10 digits is Computershare's SRN as its Deceased Estates Guide V1.3 defines it. An older Computershare FAQ quoted a G prefix, but that page could not be reached on 6 September 2026 and the current guide says C or I only.
- Check share statements and dividend paperwork if the certificate is missing. Computershare says the SRN is on 'either a Share Certificate or Share Statement'; MUFG says the Investor Code is on 'any share certificates, invitations or statements issued by us'. If you still cannot find it, Signal Shares will post it to the registered address and will not send it by email.
- Report a lost certificate with what you have. Neville's and Signal Shares' published lists of what to send do not include the number. Computershare asks for the SRN when a death is notified but adds 'please provide as much other information as you can'. Equiniti, MUFG Investor Centre and SLC do not say either way, so do not assume the number is a gate.
- Budget the fee by share value before you write. Equiniti is free under £150 and £50 including VAT at £150 or above; Signal Shares is free under £125 and £50 over; Computershare's band for £0 to £50 of shares is £0.00; Neville says a fee may apply and sets it out in the Letter of Indemnity itself. A countersignature from a UK bank or insurer is a separate line, and Equiniti says building societies cannot provide one.
- For SLC Registrars, use the contact details printed on your own paperwork. It has no reachable website. Companies House gives its registered office as Equiniti's Worthing building, but we could not verify a public phone number or postal address to publish here.
Six rows, five registrars, checked 6 September 2026
Read the format column first, then the lost-certificate column. Two rows say nothing about the number at all, and only two registrars publish a what-to-send list for a lost certificate that omits it.
| What they call it | Format | Where it appears | If the certificate is lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computershare | 1 letter — C or I — plus 10 digits (11 characters), per Computershare's own Deceased Estates Guide V1.3. (An older FAQ quoted a third prefix, G; that page could not be reached on 2026-09-06 and the current guide says C or I only.) | 'This can be found on either a Share Certificate or Share Statement' (guide, Useful terms). Computershare asks that every contact include 'the full name of the holder, registered address, company name and SRN'. | A Letter of Indemnity 'provides the company and Computershare with assurance that the certificates have been lost or destroyed'. No certificate is reissued on a sale; on a transfer, new certificates go to the new named holder(s). Its fee table starts at £0.00 administration and £0.00 countersignature waiver for shares worth £0–£50, rising by value band; if a certificate reported lost is later found 'you may still be charged an administration fee'. When notifying a death, 'you will need to provide... The Shareholder Reference Number (SRN)' — but 'If you are unable to provide all the information above, please provide as much other information as you can'. |
| Equiniti | 11 digits — 'Please have your 11 digit Shareholder Reference Number to hand' (Shareview portfolio help). Equiniti's own bereavement page hedges to 'Any known shareholder reference (usually 11 digits)'. | Not stated on the Equiniti pages we could read. The Letter of Indemnity covering letter carries it 'in the heading of this letter'. | Contact Equiniti by phone (+44 (0) 371 384 2030, 'Lost Certificate' option) or in writing; 'You'll need to tell us about any certificates you still hold'. A restriction is placed, then the Letter of Indemnity form Equiniti sends must be completed and returned before a duplicate is issued. Administration fee: free under £150 of share value, £50 (inc. VAT) at £150 or above. Countersignature by an authorised UK bank or ABI-member insurer (building societies cannot), or Equiniti's countersignature-waived fee: free up to £50, £16 to £150, rising to £676 at £100,000, no cover above £100,000. Found certificate: free within 14 days (and always free under £50), £20 (inc. VAT) after. Under £5,000 and selling through Equiniti's postal dealing, no indemnity or fee is needed. Equiniti does not publish whether the reference number is required to open the case. |
| MUFG Corporate Markets (Investor Centre) | 11 digits, usually beginning with 0 | 'any share certificates, invitations or statements issued by us' — no position on the certificate stated | 'What can I do if I have lost my IVC number?' — contact MUFG through the site's Contact us link. 'I have lost my share certificate please call 0371 664 0300' (09:00–17:30 Mon–Fri). MUFG's bereavement guide adds that a Letter of Indemnity for a deceased holder's lost certificate is issued only after the Grant of Representation or Small Estates form (threshold £30,000 per shareholding) has been registered. Whether the code is required to open the case is not stated. |
| Signal Shares | 11 digits, usually beginning with 0 — word for word the Investor Centre wording | 'any share certificates, invitations or statements issued by us'. If you cannot find it, email via Contact Us and it is posted to the registered address — 'For security reasons we will not be able to provide this information in an email to you.' A separate investor code exists for each company held. | Fully published (Help centre › Share Certificates). Under £10,000, sole holder: phone service on 0371 664 0300, security check on 'your personal details', replacement within 5 days. Over £10,000 or joint holdings: a letter of indemnity within 5 days, replacement within 10 days of its return. By post, the letter must give the company, the shareholder's name, the shareholder's or legal representative's signature, the certificates still held and any crime reference — the investor code is not on that list. Administration fee: free under £125, £50.00 over; countersignature fee: free under £125, £42 to £900, 4.75% of value to £6,100, £290 to £50,000, 2% to £100,000, no cover above. Cancelling an indemnity already issued: £33.75. |
| Neville Registrars | Not stated | Not stated | Notify Neville in writing (post, or a signed letter attached to an email) with the company, the full names of all registered holders, the registered address, confirmation the certificate is lost and the original signature of all registered holders. Neville then sends a Letter of Indemnity; 'a fee may be applicable and you may also need to obtain a countersignature (a service usually provided by a UK Bank or Insurance Company)'; fees are set out in the Letter itself, which needs a wet-ink signature and must be returned by post before a replacement is posted to the registered address. No reference number appears in this list. |
| SLC Registrars · publishes nothing | Not published | Not published | Not published |
6 checked · 1 publish nothing at all on this question — that row is kept deliberately, because the silence is the finding. Each row is what that provider’s own page says, on the date beside it.
If you are administering the estate
A share certificate is one line on the estate inventory, and the registrar will want more than the number. MUFG Corporate Markets' bereavement guide says a Letter of Indemnity for a deceased holder's lost certificate is issued only after the Grant of Representation or its Small Estates form (threshold £30,000 per shareholding) has been registered; Computershare asks for the SRN at the point a death is notified; Equiniti's bereavement page asks for 'Any known shareholder reference (usually 11 digits)'.
Write down each certificate, its registrar and its number as you find them, with the date you rang or wrote. The blank executor checklist at /resources/blank-executor-checklist has a place for that, and the executor evidence log at /library/executor-evidence-log is for the record of who said what on which day, which matters if a fee or a countersignature is later disputed.
Nothing on this page replaces the registrar's own paperwork. Where a row says 'not stated', ring the number printed on the certificate and ask; the answer you get is the one that binds, not ours.
Share registrars, answered.
What usually comes next.
Where this goes next
Informational, not advice. Every format on this page is quoted from one dated document, and two have already changed once. Computershare's rule is from its Deceased Estates Guide V1.3, which says C or I only; an older Computershare FAQ quoted a G prefix, so a V1.4 could move it again. Equiniti's 11 digits and every Equiniti fee come from its Letter of Indemnity guidance notes (stamped v19 01/23) and its live lost-certificate page. MUFG's Investor Code sentence and Signal Shares' £125, £10,000 and £33.75 figures are from their help centres. Confirm each against that exact document, and re-check DNS for slcregistrars.com and Companies House record 01661542 for SLC Registrars, since a new website or a merger into Shareview would rewrite that row. UK share registrars administering certificated (paper) holdings for individual retail shareholders in UK-listed and AIM companies: five registrars across six rows, because MUFG Corporate Markets' Investor Centre and Signal Shares portals are shown separately. Excludes CREST and other dematerialised holdings, nominee and corporate accounts, employee share plans and non-UK registrars. Every figure and quotation was read on 6 September 2026.