Are electronic signatures legal in the UK?

Yes, for the great majority of business documents. The law has been settled for longer than most people assume, and the confusion usually comes from mixing up three different things: whether a signature is valid, whether it is provable, and whether a particular document has extra formalities attached.

What the law says

Electronic Communications Act 2000

Section 7 makes an electronic signature admissible in evidence in legal proceedings in relation to the authenticity or integrity of a communication or document. That is the foundation, and it has been in force for a quarter of a century.

UK eIDAS Regulation

Retained in UK law after Brexit, it provides that an electronic signature cannot be denied legal effect or admissibility solely because it is in electronic form. In other words, being electronic is not, by itself, ever a reason for a signature to fail.

The Law Commission, 2019

The Law Commission's report on the electronic execution of documents confirmed that an electronic signature can be used to execute a document, including a deed, under English law, provided the signatory intends to authenticate it and any formalities are satisfied. The Government accepted that conclusion in 2020.

The three tiers, and which one you actually need

UK eIDAS describes three kinds of electronic signature:

• Simple. Any electronic mark made with intent to sign. A typed name, a drawn signature, clicking a button.
• Advanced. Uniquely linked to the signatory, capable of identifying them, created under their sole control, and tamper-detecting.
• Qualified. An advanced signature backed by a certificate from a qualified trust service provider who has verified the signer's identity in person or to an equivalent standard.

Almost every commercial contract in the country is signed with a simple electronic signature, and that is entirely proper. Qualified signatures are for a narrow set of regulated situations, and they carry a cost and an identity-verification burden that would be absurd for a roofing quote.

Validity is not the hard part. Proof is.

In practice, disputes are rarely about whether electronic signatures are legal. They are about whether this particular person signed this particular document on this particular date, and whether it has been altered since.

That is an evidence question, and it is where the platform you use matters. You want:

• A record of who signed, tied to an email address only they control.
• When, to the second, in a timezone you can reason about.
• From where: IP address, approximate location, device and browser.
• Evidence of intent: an explicit act of signing, and consent to sign electronically.
• Tamper evidence: proof the document has not changed since.

A signature emailed back as a photograph has almost none of that. A pasted image in a Word file has none at all.

What about witnessing?

Where a document needs a witness, usually a deed, the witness must be physically present when the signatory signs. The Law Commission was clear that remote witnessing over a video call does not satisfy the requirement under current law. The witness can then add their own signature electronically, but they had to be in the room.

There is more detail in our guide to signing a deed electronically.

Documents with extra requirements

A short list carries formalities that electronic signing does not satisfy, or satisfies only in a particular way. Wills are the clearest example. See what cannot be signed electronically for the full picture.