diff --git a/designdocs/user-handles.md b/designdocs/user-handles.md
index 4d25484ed2..4b68a27418 100644
--- a/designdocs/user-handles.md
+++ b/designdocs/user-handles.md
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ The high level requirements for user handles are:
 * **Suffix**: A suffix is a numeric value that is appended to a base handle to make it unique.  The suffix is randomly constrained and selected within a range configured on chain.
 * **Delimiter**: A delimiter is a character that is used to separate the base handle and suffix.  The delimiter is a period (.) by default.
 * **Display Handle**: A display handle is formed by concatenating the base handle and suffix with the delimiter.  The display handle is the handle that is displayed to the user.
-  
+
 ### Handle Guidelines
 
 * User handles must be unique and each MSA can only be mapped to one handle.
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ The high level requirements for user handles are:
 * Suffix will be randomly constrained.
 * Homoglyph versions of handles should still resolve to the same ```msa_id``` (e.g. ```user.1234``` and ```u$er.1234``` should resolve to the same ```msa_id```).
 * `Display Handle` is the handle that is displayed to the user and must be unique.
+* `Base Handle` should have UTF-8 whitespace trimmed and concatenated (e.g. ```   u  s \t\t  e\tr ``` will be trimmed to ```u s e r```).
 
 ## Proposal
 
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ Handles```registry``` on Frequency chain.
 
 ### Handle replay attack
 
-To prevent replay attacks, the chain will require a mortality period for handles. This can be included in signed payload from user as a `expiration` field. The chain will check if the `expiration` is greater than the current block number. If not, the transaction will fail.  
+To prevent replay attacks, the chain will require a mortality period for handles. This can be included in the user's signed payload as an `expiration` field. The chain will check if the `expiration` is greater than the current block number. If not, the transaction will fail.
 
 ### Handling Race Conditions
 
@@ -135,7 +136,7 @@ ClaimHandlePayload {
 
 ### Claim handle
 
- As a network, Frequency should allow users to choose their own handle, while the chain will generate a random numeric suffix within the range of suffixes allowed. The display handle will be the base handle with the suffix.
+ As a network, Frequency should allow users to choose their own handle, while the chain will generate a random numeric suffix within the range of suffixes allowed. The display handle will be the base handle with whitespace trimmed and consolidated, concatenated with the suffix.
 
 Input
 
diff --git a/pallets/handles/README.md b/pallets/handles/README.md
index 5ac387ef46..867a7352f1 100644
--- a/pallets/handles/README.md
+++ b/pallets/handles/README.md
@@ -9,8 +9,7 @@ Provides MSAs with an optional, but unique handle.
 A handle consists of:
 - **Base Handle:** The user's chosen handle. It is *not* guaranteed to be unique without the suffix. It is linked to a normalized version for Handle to MSA Id resolution. See [UTF-8 Support](#utf-8-support) and [Homoglyph Attack Resistence](#homoglyph-attack-resistence) below.
 - **Suffix:** A suffix is a unique numeric value appended to a user's base handle to make it unique.
-- **Display Handle:** The user's original (un-normalized) base handle string and the suffix together (`base`.`suffix`) constitute a unique identifier for a user.
-
+- **Display Handle:** The user's original (un-normalized, but with whitespace trimmed and consolidated) base handle string and the suffix together (`base`.`suffix`) constitute a unique identifier for a user.
 
 ### UTF-8 Support
 
diff --git a/pallets/handles/src/handles-utils/src/converter.rs b/pallets/handles/src/handles-utils/src/converter.rs
index 68beda0a61..9573c62952 100644
--- a/pallets/handles/src/handles-utils/src/converter.rs
+++ b/pallets/handles/src/handles-utils/src/converter.rs
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ pub fn split_display_name(display_name_str: &str) -> Option<(String, HandleSuffi
 	let parts: Vec<&str> = display_name_str.split(HANDLE_DELIMITER).collect();
 	let base_handle_str = parts[0].to_string();
 	if parts.len() != 2 {
-		return None
+		return None;
 	}
 
 	let suffix = parts[1];
@@ -108,3 +108,21 @@ pub fn strip_unicode_whitespace(input_str: &str) -> String {
 		.filter(|character| !character.is_whitespace())
 		.collect::<alloc::string::String>()
 }
+
+/// Trims whitespace from the head and tail and collapses all other whitespace to just a single space
+///
+/// # Arguments
+///
+/// * `input_str` - A string slice that holds the input string from which the whitespace characters need to be trimmed and collapsed
+///
+/// # Returns
+///
+/// A new string without any Unicode whitespace characters.
+pub fn trim_and_collapse_whitespace(input_str: &str) -> String {
+	// Benchmarked as slightly faster than https://crates.io/crates/collapse
+	input_str
+		.split_whitespace()
+		.filter(|s| !s.is_empty())
+		.collect::<Vec<_>>()
+		.join(" ")
+}
diff --git a/pallets/handles/src/handles-utils/src/tests/converter_tests.rs b/pallets/handles/src/handles-utils/src/tests/converter_tests.rs
index 668a7d7159..1bdb1e3843 100644
--- a/pallets/handles/src/handles-utils/src/tests/converter_tests.rs
+++ b/pallets/handles/src/handles-utils/src/tests/converter_tests.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ use crate::{
 	convert_to_canonical,
 	converter::{
 		replace_confusables, split_display_name, strip_diacriticals, strip_unicode_whitespace,
+		trim_and_collapse_whitespace,
 	},
 };
 
@@ -144,3 +145,13 @@ fn test_split_display_name_failure() {
 	assert_eq!(split_display_name("hello.65536"), None);
 	assert_eq!(split_display_name("hello.999999999"), None);
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn test_trim_and_collapse_whitespace() {
+	assert_eq!(trim_and_collapse_whitespace("   h  e llo "), "h e llo");
+	assert_eq!(trim_and_collapse_whitespace("   h e l  lo  "), "h e l lo");
+	assert_eq!(
+		trim_and_collapse_whitespace("\u{3000}h\u{2000}e\u{000D}l\u{2002}l\u{000C}o\u{0009}"),
+		"h e l l o"
+	);
+}
diff --git a/pallets/handles/src/lib.rs b/pallets/handles/src/lib.rs
index 3a17251547..bc8efe731e 100644
--- a/pallets/handles/src/lib.rs
+++ b/pallets/handles/src/lib.rs
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ impl<T: Config> HandleProvider for Pallet<T> {
 #[frame_support::pallet]
 pub mod pallet {
 
+	use handles_utils::trim_and_collapse_whitespace;
+
 	use super::*;
 	#[pallet::config]
 	pub trait Config: frame_system::Config {
@@ -711,8 +713,9 @@ pub mod pallet {
 			base_handle: &str,
 			suffix: HandleSuffix,
 		) -> Result<DisplayHandle, DispatchError> {
+			let base_handle_trimmed = trim_and_collapse_whitespace(base_handle);
 			let mut full_handle_vec: Vec<u8> = vec![];
-			full_handle_vec.extend(base_handle.as_bytes());
+			full_handle_vec.extend(base_handle_trimmed.as_bytes());
 			full_handle_vec.push(HANDLE_DELIMITER as u8); // The delimiter
 			let mut buff = [0u8; SUFFIX_MAX_DIGITS];
 			full_handle_vec.extend(suffix.numtoa(10, &mut buff));
diff --git a/pallets/handles/src/tests/handle_creation_tests.rs b/pallets/handles/src/tests/handle_creation_tests.rs
index d36887cec8..bcc6724c49 100644
--- a/pallets/handles/src/tests/handle_creation_tests.rs
+++ b/pallets/handles/src/tests/handle_creation_tests.rs
@@ -358,6 +358,35 @@ fn claim_handle_with_max_bytes_should_get_correct_display_handle() {
 	});
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn claim_handle_with_various_spaces_should_get_correct_display_handle() {
+	new_test_ext().execute_with(|| {
+		let alice = sr25519::Pair::from_seed(&[0; 32]);
+		let expiration = 100;
+		let handle = "\u{2000}\u{3000}\u{2000}w\u{2000}h\u{000D}itesp\u{2002}a\u{000C}ce\u{0009}\u{2002}\u{0009}";
+		let (payload, proof) =
+			get_signed_claims_payload(&alice, handle.as_bytes().to_vec(), expiration);
+		assert_ok!(Handles::claim_handle(
+			RuntimeOrigin::signed(alice.public().into()),
+			alice.public().into(),
+			proof,
+			payload.clone()
+		));
+		let msa_id = MessageSourceId::decode(&mut &alice.public().encode()[..]).unwrap();
+		let handle = Handles::get_handle_for_msa(msa_id);
+		assert!(handle.is_some());
+		let handle_result = handle.unwrap();
+		assert_eq!(handle_result.base_handle, "w h itesp a ce".as_bytes().to_vec());
+		assert!(handle_result.suffix > 0);
+		let display_handle = "whitespace.".to_owned() +  &handle_result.suffix.to_string();
+		let display_handle_vec = display_handle.as_bytes().to_vec();
+		let msa_id_from_state =
+			Handles::get_msa_id_for_handle(display_handle_vec.try_into().unwrap());
+		assert!(msa_id_from_state.is_some());
+		assert_eq!(msa_id_from_state.unwrap(), msa_id);
+	});
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_verify_handle_length() {
 	new_test_ext().execute_with(|| {
diff --git a/runtime/frequency/src/lib.rs b/runtime/frequency/src/lib.rs
index 346456f9a1..7cda39cfca 100644
--- a/runtime/frequency/src/lib.rs
+++ b/runtime/frequency/src/lib.rs
@@ -375,7 +375,7 @@ pub const VERSION: RuntimeVersion = RuntimeVersion {
 	spec_name: create_runtime_str!("frequency"),
 	impl_name: create_runtime_str!("frequency"),
 	authoring_version: 1,
-	spec_version: 110,
+	spec_version: 111,
 	impl_version: 0,
 	apis: apis::RUNTIME_API_VERSIONS,
 	transaction_version: 1,
@@ -389,7 +389,7 @@ pub const VERSION: RuntimeVersion = RuntimeVersion {
 	spec_name: create_runtime_str!("frequency-testnet"),
 	impl_name: create_runtime_str!("frequency"),
 	authoring_version: 1,
-	spec_version: 110,
+	spec_version: 111,
 	impl_version: 0,
 	apis: apis::RUNTIME_API_VERSIONS,
 	transaction_version: 1,
@@ -1483,7 +1483,7 @@ impl StaleHashCheckExtension {
 
 			return ValidTransaction::with_tag_prefix(TAG_PREFIX)
 				.and_provides((msa_id, schema_id))
-				.build()
+				.build();
 		}
 		Ok(Default::default())
 	}
@@ -1510,7 +1510,7 @@ impl StaleHashCheckExtension {
 
 			return ValidTransaction::with_tag_prefix(TAG_PREFIX)
 				.and_provides((msa_id, schema_id, page_id))
-				.build()
+				.build();
 		}
 
 		Ok(Default::default())