Companies House identity verification for new directors

acrenvo.com/guides/companies-house-identity-verification, last reviewed 31 October 2026

Sam is fictional. A friend is starting a small company and has asked Sam to join as a second director. Sam is happy to help but has read that directors now have to prove who they are to Companies House, and is not sure what that involves. Sam wants to know what the check is, whether it costs anything, and when it has to be done. This guide answers those questions from Companies House’s own guidance.

What identity verification is

It is a check that the people running and controlling companies are who they say they are. Identity verification is a new legal requirement. It will help to deter people intending to use companies for illegal purposes.

You’ll need to verify your identity if you are:

• a director
• the equivalent of a director – this includes members, general partners and managing officers
• a director of an overseas company registered in the UK
• a person with significant control (PSC)
• an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) - also known as a Companies House authorised agent

In most cases, you’ll only need to verify your identity once. You must not verify again unless we tell you to.

The dates

The requirement began on 18 November 2025. In Companies House’s words, Companies House confirms that from Tuesday 18 November 2025, legal requirements for directors and people with significant control (PSCs) of companies to verify their identities will begin. From that date, it said, new directors will need to verify their identity to incorporate a company or be appointed to an existing company, and existing directors will need to confirm they have verified their identity at the same time as they file their next annual confirmation statement, during a 12-month transition period.

When it announced the rollout on 5 August 2025, Companies House also gave a sense of scale. In its words at the time, “We estimate that 6 to 7 million individuals will need to verify their identity by mid-November 2026.”

For Sam, as a new director, that means verifying before the company is set up or before being appointed to it. If the friend’s company already existed and Sam were already a director, the check would be tied to the company’s next confirmation statement instead.

Verifying through GOV.UK One Login

Companies House runs its own route, and it costs nothing. This service uses GOV.UK One Login to verify your identity. It is free of charge.

GOV.UK One Login will ask you some simple questions to find the best way for you to verify your identity. You must provide answers about yourself, not your company. Depending on your answers, you’ll then be guided to verify:

• with an app
• by answering security questions online
• by entering your details from your photo ID on GOV.UK One Login first, then going to a participating Post Office

Companies House’s page on verifying your identity explains the routes it accepts and links to the service itself. Acrenvo cannot verify anyone’s identity and has no link to Companies House, so that page is the place to start.

If an accountant or solicitor verifies for you

One Login is not the only route Companies House accepts, and it may not be the one that suits you if someone already looks after your company’s paperwork. You can ask an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) to verify your identity on your behalf. For example, an accountant or solicitor. This is also known as a Companies House authorised agent.

There are a few conditions attached. You can do this from any country, but your agent must register with Companies House to become authorised. They must be registered with a UK Anti-Money Laundering (AML) supervisory body. When an agent has agreed to verify your identity, you will need to provide them with documents from an approved list as evidence of your identity. They may charge a fee for their services.

If you already have an adviser, GOV.UK suggests starting with them. If you have an existing accountant or solicitor (or any other AML-supervised professional), you can ask them if they are registered with Companies House as an ACSP.

Companies House publishes two lists that help here. The first is List of Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSPs). In Companies House’s words, this list includes details of businesses and sole traders that have registered as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). This is also known as an authorised agent. The agents on this list have requested to have their details published. It may not include all agents that have registered as an ACSP.

The second is Ceased or suspended Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSPs). This list includes details of businesses and sole traders that have had their ACSP status either suspended or ceased (removed).

Acrenvo does not name, recommend or introduce agents, so those two lists and your own adviser are the places to look.

Your Companies House personal code

Verifying gives you a code that you use whenever your identity needs to be linked to a company. When you have successfully verified, you’ll get a unique identifier known as a Companies House personal code. The code is personal to you, not your company or a company you work for.

What you do with it depends on when you became a director. If you become a director, you’ll need to provide it as part of your appointment filing or when you incorporate a company. If you’re currently a director, you’ll need to provide your personal code in your company’s next confirmation statement filing. If you are a director of more than one company, you will need to do this for each company.

The code is worth treating with care. Keep this information secure, as you would with other unique codes such as your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) for HMRC.

One email a month lists the MTD software price changes we have checked and any changes to HMRC’s list of software. If that would be useful, you can sign up for the monthly price-changes email at the end of this page.

People with significant control

For a person with significant control (PSC), the timing works differently. Every PSC will have a 14 day period during which they must provide their personal code. The 14 day period for doing this depends on your situation. For someone who became a PSC after 18 November 2025, GOV.UK puts it like this: you can provide your personal code when you’re first added to the Companies House register, or within 14 days of being added.

If you are both the director and the PSC of your company, Companies House treats those as two roles. You’ll need to provide your personal code separately for each role. As a director, you must provide the code in the company’s confirmation statement. As a PSC, you must provide it using the ‘Provide identity verification details for a PSC’ service. You must do this within a 14 day period, starting from the day after the company’s confirmation statement date. If the company files its confirmation statement early, the dates of your 14 day period will not change. The service has its own page on GOV.UK: Provide identity verification details for a person with significant control (PSC).

A PSC who is not a director of the company works to a different window. You must provide your personal code within the first 14 days of your birth month. For example, if your date of birth is 22 January, your 14 day period will begin on 1 January. Whichever applies to you, you can check the dates of your 14 day period on the Companies House register. You do not need to complete identity verification for a PSC who has died. The PSC should remain on the Companies House register until a grant of probate or letters of administration have been received. Companies House’s page on when you need to verify sets out each case in full.

If you do not verify

If a co-director does not verify

Sam will be one of two directors, and the duty does not stop at Sam’s own check. When GOV.UK reported the first court cases on 17 September 2026, the announcement opened like this: “Directors are being warned to verify their identities with Companies House or risk prosecution after the Insolvency Service secured its first convictions for these offences.”

The Insolvency Service drew a wider point from those cases: “These prosecutions demonstrate that directors have responsibilities not only for their own compliance but also for ensuring unverified individuals do not continue acting as directors on behalf of a company.” It also noted that in both cases, multiple opportunities were provided for the directors to comply with the requirements before enforcement action was taken.

For a director who was already in post, the timing follows the confirmation statement. In the announcement’s words, “Existing directors are required to verify during the 12-month transition period, when filing the company’s next confirmation statement, helping to ensure that those who own and control businesses can be identified and held accountable.” Companies House’s transition plan describes the same period: “There will be a transition period of 12 months for existing companies who will be required to provide identity verification credentials for their directors and PSCs when their confirmation statement is due.”

So if you share a company with another director, it is worth asking whether they have verified too, rather than assuming they have. The announcement’s own advice is this: “Company directors who have not yet verified their identity should do so as soon as possible.”

Who will need to verify later

Companies House is bringing in the requirement in stages, and some roles are not covered yet. We’ll introduce identity verification at a later date for:

• people who file at Companies House
• limited partnerships
• corporate directors of companies
• corporate members of limited liability partnerships (LLPs)
• officers of corporate PSCs

The transition plan, last changed on 23 October 2026, gives a timing for the check on the people who file documents. Under the heading “By no earlier than November 2027”, it says Companies House should be able to “make identity verification of the presenters a compulsory part of filing any document”, and adds: “We’ll give at least 6 months’ notice before these requirements come into effect.”

Questions about identity verification

You may also find this page useful: Anti-money-laundering supervision for bookkeepers: who supervises you and how to check your clients.