Companies House identity verification explained

The UK company register has always taken people at their word. If you told Companies House you were the director of a company, that was more or less that. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 - ECCTA - changes the arrangement. From now on, if your name sits on the register in a decision-making role, you have to prove that you are a real person, and that the name matches you.

This is what people mean when they talk about “Companies House identity verification”. The rules apply to millions of directors and PSCs already on the register, along with everyone appointed from here on. Understanding what the regime looks like in practice, and when it applies to you, is worth doing before the deadline arrives, not after.

What actually changed

Before ECCTA, anyone could file a company at Companies House without proving who they were. That opened a door that shell-company operators, fraudsters and money launderers walked through routinely. The government wanted the register to be trusted the way a bank customer file is trusted: names on it should belong to real, identifiable individuals.

Identity verification is the mechanism. You confirm your identity once, Companies House issues you a personal code, and that code connects your identity to whatever roles the register lists against you. No filing, no appointment, no confirmation statement moves forward without a verified individual behind it.

Who has to verify

• Every director of a UK company - new appointments and everyone already on the register
• Every person with significant control (PSC) - including those recorded years ago
• Members of limited liability partnerships (LLPs)
• Anyone who files documents at Companies House on behalf of a company

Two things follow from this. First, if you hold multiple directorships, you only verify once. The personal code is issued to you, and it works across every company you are attached to. Second, verification is not tied to your address. A PSC in Karachi and a director in Manchester complete the same process using the same standards.

Two ways to verify

You have a choice about who runs the identity check. You can go directly to Companies House through their digital service and complete verification yourself. Or you can use an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) - a firm that Companies House has approved to carry out the check on its behalf.

Direct verification is self-service. If your identity document is unusual, if the address on your proof-of-address does not match your ID exactly, or if you are simply short on time, the direct route can stall on small technicalities that would have been caught on your behalf.

ACSPs charge a fee, but they add guidance. A good provider tells you what documents to send in advance, spots the little mismatches early, and follows up if Companies House needs anything more. For international applicants or anyone verifying for the first time, that hand-holding is usually the reason to go through a provider rather than the government service.

What the deadlines look like

There is a transition window. Existing directors and PSCs will be required to verify within a defined period tied to the company’s next confirmation statement - the annual filing every UK company has to make. New appointments, once the regime is fully live, have to be verified before they can be recorded on the register.

The safest read is: if your confirmation statement is due in the next twelve months, verification needs to be done before you file it. Leaving it to the last day is where problems compound - documents get rejected, ACSPs get busy, and companies miss filing deadlines because a director is stuck partway through the check.

What happens if you don’t

Missing verification is not treated as a paperwork oversight. Under ECCTA, acting as a director without having verified is a criminal offence. Companies House can issue financial penalties, refuse filings, and in the worst cases push for director disqualification. The company itself risks having its filings rejected - which cascades into problems with banks, HMRC and any third party that relies on the public register.

None of this is punishment for its own sake. The point is that if the register is going to be worth trusting, the consequence of ignoring it has to be real.

Before you start

Gather three things before you sit down to verify. A current passport or national identity document with a clear photo. A proof of address dated within the last three months - bank statement, utility bill, tax letter. And the exact spelling of your name as it appears on the Companies House register. Mismatches between your ID and your register entry are the single most common cause of rejection.

Fifteen minutes of preparation saves an afternoon of resubmission. Read the requirements, check your documents against them, and only then start the process.