How to verify your identity for Companies House: personal code, GOV.UK One Login and requirements

This is a practical guide to how to verify your identity for Companies House: when you need to verify your identity for Companies House, the ways you can prove your identity for Companies House, and how the Companies House personal code and GOV.UK One Login fit together. It answers the questions people actually ask before verifying your identity for Companies House.

Do directors need to verify their identity?

Do directors need to verify their identity? Yes. The Companies House identity verification requirements apply to every UK director, PSC and LLP member. The Companies House director verification requirements are set by ECCTA and measured against a single Companies House identity verification standard. People often ask the same thing a different way – do directors need to verify their identity even for a dormant company? They do.

When you need to verify

When you need to verify your identity for Companies House depends on your role. Existing directors and PSCs verify before their company’s next confirmation statement date; new appointments must be verified before they can be recorded on the register. If your confirmation statement is due in the coming months, treat that date as your deadline.

Ways you can prove your identity for Companies House

There are two routes, and both cover the same ways you can prove your identity for Companies House.

Route 1 – GOV.UK One Login. The direct, self-service route uses GOV.UK One Login. With Companies House GOV.UK One Login you verify yourself using a UK passport or UK photocard driving licence. Identity verification GOV.UK One Login includes a Companies House liveness check – a quick face scan that matches you to your document. The liveness check Companies House uses is how the system confirms a live person rather than a photo of one. In short, identity verification GOV.UK One Login pairs a UK photo document with that liveness check.

Route 2 – an ACSP. An Authorised Corporate Service Provider such as DirectorKYC runs the check on Companies House’s behalf, accepts a wider range of documents, and supports overseas applicants who cannot use the UK-only direct route.

How to verify identity for Companies House, step by step

Here is how to verify identity for Companies House. The same steps answer how to verify a company director, how directors verify their identity, and how to verify a UK director:

1. Choose your route – GOV.UK One Login for UK documents, or an ACSP for wider and overseas documents.
2. Provide a current passport or national identity document and a recent proof of address.
3. Complete the liveness check so the system can match your face to your document.
4. Make sure your name and date of birth match your Companies House register entry exactly.
5. Receive your personal code and connect it to each director or PSC role you hold.

The short version of how to meet Companies House identity verification standard is this: use a current document, make sure your details match the register, and pass the liveness check.

Your Companies House personal code

Once verified, you receive your Companies House personal code – an 11-character identifier. People write it both ways: personal code Companies House and Companies House personal code. In full it is your Companies House identity verification personal code, and it connects your verified identity to every role you hold. You verify once; the same code works across every company you direct or control.