Companies House Identity Verification: Step-by-Step Guide for Directors

From 18 November 2025, every company director and person with significant control (PSC) in the UK must verify their identity with Companies House. That date started a 12-month transition period, which the legislation defines as "the period of 12 months beginning with 18th November 2025" — so it closes in November 2026. Your specific deadline depends on your role: a director's is tied to the company's next confirmation statement, while a PSC provides their personal code in a separate 14-day window.

This guide walks through both verification methods, the documents you need, and how the personal code system works once you're verified.

If You Haven't Verified Yet

Companies House describes the transition as "giving your company time to make sure all directors and people with significant control (PSCs) have verified their identity by their due dates." If you are still unverified as it draws to a close, three points matter:

• Existing directors: your company must deliver your identity verification statement "at the same time as the company delivers its next confirmation statement during the transitional period." If the company doesn't deliver a confirmation statement during the transition, the duty moves to the next confirmation statement it does deliver. It does not lapse when the transition ends.
• PSCs who were already PSCs on 18 November 2025, aren't directors and were born in November: the regulations give you an appointed day of 1 November 2026, the last of the birth-month dates they set. Your 14-day window is therefore 1 to 14 November 2026.
• Missing your date is an offence: Companies House warns, "If you do not comply with identity verification requirements on time, you'll be committing an offence." The consequences are set out under "What Happens If You Don't Verify" below.

Check your company's next confirmation statement date on the Companies House register today. Verifying usually takes minutes, but if the date of birth Companies House holds for you is wrong, a correction can take up to 20 working days, and you can't link your verified identity to your role until it is fixed.

Who Must Verify

Three groups of people must complete identity verification:

1. Company directors — all directors of UK-registered companies, including dormant companies and SPVs
2. People with significant control (PSCs) — anyone who holds more than 25% of shares or voting rights, can appoint or remove a majority of the directors, or has the right to exercise (or actually exercises) significant influence or control
3. New appointees — anyone appointed as a director from 18 November 2025 onwards must verify before the appointment can be registered. A new PSC can provide their personal code when first added to the register, or within 14 days of being added. If you are the one appointing a new director, verification now sits at the front of that process rather than after it.

If you're both a director and a PSC of the same company, you verify once and use the same personal code — but "You'll need to provide your personal code separately for each role." As a director it goes in the company's confirmation statement; as a PSC you provide it through the "Provide identity verification details for a PSC" service, within 14 days starting from the day after the company's confirmation statement date. And if you hold roles across multiple companies, you must provide your personal code separately for each company.

Your Deadline

18 November 2025 is not a deadline — it's the start of the 12-month transition period. Your actual deadline depends on your role:

Existing directors: You must have your identity verified by the time your company files its next confirmation statement during the transition period. Your Companies House personal code must be included in that filing. Check your confirmation statement due date at Companies House.

PSCs who are not directors: "You must provide your personal code within the first 14 days of your birth month." The transitional regulations fix an "appointed day" for each birth month: 1 January 2026 for January birthdays, and so on up to 1 November 2026 for November. December birthdays came first, on 1 December 2025.

New directors (appointed after 18 November 2025): You must verify before your appointment can be registered with Companies House. There is no grace period.

New PSCs (registered after 18 November 2025): "You can provide your personal code when you're first added to the Companies House register, or within 14 days of being added."

Method 1: GOV.UK One Login (Online)

This is the direct route — you verify with Companies House yourself through the GOV.UK One Login system.

What you need:

• A GOV.UK One Login account
• One of these photo IDs:
  • Biometric passport (any country)
  • UK photo driving licence (full or provisional)
  • UK biometric residence permit (BRP)
  • UK biometric residence card (BRC)
  • UK Frontier Worker permit (FWP)
• Your current address and the year you moved in

Step-by-step process:

1. Go to GOV.UK identity verification for Companies House
2. Sign in or create a GOV.UK One Login account
3. Use the GOV.UK One Login app on your phone to photograph your original photo ID (and scan its biometric chip, unless it's a driving licence), then scan your face with the selfie camera — the app checks you are the same person as in your ID. Photocopies and digital copies are not accepted
4. Confirm your address details
5. Complete the verification — you'll receive a Companies House personal code
6. Provide this personal code when filing your next confirmation statement

Companies House says "The identity verification process can usually be completed in minutes." If the check doesn't work with your first photo ID, you can try again with another photo ID or prove your identity another way.

Common issues with GOV.UK One Login:

• Passport must be biometric (has the chip symbol on the cover). Older passports without a chip won't work.
• Expired ID: "You cannot use an expired passport to prove your identity with the GOV.UK One Login app." A DVLA driving licence that expired in the last 90 days is accepted, as is a BRP, BRC or FWP that expired in the last 18 months.
• For the face scan, GOV.UK advises keeping your face completely aligned with the oval on screen, looking straight ahead and keeping as still as you can. If you're photographing a driving licence, move it away from bright light to reduce glare.
• If the date of birth Companies House holds for you doesn't match your ID, you won't be able to link your verified identity to your director or PSC role. Correct it first by replacing the filing that registered you: online through WebFiling if you were appointed with an AP01 or added as a PSC with a PSC01, but on paper if you were registered when the company was formed (form RP01 plus your section of the incorporation form IN01, with proof of your date of birth) or added as a PSC through a confirmation statement (forms RP01 and PSC01). Companies House says corrections can take up to 20 working days, so do this well before your deadline.

If the photo ID step fails: two more ways through One Login

The photo-ID-and-selfie route is the one people get stuck on, and it is easy to assume it is the only option. It is not. If you live in the UK, GOV.UK One Login may offer you two further ways to prove who you are (the service tells you whether you can use them), and both stay inside the same service — you do not start again somewhere else:

• Bank or building society details. Instead of scanning a document, you give your bank or building society details, then your National Insurance number, and answer some security questions. There is no photo and no facial recognition, so it sidesteps the app's scanning steps entirely.
• In person at the Post Office. You enter your photo ID details in the service first and get a customer letter, then take it with your original photo ID to a Post Office that offers in-branch verification. Staff take your photo and scan your ID, and GOV.UK One Login emails your result, usually within 1 day. This suits anyone whose own phone camera or the app keeps defeating them.

You cannot use expired documents on either of these routes.

Because both sit within GOV.UK One Login, they help when the ID check itself is the problem. If the One Login system as a whole is the obstacle — you cannot get an account, or you have tried repeatedly and got nowhere — the route that avoids it altogether is an ACSP, below.

Method 2: Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP)

If you can't use GOV.UK One Login — for example, you don't have a biometric passport or UK driving licence — you can verify through an ACSP.

ACSPs are professionals already supervised under anti-money laundering (AML) regulations:

• Accountants
• Solicitors
• Company formation agents
• Other AML-supervised professionals

Your ACSP verifies your identity using standard KYC (know your customer) documents and then registers your verification with Companies House. You'll receive the same personal code.

When to use an ACSP:

• You don't have a biometric passport or UK photo driving licence
• You're an overseas director without one of the accepted UK documents
• GOV.UK One Login verification didn't work, even after trying another photo ID or another way to prove your identity
• You already use an accountant or formation agent who offers this service

Cost: Some ACSPs may charge for the verification service, and the fee varies. Start with your existing accountant or solicitor: GOV.UK suggests asking them whether they are registered with Companies House as an ACSP, and if they aren't, you can find one on Companies House's published list of ACSPs.

The Personal Code System

Once verified, you receive a unique Companies House personal code. Here's how it works:

• One code per person — your personal code stays the same regardless of how many companies you're associated with
• Linked once per role — you give the code once for each company role: as an existing director, with that company's next confirmation statement; as a new director, in the appointment filing; as a PSC, in your 14-day window
• Must be provided per company — if you're a director of three companies, you include the code in each company's confirmation statement
• Reused each time — "You will use the same personal code each time you need to confirm you're verified."

Keep your personal code secure. Share it only with people you trust to file on your behalf, such as your accountant, and store it where you can find it when your next confirmation statement is due. If you think it has been shared or compromised, Companies House can issue you a new one.

What Happens If You Don't Verify

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 introduced this requirement. Companies House sums up the position: "If you do not comply with identity verification requirements on time, you'll be committing an offence. There will be a range of consequences, including a financial penalty. You will not be able to make any filings for your company or start a new company." In practice that means:

• A criminal offence — section 167M of the Companies Act 2006 says "An individual must not act as a director of a company unless the individual's identity is verified". An unverified director who acts commits an offence, and so do the company and every officer in default if the company lets it happen. For most directors already in post on 18 November 2025, the regulations hold this prohibition back until their company's confirmation statement is filed or its filing deadline passes (regulation 4(6)).
• A financial penalty — Companies House can impose one as an alternative to prosecution
• Filing blocks — "We will not accept your company's confirmation statement until all directors have verified their identity." One unverified director can therefore hold up the whole company's confirmation statement and put it behind on its filing obligations
• Downstream consequences — an overdue confirmation statement can trigger strike-off proceedings, affecting your company's status and credit standing

So this isn't optional. Every director and PSC needs to verify by their own due date.

Practical Checklist

• Check your confirmation statement due date at Companies House — this is your verification deadline
• Choose your verification method: GOV.UK One Login (if you have a biometric passport or UK driving licence) or ACSP
• Gather your photo ID and address details
• Complete verification and save your personal code securely
• If you have multiple companies, note that you'll need to provide the code for each one at their next confirmation statement
• If you're a PSC but not a director, check your birth month deadline

Not sure where you stand? Use our free identity verification readiness checker to get a personalised assessment and next steps.

Sources

• Verify your identity for Companies House — GOV.UK
• When you need to verify your identity for Companies House — GOV.UK
• Making identity verification simple, secure and trusted — Companies House blog
• Understanding identity verification for PSCs — Companies House blog
• Companies House personal codes for identity verification — GOV.UK
• Filing your company's confirmation statement — GOV.UK
• Identity verification — Changes to UK company law (Companies House)
• The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (Commencement No. 6 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2025 (S.I. 2025/1118)
• Companies Act 2006, section 167M