Companies House confirms mandatory identity verification rollout from 18 November 2025

Companies House have confirmed that, starting 18 November 2025, directors and people with significant control (PSCs) of UK registered companies will be required to verify their identities.

The new requirements will come into force in line with the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which was introduced to reform company law, enhance corporate transparency and combat economic crime.

It is crucial for those affected by the new regulations to comply, as it will become an offence to act as a director without being verified, once the director duties commence.

Who must verify their identity?

Directors

New directors must verify their identity prior to incorporating a company or being appointed as a director of an existing company.

From 18 November 2025, existing directors will have a transition period in which to verify their identity, with relevant confirmation to be given at the same time as they file their next annual confirmation statement.

It will not be possible to incorporate a company on or after 18 November 2025 unless the first directors have completed their ID verification.

If a person is a director of more than one company, they will need to verify their identity for each company.

Members of LLPs

New individual members of an LLP will also need to verify their identity on or 18 November 2025 before their appointment is filed at Companies House.

As with a Company:

• it will not be possible to incorporate an LLP on or after 18 November 2025 if the first members have not completed ID verification; and
• Existing members of LLPs will be required to confirm that they have verified their identity at the same time as they file their first confirmation statement after 18 November 2025.

PSCs

Every individual PSC must submit a statement confirming identity verification and provide their Companies House personal code. The 14 day deadline to do this will depend on the PSC status:

• If they are registered as a PSC after 18 November 2025, their 14 day period starts from the date they register with Companies House.
• If they are already a PSC on 18 November 2025 and a director of the company, their 14 day period starts from the company’s confirmation statement date.
• If they are not a director of the company, their 14 day period starts from the first day of their month of birth, as it is shown on the Companies House register (e.g. if the date of birth is shown on the register as May 1998, the 14 day period will start on 1 May 2026).

Future identity verification requirements

Companies House have also confirmed that they plan to introduce identify verifications at a later date for:

• People who file at Companies House.
• Limited partnerships.
• Corporate directors of companies.
• Corporate members of limited liability partnerships.
• Officers of corporate PSCs.

These changes are expected to roll out from Spring 2026.

How to verify your identity

Your identity can be verified via the Companies House GOV.UK website (which is free, user friendly and relatively quick) or through an ACSP (e.g. accountant, solicitor or company formation agent). An ACSP will need you to provide specific documents for verification, and they may charge a fee for this service.

In order to verify yourself online using the GOV.UK website you will need one of the following types of photo ID:

• Biometric passport from any country.
• UK photo driving licence (full or provisional).
• UK biometric residence permit.
• UK biometric residence card.
• UK Frontier Worker permit.

You will also be required to state your current address, and the year you moved into the said address and to sign in or create a GOV.UK One Login.

Your verified identity will be connected to your GOV.UK One Login. An email address can only be used once to verify an identity.

Once an identity verification is successful, the individual will receive a personal code from Companies House. The personal code and verification statement will need to be provided, confirming that the individual has successful verified their identity for each company role they hold. As such, it is important that this is kept safe.

What happens next?

Companies House are in the process of writing to all registered email addresses, linked to UK registered companies, to inform companies and their agents about identity verification requirements.

Whilst mandatory verification does come not into force until 18 November 2025, we strongly recommend that you:

• Review your records to identify who will need to complete verifications as soon as possible;
• Raise awareness of the ID verification requirements internally; and
• Consider carrying out the ID verification process now during the voluntary registration period.

For more information, please contact one of our Corporate Team.