Companies House identity verification: what every director must do by 18 November 2026
The biggest change to Companies House in a generation is quietly reaching its deadline. If you are a director, or you own or control a company, you have a personal task to complete, and the window closes on 18 November 2026.
What it is
Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, Companies House now has to know that the people named on its register are real. Identity verification became mandatory for new directors and people with significant control (PSCs) on 18 November 2025. Everyone already on the register was given twelve months to catch up.
Who has to verify
- Every director of a UK company, including sole directors of one-person companies
- Every person with significant control: broadly anyone holding over 25% of the shares or voting rights, or who otherwise controls the company
- Members of LLPs
- Anyone who files documents at Companies House on a company's behalf, unless they go through an authorised agent
It is personal, not corporate: a director of three companies verifies once and links that verification to each appointment.
When
For existing directors and PSCs the trigger is the company's next confirmation statement. When that statement is filed during the transition year, each director confirms they have verified, and the statement cannot be filed until they have. Whatever your confirmation date, the backstop is 18 November 2026: after that, anyone unverified is in breach.
How to do it
There are two routes. You can verify yourself through GOV.UK One Login, using a passport, driving licence or similar photo ID and your phone. Or you can verify through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP), a firm registered and supervised for this purpose that checks your identity and confirms it to Companies House for you. Either way you receive a personal code, which is then connected to each company role you hold. YVB is a registered ACSP and can verify directors and PSCs as part of looking after a company's filings.
What happens if you miss it
An unverified director commits an offence by continuing to act, and the company and its officers can be fined. More immediately, the company's confirmation statement cannot be filed, which starts its own chain of penalties and, eventually, the threat of strike-off. Companies House has also said it will annotate the public register to show where verification is outstanding.
What to do this week
Check your company's confirmation statement date. List every director and PSC. Ask each one whether they have a personal code. If any do not, verify them now rather than in the days before the deadline, when both GOV.UK and ACSPs will be busiest.
This note is general guidance. If you would rather hand the whole thing over, we verify identities as an ACSP and keep the confirmation statement on our deadline list rather than yours. Get in touch.
Published 7 October 2026.