Directors: Are you ready for mandatory ID verification? Steps you need to take to ensure compliance

These new requirements apply to all UK companies and anyone who is a director or individual PSC of those companies, regardless of their country of residence, and action is required for all companies that a person is a director or PSC of. This could mean a significant amount of work for company groups with common directors, and processes related to these new requirements are expected to be a new feature of investments and acquisitions.

The same requirements as those for companies and directors also apply to all UK LLPs and their individual members. Another similar regime will come into force at a later date for those who make filings at Companies House on behalf of companies (like internal company secretarial functions), as well as LPs, corporate directors of companies, corporate members of LLPs and officers of corporate PSCs. We will be providing a further update where those requirements are confirmed.

The simplest way to verify your identity is with Companies House directly, using the GOV.UK One Login service. That service will ask you a few questions, and then guide you to verify:

• with the GOV.UK Check App; 
• by answering security questions online; or
• by entering your details from your photo ID on the One Login service, then going to a participating Post Office.

Corporate service providers who have registered to be an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) can also undertake this verification for you (and provide Companies House with confirmation that it has done so). Your ACSP will be able to provide you with more details as to their requirements for identity verification. 

Once you've been verified (whether directly or through an ACSP), you will receive a ‘personal code’ from Companies House. You will need to provide this code to your company or prospective company so that they can submit it to Companies House for registration.

Important: this code will allow people to file documents or make changes to the company’s online records. You should only share this code with people who you trust to file on your behalf or for your company. 

Voluntary identity verification started in April 2025, so you can verify your identity now.

However, the mandatory regime starts from 18 November 2025. From that date:

• any individual who becomes a director will be required to provide their personal code when registering a new company or prior to their appointment to an existing company;
• any individual who becomes a PSC will be required to provide their personal code within 14 days of being registered as a PSC; and
• a 12-month transition period will apply to current individual directors and PSCs:
  • current directors must provide their personal code by the time their company submits its next annual confirmation statement;
  • current PSCs who are also a director of a company must provide their personal code for each role, and with respect to their PSC role, within 14 days of their company’s confirmation statement date (via a separate service to be launched nearer the time); and
  • current PSCs who are not also a director must provide their personal code within 14 days of the first day of their birth month. For example, if a PSC was born on 23 January 2026, the 14-day period commences on 1 January 2026. 

Every individual whose identity needs to be verified is required to provide the following:

• Name, any former name (as known for business purposes), date of birth, and their current residential address. 
• An email address (one which hasn’t already been used for another identity verification  application). Companies House will email important information to this address, so use one that you will check often and that is secure where possible.
• The supporting evidence outlined below, depending on which identification service is used:

As above, nothing is required now, and the transition period is designed to give companies and directors breathing space within which to comply, but the following steps will help put you in good stead to comply with the new regime:

• Companies should:
  • Notify their current directors and individual PSCs and help them pull together the documents required for verification, and provide them with details of the services above for identity verification, so that they can verify their identities and provide you with their personal codes in good time before they are required to be submitted to Companies House.
  • Update their onboarding processes for new directors and PSCs to include identity verification steps.
  • Monitor news and publications from GOV.UK in order to keep up to date on upcoming rules and deadlines, or look out for further details from us on our news feed.
• Current individual directors and PSCs should check Companies House to see their verification deadline (service starts in November 2025).

By the end of 2026, Companies House will start enforcement activity against those who have failed to complete the verification.