In short
- Since 18 November 2025 a new director gives a personal code in the incorporation or appointment filing.
- A director in office before that date gives the code in the company's next confirmation statement.
- A PSC who is not a director gives the code in the first 14 days of the month of their birthday.
- A biometric passport from any country verifies you online, and an ACSP can verify you from abroad.
In this guide
What Companies House identity verification is and where the duty comes from
Identity verification checks a person, not a company. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 added it to the Companies Act 2006. Since 18 November 2025 every director, every LLP member and every person with significant control (PSC) must prove their identity to Companies House. Section 1110A of the Companies Act says when an identity counts as verified.
Verification has two steps. First you pass the identity check and receive a Companies House personal code. Then you give that code to Companies House for each role you hold, with a statement that your identity is verified. You verify once in most cases, and Companies House asks you not to verify again unless it tells you to.
Companies House calls 18 November 2025 the start of a 12-month transition and says the date itself is no deadline. Each person's due date follows from the role. For a company formed today the check comes first. With company formation in the UK each director's code goes into the registration filing, beside the UK registered office address we give the company.
Who must verify: directors, LLP members and people with significant control
Companies House lists five groups that verify now:
- Directors of companies on the Companies House register
- The equivalent of a director: LLP members, general partners and managing officers
- Directors of an overseas company registered in the UK
- People with significant control (PSCs)
- Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSPs), the agents who verify other people
A PSC usually holds more than 25% of the shares or voting rights, can appoint or remove a majority of the directors, or influences or controls the company in another way. A founder who owns the company and runs it holds two roles and gives the code for each one.
Companies House has not yet set the date for five more groups: people who file at Companies House, limited partnerships, corporate directors, corporate members of LLPs and officers of corporate PSCs. An LLP gives the code of every current member in its confirmation statement, form LL CS01, and a new LLP gives them when it registers. LLP registration in the UK starts with that step.
When you must verify: the due date for each role
| Role | When the code is due | Where you give it |
|---|---|---|
| Director appointed from 18 November 2025 | Before the appointment is registered | The incorporation filing or form AP01 |
| Director in office before 18 November 2025 | With the company's next confirmation statement | The confirmation statement |
| PSC who is also a director | 14 days from the day after the confirmation statement date | The PSC verification service |
| PSC registered before 18 November 2025, not a director | The first 14 days of the month of the PSC's birthday | The PSC verification service |
| PSC added from 18 November 2025 | When added to the register, or within 14 days | The PSC filing or the PSC verification service |
| LLP member | With the LLP's next confirmation statement, or at appointment | Form LL CS01 or the appointment filing |
A director of three companies gives the code in each company's statement, on each company's date. A PSC's 14 days do not move when the company files its statement early. The Companies House register shows the dates of each PSC's 14-day period.
For an overseas company with a UK establishment, the company confirms that all its directors have verified by the anniversary of the establishment's registration.
A worked example: one company, three people, four due dates
A company was incorporated on 3 March 2021. Its review period runs from 3 March 2025 to 2 March 2026, so its confirmation statement is due by 16 March 2026. Anna is a director and holds 60% of the shares. Ben holds 40%, is not a director and was born on 22 July. Carla joins the board on 1 September 2026.
| Person | Role | Code due |
|---|---|---|
| Anna | Director | In the confirmation statement, by 16 March 2026 |
| Anna | PSC and director | 3 to 16 March 2026, the 14 days after the statement date of 2 March |
| Ben | PSC, not a director | 1 to 14 July 2026 |
| Carla | New director | In the appointment filing of 1 September 2026 |
Without Anna's code Companies House does not accept the statement, and the company misses its confirmation deadline as well. How the review period and the 14 days are counted is in our guide to the confirmation statement and its due date.
We do this for you UK company formation a private limited company, from abroad
How to verify your identity online with GOV.UK One Login
The Verify your identity for Companies House service runs on GOV.UK One Login and costs nothing. It asks questions about you, not about your company, and sends you to one of three routes: an app, security questions online, or a visit to a Post Office. For the online route you need one of these photo IDs:
- A biometric passport from any country
- A UK photo driving licence, full or provisional
- A UK biometric residence permit (BRP) or biometric residence card (BRC)
- A UK Frontier Worker permit
You also give your current address and the year you moved in. Each person needs an email address of their own, because one address verifies one identity. An expired passport fails in the app. A DVLA driving licence still works within 90 days of expiry, and a BRP, BRC or Frontier Worker permit within 18 months.
- Sign in to GOV.UK One Login, or create an account with your own email address.
- Answer the questions about yourself and take the route the service offers.
- Prove your identity with the photo ID you named.
- Read your personal code under Manage account in your Companies House account.
- Give the code for each role: in the confirmation statement as a director, in the PSC service as a PSC.
People who live in the UK have two more routes: security questions with their National Insurance number, or a visit to a Post Office after entering their photo ID details online. At the Post Office you show your customer letter and original photo ID by the date in the letter, usually about 15 days after the confirmation email, and staff take your photo. The result arrives by email, usually within 1 day.
Verifying from outside the UK: a passport online or an ACSP
A founder who lives abroad has two routes. GOV.UK One Login accepts a biometric passport from any country, so most foreign directors verify online without travelling. The Post Office and National Insurance routes are offered to people who live in the UK.
The second route is an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP), also called a Companies House authorised agent. It is an accountant, a solicitor or a formation agent, supervised for anti-money laundering in the UK and registered with Companies House. Gov.uk says you can use one from any country. Companies House publishes a list of the agents that asked to appear on it, and each agent sets its own fee.
You give the agent your full name, home address, email address and the identity evidence it asks for. Companies House emails your personal code to that address, usually within a few hours. Once you use the code, the public register shows a verification statement with your name, the date of the check, the agent's name and its anti-money laundering supervisor.
A code that will not connect to your record usually points to a mismatch: a mistyped code, a wrong date of birth on the register, or wrong details sent by the agent. A wrong date of birth is corrected through WebFiling before you try again.
The Companies House personal code: one code for every role
The personal code has 11 characters and belongs to you, not to a company. A director of two companies verifies once and gives the same code for each appointment. You can share it with someone you trust to file for you, such as your accountant. When the code is used, Companies House can ask for your date of birth to match it. If you think the code has leaked, Companies House issues a new one by email and cancels the old one.
If you verified with GOV.UK One Login, the code is under Manage account, and anyone who verified after 8 July 2026 also received it by email. If an agent verified you, save the code to a Companies House account with the email address it was sent to and your date of birth. Companies House warns against lending your identity: a person who uses it to run a company can take on debts for which you answer.
On the Legarithm platform the due date of each director and each PSC stands in the company's calendar, so the codes are in hand before the statement falls due.
What happens if you do not verify on time
A director who acts without a verified identity commits an offence under section 167M of the Companies Act 2006, and so do the company and every officer in default. The director's acts stay valid: the law punishes the default and leaves the decisions standing. A PSC who stays unverified after the due date risks an offence too.
Companies House starts with a default letter that names the offence. Its enforcement routes are prosecution, referral to The Insolvency Service and financial penalties, and it treats 3 or more offences in 5 years as serious. Prosecution can end in a conviction, a fine and disqualification as a director. Companies House also plans a note against the person's name on the public register. Without a verified identity a person cannot be appointed a director or register a new company.
A company with an unverified director cannot file its confirmation statement, so one default leads to a second.
Two reliefs exist. A PSC can request a 14-day extension in the PSC service before the due date passes. A company with exceptional circumstances, such as a serious IT failure on the due date, can make a representation, and an accepted one usually pauses enforcement for up to 2 months.
With company formation in the UK we take each director's code before the registration goes to Companies House, and the company starts with every officer verified.
