YF Accounting6 min read
Every UK company director and person with significant control (PSC) now has to verify their identity with Companies House, and if you were appointed before 18 November 2025 your deadline is your company’s next confirmation statement. The statement cannot be filed until every director has verified and provided their personal code, so one unverified director blocks a filing your company is legally required to make.
Identity verification became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025 under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. It exists to stop people running companies under fake or stolen names, and it applies to real, honest directors just as much as the fraudsters it targets. The transition for existing directors runs out in November 2026, so companies filing confirmation statements this autumn are the last wave. If yours is one of them, sort it this week rather than the day the statement is due.
What identity verification actually is
It is a single check that proves you are a real person with a real identity. You do it once, not once per company and not once per year. When you pass, Companies House issues you an 11 character personal code. The code belongs to you personally, not to your company, and you will use the same code for every directorship and PSC role you ever hold.
Treat the code like your Unique Taxpayer Reference: keep it somewhere safe and share it only with people you trust to file for you, such as your accountant. If you think it has been compromised, Companies House can cancel it and issue a new one.
Who has to verify
- Company directors, and their equivalents in other entities: LLP members, general partners and managing officers
- People with significant control (PSCs), typically anyone holding more than 25% of the shares or voting rights
- Directors of overseas companies registered in the UK
- Anyone applying to register as a Companies House authorised agent (ACSP)
Corporate directors, limited partnerships and people who simply file on behalf of companies will be brought in at a later date. And to repeat the good news: you only ever verify once. Companies House asks you not to verify again unless it tells you to.
The deadlines, role by role
Existing directors
You must provide your personal code as part of your company’s next confirmation statement. If you sit on the board of several companies, you provide the same code for each one as its statement falls due. Your practical deadline is therefore your confirmation statement date, which you can check on the Companies House register.
New directors and new companies
Anyone incorporating a company or being appointed as a director now provides a personal code as part of that filing. No code, no appointment. We covered the practical side of this in our guide to forming a limited company in 2026.
PSCs
PSCs have their own 14 day windows, and this is where people get caught out. If you are both a director and a PSC of the same company, you provide your code twice: once in the confirmation statement as director, and once through the separate PSC verification service within 14 days starting the day after the company’s confirmation statement date. Filing the statement early does not move that window.
If you are a PSC but not a director, your window is the first 14 days of your birth month. Someone born on 22 January must provide their code between 1 and 14 January. If you became a PSC after 18 November 2025, you provide your code when you are added to the register or within 14 days of it.
How to verify, and what it costs
Route one: GOV.UK One Login, free
The Verify your identity for Companies House service is free and most people finish it in minutes. GOV.UK One Login asks a few questions about you, then routes you to the easiest method: the app with your passport or driving licence, security questions online, or entering your photo ID details and finishing at a participating Post Office. Your code then appears under Manage account when you sign in to Companies House, and since 8 July 2026 it is emailed to you as well.
Route two: through an authorised agent
An Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) can verify you instead. These are accountants, solicitors and formation agents who are supervised for anti money laundering and registered with Companies House. You show them your identity documents, they confirm your identity, and your personal code arrives by email. Agents can charge for this, so ask first. This route suits directors who cannot use One Login or would rather hand the whole thing to the person who already files for them.
What happens if you do not verify
Missing your deadline is an offence, and Companies House can pursue prosecution or a financial penalty. The more immediate problem is practical: your company cannot file its confirmation statement, you cannot be appointed to any new directorship, and you cannot register a new company. Companies House has also said it will start publishing a note against the names of unverified individuals on the public register, which is not a look any business owner wants in front of lenders, suppliers or clients.
Five things to do before your confirmation statement
- Look up your confirmation statement date on the Companies House register so you know your real deadline.
- Verify now through GOV.UK One Login rather than the week the statement is due. It is free and usually takes minutes.
- Save your personal code somewhere secure and share it only with whoever files for you.
- List your PSCs and diarise their windows, especially shareholders who are not directors, because their deadline follows their birth month rather than the company’s filing date.
- Tell your accountant the codes exist so they go into the confirmation statement without a last minute scramble.
If YF Accounting looks after your limited company, this is already on our checklist: we track every client’s confirmation statement date and chase the codes well before filing day. If you run your own filings and want the compliance side handled properly for a fixed monthly fee, our accounts and corporation tax service covers it, and our limited company guide collects everything else a director needs in one place.
Frequently asked questions
I am a director of three companies. Do I verify three times?
No. You verify once and get one personal code for life. You then provide that same code separately for each company, in each company’s next confirmation statement. The code links your verified identity to every role you hold.
Does identity verification cost anything?
Not if you use the GOV.UK One Login route, which is free whether you verify through the app, online questions or the Post Office option. An authorised agent such as an accountant or solicitor may charge a fee if they verify you instead.
I verified voluntarily months ago. Do I need to do anything else?
Your code stays valid, and you should not verify again unless Companies House asks you to. The step people miss is connecting the code to your records: as a director you provide it in your company’s next confirmation statement, and if you are also a PSC you provide it again through the PSC service in your 14 day window.
Can my accountant deal with all of this for me?
Largely, yes. An accountant registered as a Companies House authorised agent can verify your identity, and any good accountant will track your confirmation statement date and make sure every director’s code is in place before filing. That is exactly how we run it for YF Accounting clients, and our limited company accounting guide explains what else we take off a director’s plate.
Founder of YF Accounting — a fixed-fee, fully digital accountancy practice in Manchester serving SMEs, sole traders and landlords across the UK. One point of contact, unlimited support, no surprise bills.
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