Companies house identity verification deadline - who, and by when
- New directors - verified identity required at incorporation or appointment; mandatory since 18 November 2025, no exceptions
- Existing directors - verify during the 12-month transition, with the trigger being your company’s confirmation statement date; statements filed without verified directors invite rejection and offence exposure
- People with significant control (PSCs) - the same duty on the same timetable, including PSCs who are not directors
- Multiple companies - one verification covers you everywhere; your personal code attaches to every role
- Who this catches - the millions of small-company directors who file once a year and read nothing in between: the deadline arrives with the confirmation statement they always leave to the last week
Director identity verification UK - the two routes
Director identity verification UK runs through two doors. The direct route: GOV.UK One Login - photo ID (passport or driving licence) plus a likeness check on your phone, ten minutes for most people, producing a personal verification code you then connect to your director and PSC records. The assisted route: an Authorised Corporate Service Provider - your accountant, solicitor, or formation agent, registered as an ACSP - verifies you and files confirmation to Companies House. Use the direct route if your documents are standard; use the acsp verification companies house route where documents are non-standard, you manage many entities, or your agent is already handling the company’s filings anyway.
Companies house new rules 2026 - verification is one piece of a bigger reform
The companies house new rules 2026 directors are meeting flow from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act - identity verification is the headline, but the register is changing around it.
What else changed or is changing:
- Registered email addresses - every company must maintain one for Companies House contact
- Registered office rules tightened - PO boxes are out; an “appropriate address” is required
- Companies House gained real enforcement powers - querying and rejecting filings, sharing data with agencies, and issuing penalties directly
- Accounts reform is phasing in - software-only filing and fuller small-company accounts on the roadmap
- ACSP registration itself - agents filing on your behalf must now be registered and supervised
- The direction: a register you can rely on - which is exactly why lenders are leaning on it harder (see below)
Companies house new rules 2026 - verification, registered emails, address rules, and real enforcement powers: the register is becoming load-bearing.
What happens if you miss it
- An offence - acting as a director without verification is a criminal offence for both the individual and the company, with financial penalties
- Filings block - confirmation statements and appointment filings fail; the public record stops updating
- The annotation risk - Companies House can annotate the register, visibly flagging non-compliance to anyone who checks - including lenders
- The knock-on - a frozen or flagged record surfaces at exactly the wrong moments: credit applications, account openings, property completions
The lending angle - why this matters beyond compliance
Every business and property lender KYCs against Companies House - it is the first tab an underwriter opens. A company whose confirmation statement is overdue because a director never verified, or whose record carries a non-compliance annotation, generates queries at best and declines at worst; and on time-critical deals (a bridging completion, a buyout deadline) those queries cost the timetable. The fix is disproportionately cheap: verify every director and PSC this month, connect the codes, and confirm your registered email and office address while you are in there. For SPV landlords the same applies per entity - one unverified director freezes every company they sit on, which is worth knowing before a portfolio refinance spans six of them.
The ten-minute action plan
Today: find your confirmation statement date on the Companies House register. This week: every director and PSC completes One Login verification (or books the ACSP route for non-standard cases) and connects their code to each role. While logged in: confirm the registered email and check the office address qualifies. Then diarise nothing - that is the point; done once, verification follows you across every current and future appointment.
Disclosure: Money Pilot Ltd (FRN: 968705) is an Appointed Representative of Yellow Stone Finance Group Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 814533). Yellow Stone Finance Group Ltd is a credit broker not a lender. Money Pilot Ltd is Registered in England and Wales No: 13621432. You should always make sure you are able to afford any repayments as late or missed payments can affect your credit rating and access to future finance.
YOUR PROPERTY MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR ANY OTHER DEBT SECURED ON IT.
