Companies House Now Wants to Know Who You Actually Are
- Consulting Hive
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
If you're a director or Person with Significant Control (PSC) of a UK company, there's a change that's already live and worth checking you're not behind on.
Since 18 November 2025, identity verification has been a mandatory part of appointing a new director or registering a new PSC. If you're setting up a company or bringing someone new onto the board, this step is no longer optional paperwork — it's a precondition. No verification, no appointment.
For directors and PSCs already in place, there's a 12-month transition window running from that same date. In practice, this means you'll be asked to verify as part of your next confirmation statement — the annual filing every UK company already has to submit. Miss it, and the confirmation statement simply can't go through, which has knock-on effects: it can block other filings, and prolonged non-compliance risks penalties or even the company being struck off.
Verification itself isn't complicated once you know the route. Most people do it through GOV.UK One Login using a biometric passport or UK driving licence. There's also an in-person option at participating Post Office branches for anyone whose documents don't fit the online route. Either way, once you're verified, you're issued a personal code — tied to you, not the company — which you'll then need to quote at the relevant filing point.
The bit that catches people out
The requirement for third-party agents — accountants, solicitors, company formation agents — to be formally registered as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) before they can file on a client's behalf was originally expected this spring. That date has since moved; Companies House has confirmed it won't come into force before November 2026. If your accountant currently just "handles your Companies House stuff" without you ever thinking about it, it's worth asking now whether they're planning to register — because eventually, if they're not an ACSP, they won't legally be able to file for you at all.
Where this leaves you
If you're a director who hasn't verified yet, the honest advice is: don't wait for your confirmation statement to force the issue. Do it now, while it's routine, rather than under deadline pressure later.
If you'd rather not deal with GOV.UK One Login yourself, or your documents don't fit neatly into the standard routes, that's exactly what an ACSP exists for. Consulting Hive is a registered Authorised Corporate Service Provider — we can carry out the identity verification on your behalf, as part of keeping your company's filings compliant, rather than leaving it as one more thing on your own to-do list.
Companies House guidance on this has shifted more than once already, so if you're reading this some months after it was written, it's worth double-checking current deadlines directly — or just asking us, since keeping track of it is part of what we do.
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