Compulsory ID verification with Companies House - 20th August 2025

Mandatory identity verification for company directors and beneficial owners, which will begin on 18 November 2025. The new requirements are being introduced under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

Companies House has confirmed that, from Tuesday 18 November 2025, legal requirements for directors and people with significant control (PSCs) of companies to verify their identities will begin.

From 18 November 2025:

• new directors will need to verify their identity to incorporate a company or be appointed to an existing company;

• existing directors will need to confirm they have verified their identity at the same time as they file their next annual confirmation statement, during a 12-month transition period;

• existing PSCs will need to verify their identity in line with an appointed day within 12 months of the commencement of mandatory identity verification on 18 November.

Companies House, which is managing the implementation, estimates that six to seven million individuals will have to verify their identity in the first year of the system's operation. It is being phased in over 12 months to make things simpler for company officers, business owners and PSCs.

From 18 November 2025, new directors will need to verify their identity to incorporate a company or be appointed to an existing company. Existing directors will need to confirm they have verified their identity at the same time as they file their next annual confirmation statement, during the 12-month transition period. Existing PSCs will need to verify their identity in line with an appointed day within 12 months of the commencement of mandatory identity verification on 18 November 2025.

For most people, verification will be a one-off process that can be done in a few minutes, says Companies House, which is encouraging individuals to verify their identities as early as possible. It is free and can be done directly through Companies House with the GOV.UK One Login service, or through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). 

Most individuals will only need to verify their identity once. Once they have done this, they will receive a personal code from Companies House, which they will need to provide along with the verification statement to confirm they have successfully verified their identity for each company role they hold. More than 300,000 individuals have already been through the process since it was launched for voluntary verification in April.

Companies House will contact companies to tell them what their directors and PSCs need to do to meet identity verification requirements. From 18 November 2025, directors and PSCs will also be able to check the Companies House register to see identity verification due dates for all their roles. Existing directors will need to verify their identity ahead of their company's confirmation statement. It will be an offence to act as a director without being verified once director duties commence.

The deadline varies for persons with significant control. Every PSC has a 14-day period during which they must submit a statement confirming they have verified their identity, along with their Companies House personal code. The dates of this 14-day period depend on whether they are already a PSC when identity verification requirements are introduced on 18 November 2025, and whether they are also a director of the company.

If they are registered as a PSC after 18 November 2025, their 14-day period starts from the date they register with Companies House. If they are already a PSC on 18 November 2025, their 14-day period starts from the company’s confirmation statement date – if they are also a director of the company. If they are not a director of the company, their 14-day period starts from the first day of their month of birth, as it is shown on the Companies House register. For example, if the date of birth is shown on the register as March 1990, the 14-day period will start on 1 March 2026.  

Overseas companies with UK permanent establishments (PEs) will also be subject to the ID verification requirements from 18 November 2025, under the Companies Authorised to Register, Unregistered Companies and Overseas Companies (Application of Company Law) Regulations 2025 (the Regulations). A company incorporated outside the UK is already required to register with Companies House if it opens a UK establishment and must deliver a form OS IN01 to Companies House within one month of opening a PE. Directors of existing overseas companies which establish a new UK PE must be verified within one year of that UK PE being opened. There is no need to register if there is no physical presence in the UK.

Identity verification requirements for limited partnerships, corporate directors of companies, corporate members of limited liability partnerships, and officers of corporate PSCs will commence later.

Source: Techlink Professional