The new legal requirement that all company directors must complete ID verification with Companies House will take effect from 18 November 2025. This includes directors of charitable companies.
The regulations emanate from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 and are intended to reduce the risk of fraud and improve trust and transparency on the Companies House register.
After 18 November 2025:
- Existing company directors will need to complete the ID verifcation before the next Confirmation Statement is due to be filed and
- New directors will have to complete it before registering as a director.
Companies House will issue each director with a personal code. If someone is a director of more than one company, they need only do the ID verification once and then give their person verification code to each company that they are a director of.
The ID requirement also applies to persons with significant control (PSCs) and will apply to anyone filing company information from November 2026. The following short video explains the new rules clearly
Identity verification - Changes to UK company law
Verifying your identity
There are two different options that your Directors can use:
- The ‘Verify your identity for Companies House’ service which uses Gov.UK One Login and is free; or
- an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) (Companies House authorised agent)
The following link gives more detailed information on how to verify a director’s identity with Gov.UK One Login:
Using your GOV.UK One Login: Proving your identity with GOV.UK One Login - GOV.UK
Once you have verified your identity, Companies House will issue each director with a unique identifier known as a Companies House personal Code.
You can find out more about the rules at
Verifying your identity for Companies House - GOV.UK
Companies House personal codes for identity verification - GOV.UK
