The Companies House ID Check: What Every Director Needs to Do Before 17 November

If you’re a director, a person with significant control (PSC), or an LLP member of a UK company, Companies House now wants to check you’re really who you say you are — and the clock is running down on getting it done.

What’s actually changing

Since 18 November 2025, Companies House has been rolling out mandatory identity verification for anyone with a formal role at a UK company: directors, PSCs, LLP members, and the agents who file on companies’ behalf. The idea is straightforward — cut down on the use of fake or stolen identities to set up shell companies for fraud — but the practical effect is that a step which used to be a formality (registering as a director) now comes with an ID check attached.

Existing companies were given a 12-month transition window to get their people verified. That window closes on 17 November 2026. New directors and PSCs appointed from now on need to verify as part of the appointment itself — there’s no grace period for them.

As of the most recent figures, take-up has been patchy: roughly half of directors and only around 4 in 10 PSCs had completed verification. If your company hasn’t done this yet, you’re in good company — but “good company” isn’t much comfort once enforcement starts.

Who needs to do this

• Every director of a UK company (including directors of overseas companies registered here)
• Every person with significant control (PSC) — broadly, anyone owning or controlling more than 25% of shares or voting rights, or who otherwise exercises significant influence
• Designated and non-designated members of an LLP
• Anyone acting as an authorised agent filing on a company’s behalf

If that’s you, and you haven’t verified yet, this is worth ten minutes of your time this week rather than a scramble in November.

Three ways to verify

1. Do it yourself, for free, via GOV.UK One Login. This is the route most sole director/shareholder businesses will use. You’ll need a GOV.UK One Login account, a valid form of photo ID (passport is simplest — it needs the ID-check-compatible symbol on the cover), and a smartphone to run the GOV.UK ID Check app, which scans your passport’s chip and takes a facial-recognition selfie. You’ll also confirm your address. Do this on your phone rather than a desktop — the app-based document scan is the part most people trip up on.

2. Verify without a smartphone, in person at a Post Office. If you don’t have a compatible phone or don’t want to use the app, GOV.UK One Login also supports verification via a Post Office branch with photo ID.

3. Let your accountant or company formation agent do it for you. If your accountant, solicitor, or company secretarial provider is registered with Companies House as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP), they can verify your identity on your behalf as part of their AML checks. Worth a quick email to ask if this is already covered by your existing arrangement before you pay for anything separately — many practices are including it as standard.

What happens if you don’t

Companies House has been clear that this isn’t a one-off fine and forget. Their stated approach is staged:

• Right now: reminders, guidance, and “nudges” — the education phase.
• Practical lockout: once the transition period ends, unverified directors and PSCs won’t be able to file statutory documents. That includes your confirmation statement, without which your company falls out of good standing.
• Financial penalties for continued non-compliance.
• In serious or repeated cases — particularly where there’s suspected fraud — criminal prosecution under the Companies Act 2006, which can mean fines or, in the worst cases, imprisonment. Companies House has also said it will share information with the Insolvency Service and other law enforcement where economic crime is suspected.

For most small business owners this won’t escalate anywhere near that far — but “can’t file your confirmation statement” is enough on its own to cause real problems, since a company that can’t stay compliant with its filing duties is a company that starts attracting the wrong kind of attention from lenders, insurers, and even customers doing due diligence.

What to do this week

1. Check whether you, your co-directors, and anyone listed as a PSC have already verified. If you’re not sure, your accountant or company formation agent can usually tell you.
2. If not, block out ten minutes, get your passport out, and do it yourself via GOV.UK One Login — it’s free and most people can complete it in one sitting.
3. If you’d rather someone else handled it, ask your accountant whether they’re an Authorised Corporate Service Provider and whether they can verify you as part of your existing service.
4. Don’t wait for your next confirmation statement to be due — verifying early means one less thing to think about when that date rolls around, and avoids the scramble everyone else will be having in October and November.

Sources: GOV.UK — Verifying your identity for Companies House; Companies House blog — Verifying your identity with GOV.UK One Login; ICAS — Companies House approach to enforcement of identity verification compliance; PKF Francis Clark — Companies House identity verification: enforcement is getting closer