Directors: verify your ID before your confirmation statement

Every individual director of a UK company now has to verify their identity with Companies House, and the company cannot file its confirmation statement until all of them have. For most companies, that annual filing is the date that matters, not the end of the transition year in November.

Identity verification became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025. Companies House says that date was "not a deadline" but the start of a 12-month transition, in which each director and person with significant control (PSC) verifies by their own due date.

Your confirmation statement sets the date

If you are already a director, you give your Companies House personal code in the company's next confirmation statement. Every company, including dormant ones, must file one at least once every 12 months, and has 14 days after the end of its review period to do it. Filing online costs £50.

That is where the rule bites. Companies House will not accept the statement until every director has verified, and a company that does not file can be fined up to £5,000 and struck off. Acting as a director after your deadline without verifying is an offence. The company and its other directors may be committing one too, and the result can be prosecution or a financial penalty.

If your company has filed a statement since 18 November 2025, its directors should already be verified. If it has not, the next statement date on the Companies House register is your deadline. Our explainer on how the confirmation statement works covers the review period and the fee.

People with significant control have their own window

A PSC is usually someone with more than 25 per cent of the shares or voting rights. PSCs verify too, but they give their code through a separate Companies House service, inside a 14-day window:

• Director and PSC of the same company: 14 days starting the day after the company's confirmation statement date. Filing the statement early does not move it.

• PSC but not a director: the first 14 days of your birth month. If you were born on 22 January, it runs from 1 to 14 January.

• Became a PSC after 18 November 2025: when you are added to the register, or within 14 days.

Illustration, not a real client. Two sisters run a bakery in Peckham through a limited company. Both are directors, and the elder owns 80 per cent of the shares and the younger 20 per cent, so only the elder is a PSC. The company's confirmation statement date is 31 October 2026, so it must file by 14 November. Both sisters need personal codes on that statement, and the elder must also give her code as a PSC between 1 and 14 November.

Two ways to verify, and you only do it once

The direct route is free, through GOV.UK One Login, using one of:

• a biometric passport from any country;

• a UK photo driving licence, full or provisional;

• a UK biometric residence permit or card, or a Frontier Worker permit.

You also need your current address and the year you moved in. Without one of these, One Login may offer UK residents another route, such as bank details and a National Insurance number, or a visit to a Post Office.

The other route is an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP): an accountant, solicitor or other professional registered with Companies House as an authorised agent. They may charge a fee.

Either way you receive an 11-character personal code. One code covers every company you are involved with, and you should not verify again unless Companies House asks. Keep it as safe as your tax reference. One catch: an email address can verify only one identity, so a couple who share an inbox will need a second address.

What to do this week

1. Look up your company on the Companies House register and note the next confirmation statement date.

2. List every director and PSC, and ask each one whether they already hold a personal code.

3. Check the date of birth Companies House holds for each person. If it is wrong, a verified code will not connect to the record until it is corrected.

4. Verify anyone outstanding through Companies House's identity verification service or an ACSP, each with their own email address.

5. File the statement with every director's code, then put each PSC's 14-day window in the diary. Companies House sets out when each role needs to verify.

Our guide to Companies House identity verification covers the rules in more depth. If your statement falls due this autumn, start with step one today: for your directors, that date is the deadline.

About the author

Harvey Dhillon is the founder and CEO of Zmartly, a UK accountancy firm for small businesses. He grew up in West London and worked in finance roles in investment banking, wealth management and private equity, starting at Barclays, before leaving in 2020 to build the firm. He is a Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA, CGMA).

Featured photo by Montse Monmo on Unsplash.