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Companies House Identity Verification for Directors: When You Must Do It and How

By Trust Ledger Accounting. Checked against GOV.UK and Companies House guidance and last updated on .

Every company director must verify their identity with Companies House. If you were a director before 18 November 2025, your deadline is your company's next confirmation statement, and the company cannot file it until every director has verified. The 12-month transition reaches all existing directors by around mid-November 2026. It is free through GOV.UK One Login, and in September 2026 the first directors who ignored it were prosecuted and fined.

What just happened: the first fines

On 16 September 2026, City of London Magistrates' Court fined three directors in the first prosecutions for identity verification offences, GOV.UK reported the next day.

What the director didFine
Signed company accounts and took part in board decisions without verifying£166, plus £85 costs and a £66 surcharge
Had verified, but did not stop a fellow director acting while unverified£307, plus £85 costs and a £123 surcharge
Signed and filed company accounts without verifying£80, plus £85 costs and a £32 surcharge

The fines were small, but each director now has a criminal conviction. Note the middle case: a director who had verified was still convicted, for letting an unverified co-director carry on. Companies House said it will take enforcement action where the rules are ignored.

When is your deadline?

Your situationWhen you must verify
Director before 18 November 2025Give your personal code in the company's next confirmation statement
New director appointed from 18 November 2025Before you are appointed
Setting up a new companyAt incorporation, for every director and PSC
Person with significant control (PSC) who is also a directorWithin 14 days starting the day after the confirmation statement date, given separately for the PSC role
PSC who is not a directorWithin the first 14 days of your birth month

To find your company's confirmation statement date, search the company on the Companies House register. The date shown is the end of the review period; you have 14 days after it to file. Source: GOV.UK, when you need to verify your identity for Companies House.

How to verify, step by step

  1. Open Companies House's identity verification service and sign in with, or create, a GOV.UK One Login.
  2. Answer the questions. You are sent down one of three routes: an app with your photo ID, online security questions, or entering your photo ID details and then visiting a participating Post Office.
  3. When you pass, you get a personal code. Save it somewhere safe.
  4. Give the code in your company's next confirmation statement, or send it to the person who files it for you.

The online route is free. Do not post or email identity documents to Companies House; they will not accept them.

What happens if you do not verify

A quick checklist for small company owners

How we can help

We are not an Authorised Corporate Service Provider, so you verify yourself, for free, on GOV.UK. What we do is the part around it: tell you your deadline, check every director and PSC is covered, and file the confirmation statement once you have your code. Send us your company name or number and we will tell you your date, free.

Send us a WhatsApp, email [email protected] or use the form.

Ask us to check your deadline See all prices

Related questions

When is my deadline to verify my identity with Companies House?

If you were already a director before 18 November 2025, you must verify and give your personal code in your company's next confirmation statement. Because every company files a confirmation statement at least once a year, the 12-month transition that started on 18 November 2025 reaches every existing director by around mid-November 2026. New directors must verify before they are appointed.

Does identity verification cost anything?

No, not if you do it yourself through GOV.UK One Login. An authorised agent (an Authorised Corporate Service Provider) can verify you instead, and they may charge a fee.

What is the Companies House personal code?

It is the code you receive once your identity is verified. It belongs to you, not to the company, and you give it whenever you file a confirmation statement, are appointed as a director or become a person with significant control. Keep it safe and share it only with someone you trust to file for you.

What happens if a director does not verify?

The company cannot file its confirmation statement until every director has verified, and filing it late is an offence. Acting as a director while unverified is also an offence. In September 2026 three directors were fined in the first prosecutions, and Companies House says it will note failures on the public register.

I am a director of more than one company. Do I verify more than once?

No. You verify once and get one personal code, then give that same code in each company's confirmation statement.

Can Trust Ledger verify my identity for me?

No. We are not an Authorised Corporate Service Provider, so you verify yourself through GOV.UK One Login, which is free. We can tell you your deadline, check every director and PSC is covered, and file the confirmation statement once you have your code.