Since 18 November 2025 every director and owner of a UK company has had to verify their identity with Companies House. The register will not accept a confirmation statement, the annual return on who runs the company, until each of its directors holds a verification code. A company that fails to file is fined and struck off. One unprepared director is enough to bring the whole company to a halt.
The requirement comes from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, Britain's law against economic crime. It is the person who is verified, not the company. Companies House then issues an 11-character code, and the director quotes it for every company where they hold office.
The rule covers directors and their equivalents, including members of an LLP and directors of overseas companies with a UK establishment. A nominee appointment is no exemption. PSCs, persons with significant control, must verify too.
Each role has its own deadline. An existing director enters the code in the first confirmation statement after 18 November 2025; a new director needs the code at appointment or incorporation. November 2026 is therefore no general grace period: for most people the deadline has already passed or arrives sooner. An office that has accepted other people's paperwork like a post box since 1844 now wants to see a face.
How to verify
The direct route is free and runs through GOV.UK One Login, the single sign-in for British government services. The app photographs the passport, reads its chip over NFC and matches the face to a selfie. A biometric passport from any country will do. UK residents are offered other routes as well: security questions online, or a visit to a participating Post Office branch after entering their details on the site.
If the app fails, there is the ACSP, an authorised corporate service provider. That is an accountant, lawyer or other agent registered with Companies House and supervised under UK anti-money-laundering rules. The agent checks the documents and passes the result to the register. They can be approached from any country. The outcome is the same either way: a verified identity and the same personal code.
A director who carries on after the deadline without verifying commits an offence, and the company may be in breach alongside them. Companies House has three main routes: financial penalties, referral to the Insolvency Service and criminal prosecution. Disqualification is not automatic; a court imposes it.
For the company itself the main risk is being struck off. A struck-off company ceases to exist as a legal person and its assets pass to the Crown. A public mark against the offender's name is promised for later, together with a ban on being appointed a director or forming new companies.