Every existing director and person with significant control of a UK company must verify their identity with Companies House by 18 November 2026. That is a statutory deadline, it applies to roughly six million people, and for anyone reading this in September 2026 it is about ten weeks away.
This is the largest change to UK company administration in a generation. It ends the position in which anyone could be appointed a director by supplying a name and an address that nobody checked. It also creates a genuine operational risk: an unverified director is committing an offence, and a company that cannot supply verified personal codes will find its filings obstructed.
For directors based outside the United Kingdom the process has particular friction, and the workaround most overseas directors need is not the one Companies House presents first. This guide covers who must verify, the exact deadline that applies to your role, both verification routes, what to do if you are overseas, and what happens if the date passes without action.
The short answer
- Who: company directors, persons with significant control (PSCs), LLP members, and directors of overseas companies with a UK establishment.
- When: new appointments and new incorporations since 18 November 2025 already require it. Everyone else must be verified by 18 November 2026, with your precise date driven by your company’s confirmation statement or, for some PSCs, your birth month.
- How: free through GOV.UK One Login, or via an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) for a fee.
- Result: a permanent Companies House personal code tied to you, not to any company.
- If you miss it: it is a criminal offence, and Companies House can impose financial penalties without going to court.
Why this is happening
The requirement comes from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, passed after sustained criticism that the UK register was trivially easy to abuse. Companies House had historically been a filing repository rather than a regulator: it accepted what it was given and had no power to question it. Fictitious directors, cloned addresses and companies registered to unwitting third parties were all well documented.
ECCTA converted Companies House into an active gatekeeper with powers to query, reject and remove information. Identity verification is the centrepiece: the register should record real, identified people. The rollout began on 18 November 2025 and completes on 18 November 2026.
Who must verify
| Role | Verification required? |
|---|---|
| Company directors (all UK companies) | Yes |
| Persons with significant control | Yes |
| Members of LLPs, general partners, managing officers | Yes |
| Directors of overseas companies with a UK establishment | Yes |
| Authorised Corporate Service Providers | Yes |
| Company secretaries, staff and agents who file documents | Later phase, not before November 2026 |
| Shareholders who are not PSCs | No |
Two points catch people out. First, verification attaches to the person, not the company: verify once and the same personal code covers every directorship and PSC role you hold. Second, being a PSC is not the same as being a shareholder — you are a PSC if you hold more than 25% of shares or voting rights, can appoint or remove a majority of the board, or otherwise exercise significant influence or control. Someone with no shares at all can be a PSC.
Your exact deadline
“18 November 2026” is the outer backstop. The date that actually applies to you depends on your role and your company’s filing cycle, and for many people it falls earlier.
| Your situation | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Being appointed a director now, or incorporating a new company | Before the appointment or incorporation is filed — already in force |
| Existing director | By the company’s first confirmation statement due on or after 18 November 2025; all directors verified by 18 November 2026 |
| Existing PSC who is also a director of that company | Within 14 days of the company’s confirmation statement date |
| Existing PSC who is not a director | Within the first 14 days of your birth month |
| Overseas company director with a UK establishment | Within the transition period ending 18 November 2026 |
The birth-month rule is easy to miss. If you are a PSC but not a director and your date of birth is 22 January, your window runs from 1 to 14 January — a fortnight, once a year. Miss it and you are late until the following year.
There is no advantage in waiting. Verification is valid indefinitely once complete, and the closer the November deadline gets, the heavier the load on both Companies House and the agent market.
Route one: GOV.UK One Login (free)
The direct route uses GOV.UK One Login, the same account system used across government services. It costs nothing.
You create or sign in to a One Login account, then answer questions that determine how you can be verified. Depending on the documents you hold, One Login will offer one of three paths: verification through the GOV.UK One Login app by scanning a biometric passport or UK photocard licence; verification by answering security questions drawn from your UK credit and financial history; or in-person verification at a Post Office branch with photo ID.
Where it works, it is quick — often under fifteen minutes, with the personal code issued immediately or within a few days.
One firm rule: never post or email identity documents to Companies House. They do not accept documents that way, and any request asking you to do so should be treated as fraudulent.
Route two: an Authorised Corporate Service Provider
An ACSP is a professional firm — an accountant, solicitor, or company formation agent — registered with Companies House and supervised by a UK anti-money laundering body. ACSPs can verify your identity and confirm it to Companies House on your behalf.
This route usually carries a fee, and it exists mainly for people the automated service cannot handle. Critically, an ACSP can verify you from any country. The supervision requirement applies to the agent, not to you: the firm must be UK-supervised, but you do not need to be in the UK, hold UK documents, or have any UK financial history.
| GOV.UK One Login | ACSP | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Agent’s fee |
| Speed | Often same day | Depends on the agent |
| Works without UK documents | Often not | Yes |
| Works without UK credit history | Limited | Yes |
| Suits overseas directors | Sometimes | Yes — the practical default |
| Needs a smartphone | For the app route | Depends on the agent |
If you are outside the UK
This is where the process gets awkward, and where most overseas directors lose time. The free route is built around UK identity infrastructure, and several of its checks quietly assume a UK footprint.
- The security-question path is usually unavailable. It draws on UK credit files, mortgages, accounts and electoral roll data. A director who has never lived in the UK generally has no such record to match against.
- The app path depends on your passport. It reads the biometric chip using NFC. Most modern passports work, but older or non-biometric documents do not, and some phones read certain chips unreliably.
- The Post Office path requires being in the UK. There is no overseas equivalent.
- A UK address is not required — a common misconception. You can be verified with an overseas residential address.
The sensible approach for a non-UK-resident director is to attempt One Login with the app first, since it is free and may simply work. If it fails, move to an ACSP rather than repeating attempts. An agent can complete verification remotely using your passport and supporting documents, and is equipped for exactly this situation.
If you are forming a new UK company from overseas, verification now sits on the critical path: it must be done before incorporation. Building it into the formation process avoids a stalled filing. Our UK company formation service and identity verification support are designed around non-resident directors.
Your personal code
Verification produces a Companies House personal code: a unique identifier belonging to you as an individual, not to any company. Verify once and the code covers every role you hold, now and in future.
You will need to supply it when you are appointed to a new role, when your company files its confirmation statement, and when you authorise an agent to file for you. Treat it with the same care as a Unique Taxpayer Reference: share it with your accountant or formation agent when they genuinely need it, and with nobody else. Anyone holding your code can associate you with filings.
Store it somewhere you will still have access to in a year. Recovering a lost code is possible but adds delay at precisely the moment you need to file.
What happens if you miss the deadline
Acting as a director without verifying is a criminal offence under ECCTA. In practice, Companies House has signalled that it will lead with civil financial penalties, which it can impose directly without prosecuting. The offence can be committed by the individual and, separately, by the company.
The operational consequences may bite sooner than any penalty:
- Your unverified status can be annotated on the public register, visible to banks, clients and counterparties.
- You may be unable to be appointed to new directorships or incorporate new companies.
- Filings that depend on a personal code — including the confirmation statement — become obstructed, which can cascade into late-filing penalties and, in the worst case, strike-off action.
- Banks and lenders reviewing the register may treat an annotation as an adverse signal during onboarding or renewal.
An unverified director is a problem for the whole company, not only for themselves — which is why boards should be tracking this collectively rather than leaving it to individuals.
A four-step plan before 18 November
1. List everyone who needs verifying. Every director, every PSC, every LLP member, across every entity you are involved with. People with multiple directorships often forget the dormant ones.
2. Find each person’s actual deadline. Check the company’s confirmation statement date; for PSCs who are not directors, note the birth-month window. Work to the earliest date that applies.
3. Choose the route per person. UK-resident individuals with a passport or driving licence should try One Login. Overseas directors, and anyone without UK documents or credit history, should go straight to an ACSP.
4. Collect and record the codes centrally. Keep every personal code with your statutory records so that whoever files your confirmation statement is not chasing individuals at the deadline.
What an ACSP verification actually involves
Overseas directors often delay because the agent route sounds bureaucratic. In practice it is a standard anti-money-laundering identity check, of the kind you would go through to open a bank account.
You supply identity evidence. Normally a passport, sometimes with a second document such as a national identity card or driving licence. The agent works from an approved list and will tell you exactly which combination they need.
You prove the document belongs to you. Typically a liveness check — a short video call or a guided selfie — matching your face to the document photograph. This is why the agent does not need you to be in the UK.
The agent records the check and confirms it to Companies House. They keep the evidence under their AML obligations and submit a statement that verification was completed to the required standard. Companies House then issues your personal code.
Two things worth knowing before you choose an agent. First, confirm they are genuinely registered as an ACSP — the ability to file at Companies House is not the same as being authorised to verify identity. Second, ask how they deliver your personal code and whether they retain a copy, since the code is personal to you and outlives your relationship with that firm.
How this interacts with your confirmation statement
The confirmation statement is the mechanism Companies House uses to enforce the transition, which is why the two are so tightly coupled.
Every company must file a confirmation statement at least once a year, confirming that the register is accurate. From 18 November 2025, that filing became the checkpoint at which directors’ verification status is tested. For existing directors, the deadline is the company’s first confirmation statement due on or after that date. For PSCs who are also directors, the personal code must be provided within 14 days of the confirmation statement date.
The practical implication is that many companies hit their real deadline well before November 2026 — whenever their statement falls. A company with a confirmation statement date in, say, June has already passed its checkpoint. If yours is still ahead of you this year, that date, not the November backstop, is the one to work towards.
Because an obstructed confirmation statement can escalate into late-filing consequences and ultimately strike-off action, treat unverified directors as a filing risk rather than a personal administrative task.
Common problems and how to fix them
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| The One Login app will not read your passport chip | Remove any phone case, try the reader on the rear of the handset and hold still. If it fails twice, switch to an ACSP rather than repeating — older and non-biometric passports often cannot be read at all. |
| Security questions return no match | Expected if you have no UK credit history. This path is not available to you; use an ACSP. |
| Your name differs across documents | Common after marriage, or where transliteration differs between a passport and other records. Tell the agent up front and supply the linking document, such as a marriage certificate or deed poll. |
| You have no UK address | Not a barrier. Overseas residential addresses are accepted; only the agent must be UK-supervised. |
| You have lost your personal code | Recovery is possible through Companies House, but it takes time. Do not leave it until a filing deadline. |
| A director is unreachable or unresponsive | Escalate at board level early. Their status blocks company filings, and resolving an unresponsive director close to a deadline is far harder. |
What verification does not do
It is worth being clear about the limits, because the change has generated some misplaced anxiety.
Verification confirms that you are who you say you are. It is not a fitness or probity assessment, it does not check your finances, and it has no bearing on your tax position. It does not alter what appears on the public register, and it does not create any new obligation to disclose personal information publicly. It also does not replace the separate checks your bank, payment processor or clients carry out — those continue under their own rules.
Nor does it make you a UK tax resident, or change your company’s tax treatment. Identity verification is a registry integrity measure, nothing more.
Frequently asked questions
I am a director of four companies. Do I verify four times?
No. You verify once as an individual and receive one personal code, which you then supply for each role.
I live overseas and have never been to the UK. Can I still verify?
Yes. Use an ACSP, which can verify you from any country. The agent must be UK-supervised; you do not need to be in the UK or hold UK documents.
Does my company secretary need to verify?
Not in the current phase. Verification for people who file documents, including secretaries and staff, comes later and not before November 2026.
My company is dormant. Does this still apply?
Yes. The duty attaches to the role, not to trading activity. Dormant companies still file confirmation statements, and those filings depend on verified directors.
Will my home address become public?
No. Verification does not change what is published. Your service address remains the public one; your residential address stays on the non-public part of the register.
Is verification a one-off, or does it expire?
It is one-off. There is no renewal cycle, though you must keep your underlying details accurate.
What if a director refuses to verify?
They cannot lawfully continue in the role, and their presence will obstruct the company’s filings. In practice the board must either secure verification or change the appointment. Take advice before removing anyone.
Can my accountant verify me if they are not an ACSP?
No. Only firms registered with Companies House as ACSPs can verify identity. Ask your accountant directly whether they are registered — many are not.
What to do now
If you are a UK-resident director with a biometric passport, try GOV.UK One Login today — it is free and may take a quarter of an hour. If you are overseas, or the automated checks fail, go to an ACSP rather than repeating attempts, and do it well before November when demand peaks.
We handle identity verification for non-resident directors alongside UK company formation, confirmation statements and annual accounts. If you are unsure which deadline applies to you, or you have several directors to organise before November, get in touch and we will work through it with you.
This article is general information, current as at September 2026, and is not legal advice. Remotix BPO is a business process outsourcing company and is not a law firm. Verify your own deadlines with Companies House or your professional adviser before acting.
