Companies House Identity Verification for Directors & PSCs

Two dates get muddled up constantly, so it is worth being precise about them:

• 8 April 2025 — the point from which individuals could verify their identity voluntarily. Hundreds of thousands of people did so before it became compulsory.
• 18 November 2025 — the point from which identity verification became a legal requirement, and the start of a 12-month transition period for people who were already directors or PSCs.

18 November 2025 was not the start of voluntary verification, and it was not a single universal deadline by which every existing director and PSC had to be verified. During the transition period, each person’s timing depends on their role and their company’s own filing dates. Anyone quoting one blanket deadline for everybody is oversimplifying.

Identity verification applies to individuals, not just companies. In outline:

• Existing directors — brought in during the transition period, linked to the company’s confirmation statement process.
• New directors — verification is tied to the incorporation or appointment filing itself.
• Existing PSCs — brought in during the transition period, but on their own timetable, which is often not the same as the directors’.
• New PSCs — verification is tied to being added to the register, with a short window.
• People who are both a director and a PSC — one verification, but the personal code generally has to be provided for each role.

Equivalent roles in other entity types (for example members of an LLP, and directors of overseas companies with a UK establishment) are also covered by the wider regime, on their own timetables. Check the official guidance for your entity type.

If you were already a director before 18 November 2025, you are in the transition period. Rather than a fixed calendar cut-off, Companies House ties the requirement to the confirmation statement process: you need to have verified your identity and be able to provide your Companies House personal code as part of the company’s next confirmation statement filed on or after 18 November 2025.

That produces a different practical date for almost every company, because confirmation statement dates vary. Two consequences are worth noting:

• A company generally cannot complete its confirmation statement while its directors are unverified, so one unverified director can hold up the company’s filing.
• Verifying early is harmless and usually easier than verifying under time pressure — you simply hold the personal code until it is needed.

Directors of an overseas company with a UK establishment should check the separate timing that applies to them, which is linked to the registration anniversary rather than a confirmation statement.

From 18 November 2025 onwards the requirement is front-loaded rather than deferred:

• Incorporating a company — you are asked for a Companies House personal code for each director as part of the registration filing, so each of them needs to have verified beforehand.
• Being appointed to an existing company — the personal code is provided as part of the appointment filing.

In other words, verification comes before the paperwork, not after it. It is also an offence to act as a director without having completed verification, so “we will sort it out later” is not a safe approach.

PSC timing is a separate question from director timing, and this is where most confusion arises. Current guidance sets out short 14-day periods, and where that period falls depends on your situation:

• PSC who is also a director of the same company — the 14-day period runs from the day after the company’s confirmation statement date. Filing the statement early does not move those dates.
• Existing PSC who is not a director of that company — guidance points to a 14-day period that is generally the first 14 days of your birth month, based on the date of birth held on the register. So a PSC whose register entry shows a March date of birth would look at the first 14 days of March.
• PSC added after 18 November 2025 — the code can be provided when you are first added to the register, or within 14 days of being added.

PSCs provide their code through the dedicated Companies House service rather than through the company’s confirmation statement: Provide identity verification details for a PSC. Guidance also describes a limited registrar discretion to grant a short extension where it is requested before the deadline — that is a discretion, not an entitlement, so do not plan around it. Because these windows are short, confirm your own dates on the register rather than relying on any summary, including this one.

This is very common in small owner-managed companies. The position is:

• You verify your identity once. You are not verified “as a director” and separately “as a PSC” — verification attaches to you as a person, and you receive one personal code.
• You may still have to supply the code twice. As a director, through the company’s confirmation statement. As a PSC, through the PSC verification service.

So “I have already verified” and “I have done everything Companies House needs” are not the same statement. Check that the code has actually been provided for each role.

There are two official routes:

• Directly with Companies House using GOV.UK One Login. This is free. You start from Verify your identity for Companies House, and depending on the documents you hold you can complete it using an identity app, answering online questions, or by attending a Post Office after entering your details.
• Through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). An ACSP — also described as a Companies House authorised agent — is a business or professional that has registered with Companies House and is supervised by a UK anti-money laundering supervisory body. Company formation agents, accountants and solicitors are typical examples. They can carry out the identity check on your behalf and give you your code.

ACSPs are commercial services and may charge; the direct Companies House route does not. MoneyCalcs UK does not recommend, rank or resell any provider, and does not verify identities itself. If you use an agent, check they appear as a registered authorised agent before sending them any documents.

When your identity is verified you are given a Companies House personal code — an 11-character code that belongs to you, not to any company.

• When you get it: on successful verification. If you verified through GOV.UK One Login you can view it again in your Companies House account area; if an ACSP verified you, they pass it to you.
• Keep it secure. Treat it like a tax reference or an authentication code. Share it only with people you genuinely trust to file on your behalf, such as your accountant or formation agent.
• How it is used: it is quoted in the relevant filings to connect your verified identity to each of your roles — confirmation statements, appointment filings and PSC verification.
• MoneyCalcs UK will never ask you to enter your personal code, or your authentication code, date of birth, passport, identity documents, UTR or National Insurance number. Our calculators and email reminders never need any of that.

Verification is a one-off event for the person. Companies House guidance states that in most cases you only verify once, and should not verify again unless you are told to. You then reuse the same personal code across your appointments.

What is repeated is the reporting side: the code has to be provided for each company’s relevant filing, and each of those companies has its own confirmation statement date. So a director of four companies is likely to have four separate points in the year at which something has to be done — using one code.

Do not guess, and do not rely on a third party’s summary of your deadline — including ours. Companies House publishes the relevant verification due dates for your roles on the register itself. To check:

1. Search for each company you are involved with on the official register: Find and update company information.
2. Open the company’s officers and PSC entries and check how your name, date of birth and roles are recorded.
3. Check the company’s confirmation statement date, and any verification due dates shown for your roles.
4. Read When you need to verify your identity for Companies House alongside what you see, so you are applying the current rule to your own facts.

MoneyCalcs UK cannot and does not calculate an individual verification deadline for you.

Companies House has published its approach to non-compliance with mandatory identity verification. In summary, and without adding anything to it:

• Acting as a director without having completed verification is an offence, and the company may also be in breach where a director is unverified. Unverified PSCs may also be committing an offence.
• Enforcement routes described in the guidance include prosecution through the courts, referral to The Insolvency Service and financial penalties. Prosecution can lead to a criminal conviction, disqualification and fines.
• Companies House has said it intends, in future, to publish a note against an unverified person’s name on the public register.
• There are practical blocks too: an unverified person cannot be appointed as a new director or incorporate a company, and a company cannot complete its confirmation statement while a director is unverified.

Guidance does not publish a fixed penalty amount for this, and there is no general right to an extension or a guaranteed grace period. If you have missed a date, read the official non-compliance guidance and, if the position is serious, take professional advice.

1. List every director and PSC role you hold, in every company.
2. Check your relevant Companies House dates on the official register.
3. Verify your identity by an official method if you have not already.
4. Keep your personal code somewhere secure, and treat it as private.
5. Provide the code for each role and filing that requires it.
6. Check that your personal details on the register — name, date of birth, address — are correct, since PSC timing can depend on them.
7. Diary your confirmation statement and other compliance dates for next year.

If you are also self-employed alongside the company, the tax deadline reminders list and the Making Tax Digital for Income Tax guide cover the HMRC side of the calendar, which runs on entirely separate dates.