Companies House identity verification, step by step.
The mandatory 2026 identity check for every UK director, PSC and filer — explained by advisors who submit these files every day, with the ACSP routes, the personal code, the accepted documents and the quiet mistakes that delay incorporations.
Identity verification is the shortest legal step in forming a UK company and, minute for minute, the one that causes the most preventable delays. Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, every director, every Person with Significant Control and everyone who files at Companies House on a company's behalf must now hold a personal code issued after a verified identity check. Executed well through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider, the whole process takes fifteen minutes on a phone. Executed poorly it stalls incorporations, blocks appointments and quietly follows a founder through every future filing.
- Verification is mandatory for every director, PSC and filer — no exceptions, no grandfathering.
- Non-residents complete the whole flow digitally — no travel to the UK.
- Only an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) can submit a legally recognised check.
- Companies House issues a permanent personal code directly to the individual, usually within 24 hours.
- A biometric passport is the strongest document; expired, damaged or hand-written documents are rejected.
- The personal code is reused on every future UK company, appointment and PSC change.
Why identity verification exists
For more than a century, the UK's public company register operated on a self-declaration model. A person filed a form saying they were a director; Companies House took the filing at face value. That system produced one of the world's most accessible incorporation regimes — and, alongside it, a steady stream of impersonated directors, ghost PSCs and shell companies used to launder proceeds through UK infrastructure.
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) closes that gap. From 2025 onwards, and fully in force through 2026, every individual associated with a UK company must confirm their identity through a regulated channel before their name can appear on the register. The change is philosophical as much as procedural: the register is no longer a bulletin board of declared facts, it is a verified public record. Every filing you make from here on sits on top of a personal code that Companies House has already reconciled to a real human being.
This is one thread inside a wider modernisation programme — our companion guide to forming a UK company as a non-resident sets identity verification alongside the other post-ECCTA duties every international founder now inherits.
Who must verify — directors, PSCs, filers
Three categories of individual now sit inside the verification regime, and it is worth being precise about each one because founders routinely conflate them.
- Directors. Every appointed director of a UK Limited Company, whether resident in the UK or not, must hold a personal code before their appointment can be accepted. This applies to first appointments at incorporation and to every subsequent appointment for the life of the company.
- Persons with Significant Control (PSCs).Every PSC — including the sole founder who owns 100% of their new company — must verify. Where a PSC declaration lists a human being, that person needs a code. Where the declaration lists a Relevant Legal Entity, the humans behind it may still be pulled in under the look-through rules.
- Filers. Anyone who submits information to Companies House on the company's behalf — an accountant, a formation agent, an in-house company secretary — is also inside the regime. Filings from unverified individuals are rejected at source.
Ordinary shareholders below the PSC threshold do not need to verify. Neither do employees, contractors, or lawyers acting in an advisory capacity without filing.
What an ACSP is and why the route matters
An Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) is a firm registered with Companies House to carry out identity verification to a defined statutory standard. The ACSP regime replaces the informal patchwork of "your accountant will vouch for you" with a supervised, auditable channel.
An ACSP is required to be supervised for anti-money laundering purposes — typically by HMRC, the FCA, or a recognised professional body — and to operate documented identity procedures that meet the GOV.UK good-practice-guide standard for identity assurance. That standard sits above the identity checks most non-supervised firms run in day-to-day onboarding.
Two practical consequences follow. First, the friendly accountant who has filed your accounts for years cannot perform your Companies House verification unless their firm is separately registered as an ACSP. Second, the check has to be routed through the ACSP's Companies House interface, not simply certified on paper. UK Company Experts operates through a partner ACSP and manages the submission end to end — the client only sees the encrypted verification link and the personal code that arrives at the other end. See our Companies House Identity Verification service page for the full scope.
Accepted documents and photo standards
The document you present is the single largest determinant of a clean pass. In order of reliability, we recommend:
- Biometric passport. The strongest primary document for every non-resident. The machine-readable zone is read directly and the chip is cross-referenced against your live biometric capture. This is what we ask every non-UK-resident client to use.
- UK photocard driving licence. A strong option for UK residents; accepted alone at the standard assurance level.
- Biometric residence permit (BRP).Accepted for foreign nationals resident in the UK.
- National ID card. Accepted from qualifying issuing countries; not accepted from every jurisdiction. If unsure, use the passport instead.
The photo standards matter more than founders expect. Plain background, natural or diffuse artificial light, camera held steady, no glare on the document, no crop into the machine-readable zone. Every rejected submission we ever handle fails on one of those five variables.
For a wider view of the documents international founders need at incorporation, our guide on opening a UK business bank account as a non-resident founder catalogues the KYC pack every bank asks for immediately after Companies House.
The 5-step walkthrough
Here is the exact flow every client of ours moves through. The whole sequence is designed so that the applicant's side takes fifteen minutes and everything else happens on our side, silently.
Use an email address that is not shared with any other Companies House account. Companies House ties the personal code to the email that receives the initial link, and a shared inbox is the single most common reason a code ends up in the wrong hands.
Our partner ACSP issues a time-limited, encrypted link to the email you provided. The link opens the verification flow directly on the applicant's device — phone or laptop — without any software install.
Capture the photo pages of your biometric passport, complete the liveness check, and confirm your address details. When the flow finishes it displays a success screen — take a screenshot of that screen and email it to your advisor so we can confirm submission from our side.
The code is sent by Companies House directly to the verified individual — not to us, not to your accountant. It arrives in the same inbox you used in Step 1, usually inside 24 hours of a clean submission.
Store the code the way you would store a passport number. It is reused on every future company, every appointment, every PSC change. Never share it publicly and never post it in a WhatsApp group chat, no matter how convenient that feels at the time.
The personal code — what it is, how to keep it
The personal code is a permanent identifier issued by Companies House to a verified individual. It is not a password, it does not expire, and it is not re-issued on a renewal cycle. Think of it as the Companies House equivalent of a National Insurance number — one per person, for life.
You will use it every time you:
- Incorporate a new UK Limited Company as a director or PSC.
- Join an existing UK company as an appointed director.
- Appear on a new PSC declaration.
- File on behalf of a company as a director or officer.
Store it the way you store a passport number — inside a password manager, not in a WhatsApp chat, not in a shared spreadsheet. It is personally identifying information and it belongs to the individual, not the company.
Non-resident realities: UAE, India, Nigeria, EU, US
The single most common question we field is whether a non-UK-resident founder can complete the process without travelling. The answer is yes, in every case, provided the document quality and biometric capture are up to standard. The regime was built with international founders in mind and the digital-only route through an ACSP is the intended path for anyone based outside the UK.
A few country-specific notes we give clients regularly:
- UAE. Use your national passport rather than the Emirates ID. The passport is universally accepted; the ID card is not. Our full UK company guide for UAE-based founders covers the wider journey.
- India. Aadhaar and PAN are not accepted for Companies House verification — passport only. Match the spelling on your future PSC declaration to your passport exactly; the India country guide expands on this.
- Nigeria. Passport strongly preferred. National ID card is accepted but rejection rates on document quality are higher — we usually route Nigerian clients through the passport path.
- EU. National ID cards from most EU member states are accepted, but the biometric passport still produces the fastest turnaround.
- US. US passports are accepted directly. US-based founders should read our UK Business Expansion Guide for US Entrepreneurs alongside this walkthrough.
The mistakes we see every week
Almost every delayed verification traces to one of the following. None is fatal on its own — but each adds days to what should be a fifteen-minute process.
How verification interacts with UK banking
Identity verification is a Companies House regime, not a banking regime. UK banks and EMIs run their own KYC and will not treat the personal code as a substitute for a passport, an address certificate, or the source-of-funds evidence they need to onboard a business account.
That said, the verification does two useful things for your future banking application:
- It confirms your Companies House record is clean and matches your primary identity document exactly — one of the first fields an underwriter reconciles.
- It removes a category of decline reasons entirely. Applications tied to unverified directors are increasingly treated as a red flag by automated onboarding stacks; a verified officer removes that friction before it starts.
Our Business Banking Assistance engagement layers on top of a verified company. If you want the wider context on why non-resident applications get declined, our guide on why UK banks reject non-resident applications walks through every real underwriting trigger — and our comparison of Wise, Revolut, Tide and Starling covers the accounts most founders use first.
Frequently asked questions
Is Companies House identity verification mandatory in 2026?+
Yes. Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, identity verification is now a legal requirement for every director, Person with Significant Control (PSC), and anyone filing at Companies House on behalf of a UK company. There is no opt-out and no grandfathering for new incorporations.
What is a 'personal code' and how is it different from a PVC?+
The personal code is the alphanumeric identifier Companies House issues once your identity has been verified. It is not a Personal Verification Code (PVC) in the older Web Filing sense. It is a one-time, permanent code tied to a single verified individual and reused on every future appointment, PSC declaration or filing.
Do I have to travel to the UK to verify my identity?+
No. The verification is fully digital when routed through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). Non-residents in the UAE, India, Nigeria, the EU, the US and anywhere else complete the whole process online — passport capture, liveness check and biometric match — from their own device.
What identity documents are accepted?+
A valid biometric passport is the strongest primary document and the one we recommend for every non-resident. National identity cards from qualifying countries, biometric residence permits and UK photocard driving licences are also accepted under GOV.UK identity standards. Expired documents, hand-written passports and photocopies are not accepted at any stage.
How long does identity verification actually take?+
The applicant's side of the process typically takes ten to fifteen minutes on a phone or laptop. Companies House then issues the personal code directly to the individual, usually within 24 hours of a clean submission. Files with document quality issues or name mismatches take longer because they are queued for manual review.
Can my accountant or solicitor verify me?+
Only if they are registered as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) at Companies House. Not every accountancy firm is registered, and the ACSP status is what makes a verification legally recognised. UK Company Experts operates through a partner ACSP and manages the entire process end to end.
What happens if I try to file without verifying first?+
The filing is rejected. Any incorporation, appointment or PSC change submitted for an unverified individual sits in an error state at Companies House and blocks the wider filing. In practice this means an unverified director cannot be appointed and an unverified PSC cannot be added.
Is my identity information public?+
No. The verification data itself — passport image, biometric match, address evidence — is held by Companies House and the ACSP under UK GDPR. Only your name, month and year of birth, nationality and a service address appear on the public register, exactly as before.
Do I have to re-verify every year?+
No. Verification is a one-time event per individual. Your personal code is permanent and is used on every future UK company you form, join as a director, or file for.
I have already been a UK company director for years — do I still need to verify?+
Yes. Existing directors and PSCs are being brought into the regime on a phased basis and every officer of a UK company will need a personal code. Verifying early avoids the last-minute queue when your confirmation statement window arrives.
What if my passport is in a different alphabet or my name spelling has changed?+
Companies House matches strictly on the document. Non-Latin script names are transliterated exactly as they appear in the machine-readable zone of the passport. If your Companies House record uses a different spelling to your current passport, we correct the register before you verify, not after.
Can Companies House refuse to issue a personal code?+
Yes. Verification can fail on document quality, on liveness match, on a sanctions or PEP hit, or on a discrepancy between the document and the applied-for record. A failed check is not the end of the road — most are fixable — but every failed attempt is logged.
Does verification confirm I am a fit person to be a director?+
No. Identity verification confirms you are who you say you are. It is not a probity check, a credit check, or a directorial disqualification check. Those are separate regimes and Companies House does not conflate them.
Do banks accept the personal code as proof of identity?+
Not on its own. UK banks and EMIs run their own KYC and will still ask for passport, address and source-of-funds evidence. A verified personal code does, however, reassure onboarding officers that the Companies House record is clean — which is one of the factors underwriters weigh.
How much does verification cost through UK Company Experts?+
Our Companies House Identity Verification service is priced at £74 per individual and includes the ACSP submission, document review, error rectification if a document does not pass, and the guidance sheet each client receives with their personal code.
Written and reviewed by practising UK company advisors
This article is written and reviewed by senior members of the UK Company Experts advisory team — practitioners who file Companies House identity verifications through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider every working day. Every guide on this site is subject to a second-pair-of-eyes review before publication and is dated on the day it was last reconciled against live Companies House guidance.
James leads the non-resident incorporation desk at UK Company Experts. He has personally overseen the formation and post-ECCTA compliance of more than 1,400 UK Limited Companies for founders across the UAE, India, Nigeria, the EU and the US. Before joining the firm he spent seven years in corporate services at a top-100 UK accountancy practice, where he built its Companies House filing function from the ground up.
- Companies House Web Filing & ACSP submission specialist
- 1,400+ incorporations overseen across 40+ jurisdictions
- ECCTA 2023 implementation lead for the non-resident practice
- Regular contributor on identity verification and banking readiness
Amelia is a chartered accountant (ICAEW) and the firm's Head of Compliance. She reviews every technical article on this site against live Companies House guidance and the current Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act commencement schedule. Amelia previously served as a manager in the financial-crime advisory team of a Big Four firm in London, specialising in beneficial-ownership regimes.
- ACA — Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
- ICA Advanced Certificate in Anti-Money Laundering
- Ex-Big Four financial-crime advisory (London)
- Editorial reviewer for every compliance article on this site
Every article is written by a named practising advisor, reviewed by a second senior member of the team, and dated on the day of its last reconciliation with Companies House guidance. We correct materially inaccurate content within one working day of notification.
Primary sources: Companies Act 2006, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, GOV.UK Companies House guidance, and HMRC published manuals. We do not rely on third-party summaries for statutory positions.
UK Company Experts is a trading name of Seven Oak Prestige Ltd. We are an independent advisory firm and are not affiliated with Companies House, HMRC or any bank or EMI mentioned on this site.
This article is general guidance, not legal, tax or regulatory advice. For an engagement tailored to your circumstances, speak to an advisor.
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