Director and PSC identity verification - key Companies House updates

Existing directors

If you are an existing director of a company incorporated before 18 November 2025, there is a 12-month transition period beginning on 18 November 2025 in which you must verify your identity prior to the date that the next confirmation statement for the company is due to be filed.

For example, if the confirmation statement for the company is due to be filed at the end of May 2026, you will have around three months in which you need to verify your identity in order to file the confirmation statement.

Each director of the company will be required to input their personal verification code, which is received upon verification, when filing the company's confirmation statement.

If you have not verified your identity by the company's confirmation statement date, you will be unable to file the confirmation statement, and it will become a criminal offence for you to continue to act as an unverified director and the company may become liable as well.

New directors

You must verify your identity:

• Prior to your appointment as a director of an existing company (regardless of whether that company was incorporated before or after 18 November 2025); and/or 
• Prior to being appointed as a director upon the incorporation of a new company.

The following links to the official GOV.UK guidance pages directs you through the process for verifying your identity with Companies House: Verify your identity for Companies House - GOV.UK

Once the verification process has been completed, you will be issued a personal verification code. It is important that the code is noted down before finishing the process. Your personal verification code can be retrieved by accessing your Companies House account through the gov.uk One Login which you would have created as part of the verification process. Please note that your personal verification code is not specific to any one company that you are a director of and should be provided in relation to all companies of which you are or become a director.

Existing PSC

Effective now:

• If you are an existing PSC, and you are also a director of the same company, you must provide your personal verification code to Companies House within 14 days of your company's confirmation statement, despite the fact that you would have provided your personal verification code as a director upon filing the confirmation statement; or
• If you are an existing PSC, but you are not a director of the same company, you must verify your identity with Companies House within the first 14 days of your birth month - for example, if your birthday is 22 March, your 14-day period will begin on 1 March.

New PSC

If you become a PSC in relation to an existing company or you qualify as a PSC upon incorporation of a new company, you must verify your identity with Companies House within 14 days of your appointment or the company's incorporation.

If you are a PSC who is also a director, you must provide your personal verification code to Companies House upon being added to the Companies House register or within 14 days of being added.

However, if you are just a PSC and not also a director, you will need to complete the identity verification, and you can do so here and provide your personal verification code to Companies House upon being added to the Companies House register or within 14 days of being added.

Providing your personal verification code as a PSC will be done via a separate online service to the director verification that is available online.

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For more information or advice, please contact Zeena Asghar in our Corporate team.