Companies House ID verification deadline: check yours (2026)

This guide is for directors and owners of UK limited companies, especially one-person and family companies, who want to know their own identity verification date and what to do about it. By the end you will know which rule applies to you, how to verify (free or paid), what to do with your personal code, what the public register shows, and what happens if you are late.

Every rule was checked on 20 October 2026 against GOV.UK and the regulations that set the dates (SI 2025/1118). Where the official wording leaves a case open, we say so rather than guess. This is general information, not legal advice; in an unusual position, ask your accountant or a solicitor.

When is my Companies House identity verification deadline?

It depends on two things: your role, and whether you held it before 18 November 2025. Three dates do the work. The first is your company’s confirmation statement date, the date its yearly statement of company details is made up to. The second is your birth month. The third is the date you were appointed or added.

Some definitions first. A PSC (person with significant control) is someone who, broadly, holds more than 25% of a company’s shares or voting rights, can appoint or remove a majority of its directors, or otherwise has significant influence or control over it. Your personal code is the 11-character reference Companies House gives you once you have verified. You then use it to link your verified identity to each role you hold.

The dates Companies House holds for each person are on the register, and they are the ones that count. Open your company on the Find and update company information service. The Overview tab gives the confirmation statement dates (“Next statement date … due by …” and “Last statement dated …”), and the People tab shows each director’s and PSC’s verification status or due date.

Who has to verify their identity with Companies House, and who doesn’t?

GOV.UK lists these people as needing to verify now:

• Directors of UK companies, and people in an equivalent role: LLP members, general partners and managing officers.
• Directors of overseas companies registered in the UK. The company must confirm they are verified by the anniversary of its UK establishment’s registration.
• PSCs: the individuals named in the company’s PSC section on the register.
• ACSPs: accountants, solicitors, formation agents and other businesses registering as Companies House authorised agents.

Company secretaries do not need to verify, according to Companies House. Shareholders who are not PSCs (25% or less, with no other control) are outside the rules. Verification for people who file at Companies House, often called presenters, is coming “no earlier than November 2027”. Limited partnerships, corporate directors, corporate members of LLPs and officers of corporate PSCs will come “at a later date”. A PSC who has died does not need to verify, and stays on the register until probate or letters of administration are granted.

In most cases you verify once. If you are a director of five companies, you use the same personal code for all five, and you still provide it separately for each role. Companies House says you must not verify again unless it asks you to.

What is the transition period, and when does it end?

Identity verification became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025. Companies House is explicit that this was “not a deadline”. It started a 12-month transition so that existing directors and PSCs could verify on staggered dates. Regulation 4(9) of SI 2025/1118 defines the transition period as “the period of 12 months beginning with 18th November 2025”, so its last day is 17 November 2026. Many websites say “18 November 2026”; the checker counts down to the end of 17 November, UK time.

The end of the transition is not a deadline for everyone either. The rules are tied to each company’s own confirmation statement date. If that date falls in the transition year, for example 17 November 2026, the statement is not due until 1 December 2026, and a director-PSC’s window runs from 18 November to 1 December 2026. The live register shows the same thing. We found a company whose statement date is 15 November with a PSC “due from 16 November 2026, due by 29 November 2026”.

I’m an existing director: why is my deadline the confirmation statement?

The regulations require the company to deliver an identity verification statement for each existing director “at the same time as the company delivers its next confirmation statement during the transitional period”. A confirmation statement must be delivered within 14 days after the end of each review period (Companies Act 2006, s.853A). In practice, then, your last day is your statement date plus 14 days. Companies House’s own approach paper says the same: it emails companies before the statement is due to tell them they must provide verification statements for each director “by their filing deadline”.

This is a deadline for the company as well as for you. Companies House will reject a confirmation statement that does not carry every director’s personal code. GOV.UK says a statement can’t be filed if a director’s date of birth is wrong or doesn’t match the register. If an accountant files for you, each director has to share their code with them.

The awkward case: statement dates from 4 to 17 November

If your statement date falls between 4 and 17 November, the 2025 filing period ran across 18 November 2025. The regulations attach the codes to the next statement delivered during the transition period. So the answer depends on when your company actually filed its November 2025 statement.

• Filed before 18 November 2025: the codes go in the November 2026 statement, due 14 days after the 2026 statement date. That is between 18 November and 1 December 2026.
• Filed on or after 18 November 2025, or not filed at all: that 2025 statement needed the codes. The deadline was its due date, between 18 November and 1 December 2025.

The register example above, with a statement date of 15 November, shows an unverified director “due 29 November 2025”. That is the second reading. The checker shows both dates for these statement dates, and the People tab tells you which one Companies House holds for you.

When does a PSC have to verify?

Every PSC has a 14-day window to give their code through the separate Provide identity verification details for a PSC service. That service also asks you to tick a statement confirming your identity is verified. Which window you have depends on two questions: were you on the register before 18 November 2025, and are you also a director of the same company?

PSC who is also a director

You verify once and provide the code twice: in the confirmation statement as a director, and in the PSC service as a PSC. The PSC window is “a 14 day period, starting from the day after the company’s confirmation statement date” (GOV.UK). It uses the first statement date that fell between 18 November 2025 and 17 November 2026 (reg 5(4)). There is one exception. If your PSC details are protected on the register, the birth-month rule applies to you instead (reg 5(2)(b)).

PSC who is not a director

Your window is the first 14 days of your birth month (born 22 January: from 1 January). The regulations fix each month to one year, so it is a one-off window, not an annual one:

Can a PSC get more time?

Yes, but only if you ask before your deadline. The PSC service lets you request a 14-day extension. After two digital extensions, further requests go to an examiner with evidence. An extended PSC stays compliant. Companies House usually sends PSC non-compliance letters to the PSC’s residential address.

What if I became a director or PSC on or after 18 November 2025?

New directors must be verified before they act, because section 167M of the Companies Act 2006 says an individual “must not act as a director” unless verified. When the company notifies Companies House of your appointment, which it must do within 14 days, the notice has to include a statement that your identity is verified. In practice your code goes in the appointment filing. On a new company, it goes in the incorporation application, and you can’t be named as a director without one.

New PSCs can give their code when they are first added to the register, or within 14 days of being added. The law (s.790LM) counts the 14 days from the date of Companies House’s direction to you, which is usually the day you are added. GOV.UK’s wording “within 14 days of being added” can be read as ending one day later. The checker shows both dates and tells you to work to the earlier one. Your register entry shows a “due by” date.

So this does not end in November 2026: anyone who joins a board or crosses the 25% line starts their own clock.

How do I verify my identity: One Login app, online, Post Office or an ACSP?

You have two routes. You can verify directly with Companies House through GOV.UK One Login, the government’s single sign-in, which is free. Or you can use an ACSP (Authorised Corporate Service Provider), an anti-money-laundering supervised business such as an accountant or solicitor that is registered with Companies House to verify people. Do not post or email ID documents to Companies House.

1. Start at GOV.UK On the Verify your identity for Companies House page, sign in to or create a GOV.UK One Login. Answer the questions about yourself, not your company. They decide whether you are sent to the app, the security questions or a Post Office.
2. Use your own email address One email address can only be used to verify one identity. If you share an inbox with a partner or co-director, each of you needs your own.
3. At the Post Office, watch two dates Visit by the date on your customer letter, usually about 15 days after the confirmation email. The whole process must be finished within 21 days of booking, or you start again. The in-branch check is free.
4. Save your personal code Sign in to Companies House and open “Manage account” to see it. If an ACSP verified you, save the emailed code to a Companies House account as well.
5. Provide it for each role Directors: give the code to whoever files the confirmation statement. PSCs: use the PSC service within your window. GOV.UK says no other filings, including annual accounts, need the code at the moment.

Your personal code, and what the register shows

The personal code is an 11-character identifier that belongs to you, not to a company. Companies House compares it to your record, and it may ask for your date of birth when you use it. Treat it like your Unique Taxpayer Reference. Share it with people who file for you, and nobody else. If you think it has been compromised, Companies House can cancel it and email you a new one.

On the public register, which we checked live on 20 October 2026, a verified director’s entry reads “Identity verification status: Verified” and “Verification requirements complete”. An unverified director shows “Identity verification due” with a date. PSC entries show a window: “Identity verification due from” and “due by”. If an ACSP verified you, the register also shows a verification statement with your name, the date you were verified, the agent’s name and the anti-money-laundering bodies that supervise it. Companies House says that “in the future” it will also add a note against the name of anyone who has not complied.

What happens if I don’t verify on time?

Missing your date is not a paperwork slip. It is a criminal offence. Under section 167M, a director who acts while unverified commits an offence. So does the company, along with every officer in default, if it lets that director act. On conviction the fine is unlimited in England and Wales. In Scotland and Northern Ireland it is up to level 5 on the standard scale, plus a daily default fine. A PSC who stays unverified past their deadline “may” be committing an offence too. Some things are not affected: anything an unverified director signs remains valid (s.167M(6)).

• Filings blocked. The confirmation statement is rejected without every director’s code. Not filing it can itself lead to a fine of up to £5,000 and the company being struck off.
• Financial penalties. Companies House can impose a penalty instead of prosecuting. Under the 2024 financial penalty regulations (SI 2024/445, reg 7), a penalty can’t exceed £10,000, or the maximum a court could impose for the offence.
• Prosecution and disqualification. Companies House can prosecute, refer cases to the Insolvency Service, or seek director disqualification. Its guideline treats three or more offences in five years as “serious”.
• Locked out. An unverified person cannot be appointed as a new director, register a new company, or register as an ACSP.

Before acting, Companies House sends a default letter. You can make a representation within the time it gives, for example after a serious IT failure on the due date. If the representation is accepted, enforcement usually pauses for up to two months.

The fines were small, but note two details. The largest fine went to a director who had verified himself but did not take reasonable steps to stop an unverified co-director acting. And all three cases came with a missed confirmation statement, which is exactly what an unverified director causes.

What can go wrong, and how do I fix it?

I don’t have a passport or photo driving licence

One Login’s online route accepts a biometric passport from any country, a UK photo driving licence (full or provisional), or a UK BRP, BRC or Frontier Worker permit. Without one of those, UK residents may be offered the bank-details route, which uses your National Insurance number and security questions. The Post Office route still needs photo ID details entered first. An ACSP can accept a wider list of documents: two photo IDs, or one photo ID plus a document such as a utility bill or bank statement for your current address.

My ID has expired

The One Login app does not accept an expired passport. A DVLA driving licence can be used up to 90 days after it expires, and a BRP, BRC or Frontier Worker permit up to 18 months after. The bank-details and Post Office routes take no expired documents. An ACSP checking documents by hand can accept a passport up to 18 months expired.

My date of birth on the register is wrong

This is the most common blocker. You can’t connect your code to your record until the date of birth matches. The fix is a replacement filing. For a director appointed with an AP01 form, that is done online in WebFiling. For anyone added on the incorporation form (IN01), it means paper forms RP01 and IN01 plus proof of the right date. Companies House warns that corrections can take up to 20 working days, so check yours now if your deadline is close.

My name on the register is different from my ID

GOV.UK’s list of reasons a code won’t connect covers a mistyped code, a wrong date of birth, or wrong details entered by an ACSP. It does not set out a specific rule for name differences such as a married name or a spelling variant. If your registered name differs from your ID, update your details on the register as a change to a director’s or PSC’s details, and contact Companies House well before your deadline.

We share one WebFiling login

Only one person can connect a WebFiling account to their One Login. Everyone else needs their own One Login, with a different email address.

What should I do? Four common situations

If you are the sole director and owner of a one-person Ltd

You are almost certainly both a director and a PSC, so you have two jobs in the same fortnight after your statement date. File the confirmation statement with your code (£50 online, due 14 days after the statement date). Then, separately, give the same code through the PSC service in the 14 days starting the day after the statement date. If you incorporated on or after 18 November 2025, your director code went in the incorporation application. Your PSC code went in either then or within 14 days, and the register shows which. Thinking of setting one up? Read sole trader vs limited company and when to go limited first. A company also needs its own business bank account. Current sign-up offers for limited companies are below, and the full list is on our offers tracker.

If you are a director and PSC alongside other directors

Collect every director’s code before the statement date, because one missing code blocks the whole filing. Check every director’s date of birth on the register now. As a director you also have a duty to stop an unverified colleague acting. That is what the £307 fine above was for. Your own PSC code goes through the PSC service in the 14 days after the statement date.

If you are a PSC but not a director

Your window was the first 14 days of your birth month, between December 2025 and November 2026. If you were born in November it is 1–14 November 2026. If your month has passed and you have not provided the code, verify now and use the PSC service. An extension can only be requested before the deadline. Watch your home post for a letter from Companies House.

If you are a director who lives outside the UK

The deadlines are the same. Here is what GOV.UK says about the routes. One Login accepts a biometric passport from any country. The bank-details and Post Office routes are only offered “if you live in the UK”. An ACSP can verify you “from any country”, but the agent must be supervised by a UK anti-money-laundering body, and a person who does not live in the UK must provide at least one government-issued document. GOV.UK does not say more than that about overseas residents. If One Login can’t verify you, an ACSP is the route it points to. Non-resident directors also need a bank that will take them: see business bank accounts for non-UK residents.

What changes next for presenters, accountants and agents?

The next stage covers people who file. From “no earlier than November 2027”, anyone who files at Companies House will need to be verified, with at least six months’ notice. From the same point, a business that files for clients will need to be registered as an ACSP. Registration requires supervision by one of the UK’s 25 anti-money-laundering bodies and a one-off £55 fee. If you file your own company’s documents, you will need your personal code to submit filings. GOV.UK says you won’t have to enter it if you verified through One Login, saved the code to your Companies House account, or are registered as (or added to) an ACSP.

Separately, from 1 April 2028 all accounts must be filed through commercial software. Small and micro companies will have to file a profit and loss account (with an option not to publish it), and abridged accounts are abolished. WebFiling will no longer take accounts. If you pay yourself through the company, our guides to paying yourself from a limited company and the best director salary for 2026/27 cover the tax side. Many directors also file a Self Assessment return, due 31 January 2027 for 2025/26.

Frequently asked questions

Changelog

1. 20 October 2026 First published. Rules checked against GOV.UK (when to verify, updated 30 July 2026; Post Office guidance, updated 22 September 2026; personal codes, updated 13 July 2026), SI 2025/1118 regs 4–5 and Companies Act 2006 ss.167G, 167M, 790LM, 790LN and 853A. Register wording checked on a live company record. Checker and date tests added.

Sources

1. GOV.UK: When you need to verify your identity for Companies House (updated 30 July 2026)
2. Companies House: Identity verification (Changes to UK company law)
3. SI 2025/1118: ECCTA 2023 (Commencement No. 6 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2025, regs 4 and 5
4. Companies Act 2006, s.167M, s.167G, s.790LM, s.790LN, s.853A
5. GOV.UK: Verifying your identity for Companies House (updated 1 June 2026)
6. GOV.UK: Verify your identity for Companies House (updated 30 April 2026)
7. GOV.UK: How to prove your identity for Companies House at the Post Office (updated 22 September 2026)
8. GOV.UK: Companies House personal codes for identity verification (updated 13 July 2026)
9. GOV.UK: Provide identity verification details for a PSC
10. Companies House: Approach to non-compliance with mandatory identity verification (updated 5 December 2025)
11. GOV.UK: How to meet the Companies House identity verification standard (updated 19 June 2026)
12. GOV.UK: Using an ACSP and Companies House: ACSPs
13. Companies House: Getting help with identity verification
14. GOV.UK: Correcting your date of birth with Companies House
15. Insolvency Service and Companies House: first prosecutions (17 September 2026)
16. SI 2024/445: ECCTA 2023 (Financial Penalty) Regulations 2024, reg 7
17. GOV.UK: Confirmation statement
18. Companies House: Changes at a glance, and accounts filing changes from April 2028 (9 June 2026)
19. Companies House register (Find and update company information), wording checked 20 October 2026

Checked on 20 October 2026 against GOV.UK guidance, legislation.gov.uk and the Companies House register. Rules and dates can change; the official guidance and your entry on the register always prevail.