Who must verify
You must verify if you are a director, the equivalent of a director (members, general partners and managing officers), a director of an overseas company registered in the UK, a person with significant control, or an authorised corporate service provider (ACSP), also called a Companies House authorised agent1.
Companies House will bring in verification later for people who file on a company’s behalf, limited partnerships, corporate directors, corporate members of LLPs and officers of corporate PSCs1.
Your deadline
There is no single date for everyone. 18 November 2025 marked the start of the requirement, and Companies House describes it as “not a deadline” but the start of a 12-month transition3. Your own date depends on your role:
| You are | When you must give your personal code |
|---|---|
| A director already in post on 18 November 2025 | In the company’s next confirmation statement5 |
| A new director from 18 November 2025 | As part of the appointment filing, or when the company is incorporated5 |
| A director of several companies | Verify once; give the same code in each company’s confirmation statement2,5 |
| A director who is also a PSC of the same company | As director, in the confirmation statement. As PSC, separately, within 14 days starting the day after the company’s confirmation statement date2 |
| A PSC who is not a director of that company | Within the first 14 days of your birth month (a 22 January birthday means 1 to 14 January)2 |
| A PSC added to the register after 18 November 2025 | When you are added, or within 14 days of being added2 |
You can check a PSC’s 14-day period on the Companies House register2. Filing the confirmation statement early does not change a director-PSC’s 14 days2.
A worked example
Take a company whose confirmation date is 30 November 2026. It has until 14 December 2026 to file its confirmation statement6, and that statement needs a personal code for each director6. If one of those directors is also a PSC, their separate PSC verification is due within the 14 days that start on 1 December 20262. To see your company’s confirmation date, look it up in the deadline checker.
Three ways to verify
1. Online with GOV.UK One Login (free). Companies House’s own service runs on GOV.UK One Login. It asks questions about you (not your company) and then guides you to verify with an app, by answering security questions online, by entering the details from your photo ID online, or at a participating Post Office1. You’ll need one of: a biometric passport from any country, a UK photo driving licence (full or provisional), a UK biometric residence permit or card, or a UK Frontier Worker permit. You’ll also need your current address and the year you moved in3.
- An expired passport can’t be used in the app. A DVLA driving licence that expired in the last 90 days can, and a residence permit, card or Frontier Worker permit that expired in the last 18 months3.
- Without that photo ID, if you live in the UK, the service may let you verify with your bank or building society details, your National Insurance number and some security questions3.
- One email address can only be used once to verify an identity, so two directors who share an inbox each need their own3.
2. At a Post Office (free). You enter your photo ID details online and choose a Post Office, then take your customer letter and your original photo ID to a branch by the date on the letter, usually around 15 days after your confirmation email. Staff scan the letter’s QR code, take your photo and scan your ID. The result usually arrives by email within a day. You have 21 days from booking to finish, or you start again4.
3. Through an authorised agent (ACSP). An accountant, solicitor or other AML-supervised professional who is registered with Companies House as an ACSP can verify you, from any country, using documents from an approved list. They may charge a fee1. Companies House publishes a list of authorised agents1. Fileyear is not an authorised agent, so it can’t verify your identity for you.
What you get: your personal code
When verification succeeds you get a Companies House personal code: 11 characters, personal to you, not to any company5. You use the same code for every role you hold, so a director of three companies verifies once and gives the same code three times5. Treat it like your UTR: share it only with people you trust to file for you1.
Can’t find yours, or it isn’t working? Read your Companies House personal code: where to find it and what to do if it’s lost.
What happens at your next confirmation statement
The confirmation statement now asks for a personal code for each director, and a tick to confirm each director has verified. Companies House will not accept the statement until all directors have verified6. So if one director hasn’t verified, the whole company’s statement is stuck, and a confirmation statement that isn’t filed can lead to a fine of up to £5,000 and the company being struck off6. Read what the confirmation statement confirms for the rest of what it asks.
Collect the codes before your confirmation date. Fileyear’s confirmation statement filing asks for each director’s code as one of its steps.
If you don’t verify
Not complying on time may be an offence, punishable by prosecution and a fine, or a financial penalty. Companies House says it will also, in future, publish a note against your name on the public register, and you won’t be able to be appointed as a new director, register a new company, or register as an authorised agent1.
The law is direct: an individual “must not act as a director of a company unless the individual’s identity is verified”, and the company must make sure of it. Both the director and the company (and every officer in default) commit an offence9. It does not make the director’s past acts invalid9.
Companies House’s published enforcement approach is to send a default letter when a due date is missed, then choose between prosecution, a referral to the Insolvency Service, and financial penalties. It treats 3 or more offences in 5 years as serious. You can make a “representation” within the time it gives you if something exceptional stopped you; if accepted, enforcement is usually paused for up to 2 months8. A PSC can ask for a 14-day extension before their deadline passes7.