Companies House Identity Verification: Find Your Real Deadline
The twelve-month transition window closes on 18 November 2026 — but almost nobody's personal deadline falls on that date. Here is how to find yours, verify correctly, and keep your Confirmation Statement filing open.
The short answer
Companies House identity verification became mandatory on 18 November 2025, opening a twelve-month transition period that closes on 18 November 2026. That closing date is a backstop, not your deadline. If you are an existing director, your real trigger is your company's next Confirmation Statement (CS01) — the filing cannot be submitted while any director or PSC remains unverified. If you are a PSC but not a director, your window runs for 14 days from the first day of your month of birth. Anyone appointed on or after 18 November 2025 must verify before the appointment or incorporation can be registered at all.
Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA), Companies House has moved from being a passive register to an active gatekeeper. For the first time in its history, it now requires proof that the people named as owning and controlling UK companies are real, identifiable individuals. Companies House estimated that between six and seven million people would need to complete verification during the transition year.
The problem is not the requirement. It is the framing. Almost every piece of coverage repeats "18 November 2026" as though it were a single national deadline. It is not — it is the last possible date in a window that has been expiring company by company, and person by person, since late 2025. For a substantial number of UK businesses, the trigger has already come and gone.
Accounting Crunchers Is Always Plugged Into HMRC & Companies House
Policy papers, secondary legislation, filing rule changes, ECCTA commencement orders — we track every HMRC and Companies House update as it is published, so you hear about the changes that affect your business before they cost you money, not after.
Why This Is a Corporate Filing Gate, Not a Personal Chore
Most directors treat identity verification as personal admin — something to get round to. That misreads how the rule is constructed.
The duty to deliver an annual Confirmation Statement sits in section 853A of the Companies Act 2006. What ECCTA has done is layer the verification requirement onto that existing duty, so the personal code becomes a required element of the filing itself. The consequence is structural: one unverified individual blocks the entire company's Confirmation Statement. It does not matter that the other four directors verified months ago. The filing does not go through.
The Confirmation Statement is a statutory annual obligation under section 853A of the Companies Act 2006. Failure to deliver it is a criminal offence on the part of the company and every officer in default — a liability that exists entirely independently of the ECCTA verification rules.
Companies Act 2006, s.853A — as amended by ECCTA 2023This is the detail that catches boards out. During the transition period, Companies House has indicated it will not prosecute individuals purely for failing to verify. That has been widely misread as "nothing happens yet." Something does happen, and immediately — the filing is blocked, and the blocked filing triggers a separate, older, and thoroughly enforced penalty regime. For more on how these obligations interlock, see our guide on Companies House filing changes.
Find Your Trigger Date
Your deadline is determined by the role you hold and when you took it on — not by the national backstop. There are four patterns, and if you hold more than one role you may fall into several at once.
| Who You Are | Your Verification Trigger | What Happens If You Miss It |
|---|---|---|
| Existing director appointed before 18 Nov 2025 | Your company's next Confirmation Statement due date | CS01 cannot be filed. Late filing exposure begins accruing. |
| Existing PSC not also a director | 14 days from the first day of your month of birth | Verification statement overdue; company record flagged as non-compliant. |
| Director and PSC | Both triggers apply — verify once, declare twice | Partial compliance. The missed declaration still blocks or flags the record. |
| New appointee or incorporation on or after 18 Nov 2025 | Before appointment — no transition, no grace | The appointment or incorporation simply cannot be registered. |
If You Hold Multiple Directorships, Your Deadline Moves Forward
You verify once and receive a single personal code — but your effective deadline is the earliest Confirmation Statement date across every company you are involved with. One company filing in September pulls the deadline forward for all of them. The same code must then be supplied separately against each company role, which is where multi-entity groups most often assume the job is done when it is not.
The Three Verification Routes
All three produce the same output — a Companies House personal code, which is yours permanently and follows you across every company role you ever hold. What differs is the friction, and for some directors the automated route simply will not work.
GOV.UK One Login
The free, direct digital route. Fastest option when your documents are recognised and your register entry is clean.
- Biometric passport, UK photocard licence or BRP
- App-based facial recognition check
- Usually completes in minutes
Post Office Verification
For directors whose documents are valid but who cannot complete the biometric app check successfully.
- Online details entered first
- Documents presented in branch
- Requires a physical UK appointment
Authorised Corporate Service Provider
A registered agent — such as your accountant — carries out the identity checks and confirms them to Companies House on your behalf. Accounting Crunchers is a registered ACSP.
- Works with non-UK photo ID
- No UK residency or appointment needed
- Whole boards handled in one pass
Why Overseas Directors Should Not Start With Route A
This is the single most common cause of a last-minute filing failure. The automated GOV.UK route depends on document recognition, and non-UK passports and identity documents frequently are not supported. A non-resident director attempts Route A, it fails without a clear reason, and by the time they escalate to an ACSP the Confirmation Statement window has closed.
If you have non-UK resident directors or PSCs on your board, treat Route C as the default rather than the fallback. The cost of an agent fee is trivial against a blocked annual filing.
The Register Discrepancy Problem
The most frequent cause of failure is not the process — it is a mismatch between your identity documents and what the register already says about you. A date of birth typed incorrectly years ago, a middle name never recorded, a maiden name still showing. A ten-minute task becomes a correction request with its own processing time. This is precisely why attempting verification in the week your Confirmation Statement falls due is a poor plan.
What Actually Happens If You Miss Your Deadline
The consequences escalate in a predictable chain. Understanding where it starts matters, because the first two links are automatic and arrive long before any enforcement decision is taken.
The Confirmation Statement is blocked
Immediate and automatic. The personal code is a required field — without it, the CS01 cannot be submitted at all.
Statutory filing default begins
Failure to deliver a Confirmation Statement is an offence under the Companies Act, independent of ECCTA. Other filings — director appointments, registered office changes, share allotments — sit behind the same wall.
Company status shows in default on the public register
This is visible to banks, lenders, insurers, landlords and prospective clients. Credit reference agencies pick it up. Commercial consequences often bite before regulatory ones.
Individual liability under ECCTA
After the transition closes, non-compliance becomes a criminal offence, with civil financial penalties commonly cited at up to £5,000 per individual and potential director disqualification.
Compulsory strike-off proceedings
The end of the chain. Persistent default can lead to the registrar striking the company from the register — at which point banking facilities and company assets are directly affected.
It is worth knowing that later phases of the ECCTA rollout — including mandatory verification for the people who submit filings, and the registrar's power to reject documents from disqualified directors — have been deferred to around the end of 2026. Companies House pushed them back specifically to concentrate resources on getting directors and PSCs through the current transition. Read that as a signal about where enforcement attention is heading, not as a reason to relax. As we have argued before, annual compliance is not the part of running a company you can afford to leave until it is urgent.
Accounting Crunchers is a Companies House Authorised Corporate Service Provider
We are registered with Companies House as an ACSP and supervised by the Association of International Accountants (AIA). That means we can carry out identity verification checks ourselves and confirm them directly to Companies House — including for directors and PSCs based outside the UK, with no UK visit required.
Free Director Verification Status Audit
If you sit on a multi-director board, hold roles across several companies, or have overseas directors or PSCs, the risk is not one person forgetting — it is nobody knowing who is outstanding. We will map it for you, in writing, at no cost.
What Your Business Should Do This Week
Look Up Your Confirmation Statement Date
It is on the free public register. This is your real deadline — not November. Write it down.
List Every Company Where You Hold a Role
Director or PSC, active or dormant. The earliest Confirmation Statement date across the whole list governs you.
Check the Register Against Your Passport
Full legal name, middle names, date of birth. Correct any discrepancy before attempting verification, not during it.
Route Overseas Directors Straight to an ACSP
Do not let them attempt the automated route first. They take longest and are the most common cause of a blocked filing.
Store the Personal Code Permanently
You will use it for the rest of your working life, across every company role you ever hold. Keep it somewhere your accountant can access.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is my Companies House identity verification deadline?
It depends on your role. Existing directors must verify before their company's next Confirmation Statement. PSCs who are not directors must verify within 14 days of the first day of their birth month. Anyone appointed on or after 18 November 2025 must verify before the appointment can be registered. The transition period's final backstop is 18 November 2026.
Do I have to verify separately for each of my companies?
No. You verify once and receive a single Companies House personal code. However, that code must be supplied against each company role you hold, and each company's Confirmation Statement is a separate filing with its own deadline.
I live outside the UK. Do the same deadlines apply to me?
Yes — identically, regardless of residency. The practical difference is the route. Non-UK photo ID often fails the automated GOV.UK check, so overseas directors should generally use an Authorised Corporate Service Provider rather than attempting Route A first.
What is a Companies House personal code?
It is the unique identifier issued once your identity has been verified. It links you personally to every company role you hold on the register, and you supply it when filing Confirmation Statements, appointing directors, or updating company records.
My Confirmation Statement is due next week and I have not verified. What now?
Verify immediately, and do not assume it completes the same day. If a register discrepancy needs correcting first, allow considerably longer. If the deadline is genuinely unreachable, speak to an ACSP — an authorised provider can often complete checks faster than the direct route.
Does identity verification replace the Confirmation Statement?
No. It is an additional requirement layered on top of an existing statutory duty. You still file the Confirmation Statement annually, still pay the fee, and still keep company records current. Verification is now a precondition for being able to file at all.
Are limited partnerships and corporate directors covered?
Not yet under the same timetable. Requirements for limited partnerships, corporate directors, corporate members of LLPs and officers of corporate PSCs are being introduced at a later date. Individual directors and PSCs are the current phase.
How Accounting Crunchers Can Help
Identity verification is straightforward for a single UK-resident director with a clean register entry. It is materially harder for a board of five spread across three jurisdictions, with two entities filing in different months and a historic typo in one date of birth. That second scenario is the one that produces blocked filings — and it is the one we handle routinely.
Deadline Mapping Across Entities
Every director and PSC in your group, mapped to their individual trigger date.
Register Discrepancy Correction
Name and date-of-birth mismatches identified and resolved before they block a filing.
Overseas Director Verification
As an ACSP we verify non-resident directors ourselves — no UK visit, no failed automated attempt.
Ongoing Compliance Monitoring
Confirmation Statement dates, ECCTA phases and filing rules tracked continuously.
We support businesses across the UK, US and UAE — from sole traders to multi-entity groups — with a team trained to Big 4 standards. Accounting Crunchers keeps you ahead of every HMRC and Companies House change, so your business is never caught off guard.
Not Sure Which of Your Directors Are Verified?
Talk to Accounting Crunchers before your next Confirmation Statement falls due — and find out where you actually stand.
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Reference: Companies House guidance on identity verification under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 — gov.uk/guidance/verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house
Current as at August 2026. ECCTA commencement timetables have been revised more than once; confirm current requirements before acting. This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional advice specific to your business.