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Companies House identity verification: the transition ends in November. What it changes for UK counterparties

Identity verification at Companies House has been a legal requirement since 18 November 2025. Existing directors and people with significant control have had a twelve-month transition to verify, each on a personal due date. By mid-November 2026 that transition is effectively over: Companies House estimated that six to seven million people would need to verify by then.

OCT 15, 2026 · 2 MIN READ · BY THE KYCK DESK

How the due dates work

• New directors and PSCs have had to verify before being appointed since 18 November 2025.
• Existing directors provide their Companies House personal code with the company's next confirmation statement.
• Existing PSCs who are not directors provide it within the first 14 days of their birth month.
• Verification is done directly with Companies House, at a Post Office, or through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP).

There is no single national deadline. The date that matters for a given company is driven by its confirmation statement and by the birth months of its PSCs, which is why most companies fall due at different points in the year. Our Companies House briefing covers the full reform, including ACSP registration for agents.

What it changes for anyone onboarding UK counterparties

• The identity of the people behind a UK company becomes something the registrar has checked, not something it simply recorded.
• The register is still not your due diligence. A verified director tells you who the person is, not who owns the company, whether anyone in the chain is sanctioned, or what the press says about them.
• Timing is a signal. A director or PSC still unverified after their due date, or a company reshuffling appointments around it, deserves a question.

What to do in your process

Add one question to the UK checks you already run: ask the counterparty to confirm that its directors and PSCs have verified their identity, and record the answer. Then keep going, because verification ends where due diligence starts: ownership through every layer to the beneficial owners, and sanctions, PEP and adverse media screening on everyone found. KYCK runs that file end to end with every check timestamped; see KYB software and the guide to counterparty due diligence.

Sources

• GOV.UK: When you need to verify your identity for Companies House
• GOV.UK: Companies House confirms identity verification rollout from 18 November 2025

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