Companies House Identity Verification: Director and PSC Deadlines Explained

Companies House identity verification is a legal requirement for company directors and people with significant control but there is no single deadline that applies to everybody in the same way. Existing directors normally connect their personal code through a confirmation statement, while PSCs use a separate service during a specified 14-day window and someone holding both roles may need to provide the same code twice, once for each capacity.

It's a small piece of admin on paper but we've seen it catch out otherwise well-run companies simply because nobody owned the task. This guide sets out who's affected, what the actual deadlines are, and the practical steps to get ahead of it rather than discover it at the worst possible moment, in the middle of filing a confirmation statement.

Who needs to verify their identity with Companies House

Identity verification applies to individuals in specific roles: company directors and people with significant control (PSCs) across the board, regardless of the size of the company or how long it's been trading. It also reaches further than just those two roles, since the wider Companies House reforms are gradually extending verification requirements to people filing information on a company's behalf, such as company secretaries and, in time, certain agents.

The underlying aim is straightforward: make it materially harder to use a false or stolen identity to set up or run a UK company, which has historically been an easy route for fraud, money laundering, and shell-company abuse. Most individuals will only ever need to go through the actual identity check once. Once you're verified, you receive a personal code, and that code is yours for life, not something you have to redo for each new company.

Where it gets slightly more involved is that being verified and holding a code doesn't automatically mean every requirement is satisfied for every role you hold. The code still has to be actively connected to each relevant role, on each relevant company, through the right mechanism, which is where a surprising number of otherwise diligent directors trip up.

Is 18 November 2025 the deadline for every director?

No and this is probably the most common misunderstanding we hear. From 18 November 2025, identity verification became a legal requirement, and that date opened a 12-month transition period. It was the start line, not a universal finish line applying identically to every existing director and PSC on the register.

For an existing director the actual requirement is generally tied to the company's own confirmation statement during that transition window, meaning the practical deadline varies company by company depending on when its confirmation statement falls due. New directors and new company incorporations don't get the benefit of that transition at all: they're dealt with under the rules that apply at the point the appointment or incorporation actually happens, so there's no grace period to lean on if you're setting up a company or appointing a new director today.

Because the date genuinely varies by company we'd always recommend checking the register and the official Companies House guidance for the dates attached to your particular roles, rather than working off a generic reminder (including this one) that quotes a single date for everyone.

Our 2026 business tax and compliance calendar can help place your confirmation statement alongside the rest of your company's recurring deadlines, so this doesn't end up sitting in isolation on someone's to-do list.

How does a director provide their Companies House personal code?

An existing director receives a personal code once they've successfully verified their identity, either through Companies House directly or via an ACSP. That code is then supplied for the director role specifically through the company's confirmation statement, which is the mechanism that actually connects the verified individual to that company's public record.

This is exactly why early preparation matters more than it might first appear to. If a company reaches its confirmation-statement filing point and one of its directors hasn't verified, or can't produce their code at that moment, the filing itself can be blocked. That's not a minor inconvenience: a blocked confirmation statement has knock-on effects for the company's standing and can complicate anything else that depends on an up-to-date public record.

It's worth remembering, too, that the personal code belongs to the individual, not to the company. Someone who holds directorships across several companies uses the same personal code throughout, but still has to actively connect it to each individual role as the relevant filing comes round, rather than assuming one connection covers every company they're involved with.

What does a person with significant control need to do?

A PSC has their own, separate obligation: providing their personal code together with a verification statement, using the dedicated Companies House service built for PSC verification details rather than the confirmation-statement route directors use.

Every PSC has a 14-day window in which to provide those details, and the exact timing depends on their particular circumstances, including whether they were already registered as a PSC before 18 November 2025, and whether they also hold a director role at the same company. An existing PSC who isn't also a director may find their window is linked to the first 14 days of their birth month, which is an easy detail to miss if nobody's specifically checking for it. A PSC who is also a director, by contrast, can have a window linked instead to the company's confirmation-statement date. Given how much this varies by individual circumstance, the register and the official service really are the only reliable place to confirm exact dates.

Why might a director who is also a PSC provide the same code twice?

Director and PSC are, in the eyes of the law, entirely separate roles, even when they're held by the same person. Someone who is both may genuinely need to provide their identical personal code twice: once to satisfy the directorship requirement, and separately again to satisfy the PSC requirement, through two different mechanisms.

This is one of the easiest aspects of the whole regime to miss, and we've seen it happen even to careful clients: supplying the code once, through the confirmation statement, feels like it should be enough, but it doesn't automatically satisfy the separate PSC requirement running alongside it. The two need to be tracked and completed independently.

How can someone verify their identity?

There are two main routes into verification. The first is directly through the GOV.UK One Login process, which typically involves suitable photo identification and a facial or document-based identity check carried out online. The second is through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider, generally referred to as an ACSP, which is a firm (often an accountant or company secretarial provider) that has met Companies House's registration requirements to carry out verification on a client's behalf as part of a filing. To assist our current and future clients, Love Your Accountants became a recognised ACSP so we can assist individuals in the process where the Companies House process is too cumbersome for them.

Companies House itself doesn't charge anything for using its direct verification service, so cost genuinely isn't a barrier to doing it yourself if you'd rather handle it directly. Where a professional provider does charge, it's for the underlying anti-money-laundering check and the administrative work of processing and submitting the code correctly, it’s not generally for the identity check itself. As an ACSP as at the date of this article our charges were £50+VAT per AML check and personal code processed, which covers the verification and gets it correctly attached to the right role on the right filing, rather than leaving it as one more thing for a busy director to manage alongside everything else. We have noticed a lot of companies who had been set up privately or with other providers have incorrect details associated with the directors or shareholders (either incorrect names or most commonly, incorrect date of births). Here at LYA have a specialist team who can assist with amending incorrect details with Companies House to help get a personal ID code before the deadline.

What should a company do before its confirmation statement is due?

A sensible review, run well before the confirmation statement deadline rather than on the day itself, should cover the following:

1. List every current director and PSC - don't assume the register already reflects reality, especially after any recent changes in shareholding or appointments.
2. Confirm whether each individual has actually completed identity verification, rather than simply assumed to have done so.
3. Record the personal codes securely once obtained, since they'll be needed again at the next relevant filing. We use a company secretariat software which saves all of our clients company, director and shareholder details so our clients can retrieve any codes at a moment’s notice (as some codes can take a couple of weeks to receive again such as the Company Authentication Code (CAC).
4. Check the role-specific due dates shown on the Companies House register for each person, since these can differ from each other even within the same company.
5. Identify anyone who holds both a director and a PSC role, since they have two separate requirements to satisfy, not one.
6. Complete the separate PSC submission within the correct 14-day period rather than folding it into the confirmation statement.
7. Avoid sending personal codes over insecure or unnecessary channels, since they function as a form of personal identification.

Good company-secretarial records make this whole process considerably easier, and it's exactly the kind of administrative detail that tends to slip when it isn't clearly owned by one person. If the wider administration around your company has become difficult to keep on top of, it's worth knowing that changing adviser is possible at any point in the year, not just at year-end.

Our guide to how an accountant handover works mid-year walks through exactly what that looks like in practice.

What happens if identity verification is not completed?

Failing to complete verification on time creates real legal and operational consequences, not just an administrative flag on file. These can affect the individual personally, the company itself, and specifically the company's ability to complete other filings until the position is resolved.

The exact consequence depends on the specific role and the nature of the breach, so companies genuinely shouldn't wait for a rejected confirmation statement as the first signal that something's wrong. Where a deadline has already passed, or the register appears to be incorrect for any reason, current Companies House guidance should be checked directly and professional advice taken where the position isn't straightforward.

Frequently asked questions

Do I receive a different code for every company?

No. The personal code belongs to the verified individual, not to any single company. The same code is reused every time that person needs to connect their identity to a relevant role, whether that's one company or several.

Is my Companies House personal code public?

No. The personal code should be treated as private information, on a similar footing to other identity credentials, and shared only where it's legitimately required for a filing or as part of engaging a professional service provider.

Can an accountant verify my identity?

Only where that accountant is specifically registered as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider. Not every accountant offers this service, so it's worth checking directly with the firm whether they're registered before assuming it's included.

Need help checking the company roles?

If you're not certain which of your directors or PSCs still need to take action, or you'd simply rather have someone check the record properly than assume it's fine, anyone on the LYA team would be happy to go through it with you. Email support.london@loveyouraccountants.com or call 01372 374143, and we can tell you quickly where things stand.

Because we're already registered as an ACSP, this is normally handled by the same person who already looks after your company's accounts and filings, rather than being routed off to a separate specialist team — one less thing to coordinate on your end.