Companies House has confirmed that mandatory identity verification (IDV) will start for all new and existing directors and persons with significant control (PSCs) from 18 November 2025.
The IDV requirements
IDV requirements are part of the changes to UK company law and administration being introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA). Once fully implemented, the IDV requirements will apply to all new and existing directors (and equivalents for other entities), PSCs and those filing information with Companies House.
The ECCTA provides that the IDV process can be carried out by Companies House or via an authorised corporate service provider (ACSP) but is generally light on the detail of how the IDV requirements will operate in practice. These details are set out in The Registrar (Identity Verification and Authorised Corporate Service Providers) Regulations 2025, made in January 2025, and in the Companies House rules, published in February 2025 (read more on our corporate notes blog here and here).
Companies House has also published guidance on the new IDV requirements:
- verifying your identity for Companies House; and
- when you need to verify your identity for Companies House.
On completion of the verification process, individuals will be allocated a personal Companies House code, a unique identifier which can then be used to confirm that the verification process has been completed.
Changes in force from 18 November 2025
Voluntary IDV has been possible since April 2025 (read more on our corporate notes blog here). From 18 November 2025 the requirements will be mandatory and from that date:
- any individual being appointed as a director, either on incorporation or as a new director of an existing company, will need to confirm that their identity has been verified as part of the incorporation/appointment process;
- companies will need to confirm that each of their directors have verified their identity when filing the company's first annual confirmation statement which falls due after 18 November 2025;
- any individual being registered as a PSC will have to confirm that they have verified their identity within a 14-day period starting on the date of their PSC registration;
- any individual already registered as a PSC, who is also a director of the company, will have to confirm that they have verified their identity within a 14-day period starting from the date the first annual confirmation statement to be submitted by the company after 18 November falls due; and
- any individual already registered as a PSC who is not also a director of the company that they control will have to confirm that they have verified their identity within a 14-day period starting from the first day of their month of birth – for example if their date of birth is 16 April 1974, the 14-day period will start on 1 April 2026.
As part of confirming to Companies House that their identity has been verified, individuals will need to supply the unique identifier allocated to them on completion of the IDV process.
The mandatory IDV requirements for individual members of LLPs are also expected to start from 18 November 2025. Companies House has confirmed however that the IDV requirements for limited partnerships, corporate members of LLPs, corporate directors of companies and officers of corporate PSCs will be brought into force at a later date.
For more details on IDV, see our snapshot here.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
