Companies House identity verification: the 18 November 2026 deadline and what happens if you miss it

Every director of a UK company, every LLP member and every individual person with significant control (PSC) must verify their identity with Companies House. For an existing director the deadline is the company's own confirmation statement date – the first one due on or after 18 November 2025 – and the statement cannot be filed until every director has verified. For an existing PSC who is not a director it is the first 14 days of their birth month. The transition year ends on 18 November 2026, and by then the last of those deadlines will have passed. Companies House says that if you do not comply you may be committing an offence and may face prosecution and a fine through the courts, or a financial penalty. You verify once, receive an 11-character personal code, and give that code to Companies House for each role you hold.

Who has to verify

The duty comes from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. It applies to three groups:

• every director of a UK company
• every member of an LLP
• every individual PSC

It is the person who is verified, not the company. One verification covers every role you hold at every company. A director of six companies verifies once.

If you already have a personal code you do not verify again; you only provide it for each role.

The deadlines, role by role

New appointments. Identity verification has been mandatory for new appointments since 18 November 2025. A new director verifies before the appointment is made. A new PSC verifies within 14 days of being registered as a PSC.

Existing directors. The deadline is the date the company's next confirmation statement is due, for any statement due on or after 18 November 2025. The confirmation statement includes a statement that every director has verified, so it cannot be filed until they all have. The company's own due date is on the public register.

Existing PSCs who are also directors. Within 14 days of the confirmation statement date.

Existing PSCs who are not directors. Within the first 14 days of their birth month, during the transition year that runs from 18 November 2025 to 18 November 2026. Companies House writes to each PSC with their window. The letter is headed "Verify your identity – person with significant control" and gives the dates – for example a window of 1 to 14 October 2026, with the line "You must comply with identity verification requirements by 14 October 2026".

The end of the transition year. 18 November 2026 is the point by which the last of the existing-director deadlines fall.

The two things you have to do

Companies House describes it as two steps.

1. Verify your identity. You then receive a Companies House personal code. It is 11 characters long, it belongs to you rather than to any company, and it covers every company you are involved with.
2. Provide the code to Companies House for each role. For a director this happens with the confirmation statement. For a PSC it is done through the "Provide identity verification details for a person with significant control" service on GOV.UK.

Verifying is only the first half; providing the code for each role is the second.

What Companies House says happens if you miss it

Companies House's own letters say: "If you do not comply, you may be committing an offence. You may face prosecution and a fine through the courts, or a financial penalty. In the future, we'll publish a note against your name on the Companies House public register."

The second consequence lands on the company. Because the confirmation statement cannot be filed until every director has verified, one unverified director blocks the filing. Not filing a confirmation statement is itself an offence and can lead to the company being struck off.

A PSC who cannot meet their window can request an extension through the PSC verification service, but only while the window is still open.

This is information, not legal advice. We are not solicitors or accountants.

How many people still have to verify

Companies House estimated that 6 to 7 million people would need to verify by mid-November 2026. By late November 2025, according to a written parliamentary answer of 26 November 2025, more than 1.4 million had completed the first phase through GOV.UK One Login.

Industry figures published on 23 September 2026 by AccountingWEB, from Xama:

• 9.9 million directorships, of which 6.73 million (68%) were verified, 3.16 million outstanding and 1.82 million overdue
• 7.06 million PSC positions, of which 3.98 million (56%) were verified, 3.08 million outstanding and 1.84 million overdue

Vaulex Group's own analysis of the Companies House PSC snapshot of 17 October 2026, covering active companies and current individual PSCs, found 4,144,344 positions with the verification statement supplied and 1,412,483 without one but with a Companies House date set. Of those, 807,759 were already past their date, 240,759 were due in October 2026 and 451,794 in November 2026.

The same analysis found 10,925 outstanding positions held by British nationals living abroad, 5,993 of them past their date, across 10,241 companies. The largest groups were in the UAE (1,097), the USA (974), Spain (831), France (802), Australia (518), Hong Kong (409), Portugal (402), Switzerland (400) and South Africa (283).

The two ways to verify

GOV.UK One Login, which is free. The app route reads the chip in a biometric passport with an NFC-capable phone and takes a face match. The other free routes – security questions drawn from a UK credit file, or an in-person check at a Post Office – need a UK footprint. One Login cannot always be used from abroad. An older passport without a chip, a phone without NFC, a face match that fails or a name that has changed can stop the app route, and the fall-backs need a UK address history that people who have lived abroad for years no longer have. The guidance is at gov.uk/guidance/verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house.

An Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). An ACSP is an agent registered with Companies House and supervised for anti-money laundering by HMRC or a professional body. It checks your identity documents to the Companies House standard, keeps records for seven years and tells Companies House. Your personal code is then issued. Anyone can check an ACSP on the Companies House public register of ACSPs. Vaulex Group Ltd is an ACSP (AP021384) and verifies British passport holders anywhere in the world for £149.99 per person.

What to do this week

1. Find your confirmation statement date on the Companies House register. That is the deadline for every director.
2. Check who at the company must verify and who already has. The register now records, for each appointment, whether the verification statement has been supplied and the date Companies House wants it by.
3. Choose a route. If you have a chipped passport and an NFC phone, try One Login first. If it stops, use an ACSP rather than waiting.
4. Once you have your personal code, provide it for each role – with the confirmation statement for a directorship, and through the PSC service for a PSC role.
5. If you are a PSC and your birth-month window has already passed, verify now. If the window is still open and you cannot make it, request an extension before it closes.

Check your company in a minute

Our free tool at guides.vaulex.co.uk/am-i-affected reads the live register. Type a company and it shows who must verify, who already has, and the date Companies House has set for each person. Accountants can run a whole client book at guides.vaulex.co.uk/am-i-affected/accountants.