The Companies House personal code: what it is, where it goes and who needs it

The Companies House personal code is an 11-character code given to a person once they have verified their identity with Companies House. It is personal to you, not to any company: one code covers every directorship and every PSC role you hold, at every company. It connects your verified identity to Companies House records. Directors give it in the company's confirmation statement, in an appointment filing or when a company is incorporated; PSCs give it through the 'Provide identity verification details for a PSC' service within a 14-day window. Companies House says to keep it secure, like your HMRC Unique Taxpayer Reference, and to share it only with people you trust to file on your behalf. If you lose it, sign in to Companies House and open 'Manage account'.

What the code is

Identity verification became a legal requirement for directors, LLP members and individual PSCs on 18 November 2025. When you have verified, Companies House issues an 11-character personal code. In its words, 'the code is personal to you, not your company or a company you work for'.

Three consequences:

• One person, one code. A director of six companies verifies once and uses the same code six times.
• One code for every role. If you are both a director and a PSC of the same company, you give the same code separately for each role.
• The company holds no code for this. Each director and each PSC has their own.

It is not the company authentication code, which belongs to the company and is used to file online.

How you get one

Two routes, one kind of code.

Through GOV.UK One Login, free: the 'Verify your identity for Companies House' service guides you to verify with the app, by answering security questions online, or by entering your photo ID details and visiting a participating Post Office. It cannot always be used from abroad: the app needs a chipped passport, an NFC-capable phone and a face match that passes, and the other two methods need a UK credit file or a UK Post Office. Afterwards, sign in to Companies House and go to 'Manage account' to see your code, using the same email address you verified with. If you verified after 8 July 2026, Companies House also sent the code to your email address.

Through an ACSP: an Authorised Corporate Service Provider, also called a Companies House authorised agent, is registered with Companies House and supervised for anti-money laundering. You give it your name and any former names, date of birth, home address, 12-month address history, email address and identity documents. It checks them to the Companies House standard, keeps records for seven years and tells Companies House, which sends your code to the email address the ACSP gave, usually within a few hours. Companies House recommends saving a code received this way to a Companies House account.

If you already have a code, you do not verify again; Companies House says you must not unless it tells you to.

Where the code goes

The code is used to connect your verified identity to each role:

• The confirmation statement. An existing director's code goes in the company's next confirmation statement due on or after 18 November 2025. The company cannot file until every director has verified.
• The PSC service. A PSC provides the code through the 'Provide identity verification details for a PSC' service within a 14-day window: the first 14 days of the birth month for an existing PSC who is not a director, the 14 days after the confirmation statement date for a PSC who is also a director, and 14 days from being added for a new PSC.
• New appointments. A new director's code goes in the appointment filing.
• Incorporations. A new company gives the code of every director at registration.
• ACSP registration. An agent applying to become an ACSP gives their own code.
• Filing for a company, which Companies House says may need it in future.

When you use it, Companies House may ask for your date of birth to check the details match.

Who can see it

Treat it like a password. Companies House's guidance is to keep it secure, as you would other unique codes such as your UTR, and to share it only with people you trust to file on your behalf or for your company. In practice that means your accountant or agent when they file for you, and nobody else. Companies House adds that verification makes impersonation much harder 'but not impossible'.

The code itself is not on the public register. What the register shows is that your verification statement has been supplied and, if an ACSP verified you, a statement with your name, the date you were verified, the ACSP's name and its AML supervisory bodies.

If you lose it

• Verified through One Login: sign in to Companies House with the same email address and open 'Manage account'. If you verified after 8 July 2026, check your inbox too.
• Verified through an ACSP: the code was emailed to the address the ACSP gave. Check spam. If it never arrived, ask the ACSP what address it provided; if that was wrong, the ACSP must correct it. If the address was right, contact Companies House and ask for the ACSP team, which can resend the email.
• Saved to a Companies House account: sign in and open 'Manage account'.
• Shared or compromised: contact Companies House. It can issue a new code by email and cancel the old one.

Common mistakes

• Verifying twice. If you already hold a code, you do not start again when a second company asks.
• Thinking the code belongs to the company. Each director and PSC holds their own.
• Giving the ACSP an email address with a typo, or one you never check. The code is emailed.
• A date of birth mismatch. If the code will not connect, Companies House says it may be because the code was typed incorrectly, your date of birth is wrong on its records, or an ACSP entered incorrect details. Check your date of birth in WebFiling, or ask the ACSP to amend what it submitted.
• Getting the code and stopping. The code has to be provided for each role by the deadline; the register now records, for each director and PSC, whether the statement has been supplied and the date wanted.
• Treating the PSC window and the director deadline as one. They are separate.

Where to go next

This is information, not legal advice; Vaulex is not a firm of solicitors or accountants. To see who at a company still needs a code, and by when, use the free tool at https://guides.vaulex.co.uk/am-i-affected. If GOV.UK One Login cannot be used, Vaulex Group Ltd is an ACSP (Companies House AP021384) and verifies British passport holders anywhere in the world for £149.99 per person: upload your passport and proof of address from your phone at https://my.vaulex.co.uk/verify; a reviewer checks them, Vaulex tells Companies House, and your code arrives by email from Companies House.