GOV.UK One Login did not work from abroad – what a UK director does next

If GOV.UK One Login would not verify you from abroad, the next step is to verify through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). One Login's app route needs a passport with a chip, a phone with NFC and a face match that passes. Its fall-back routes – security questions drawn from a UK credit file, or an in-person check at a Post Office – need a UK footprint. There is no manual route at Companies House and nobody there can override the check. An ACSP is an agent registered with Companies House and supervised for anti-money laundering. It checks your passport and proof of address to the Companies House standard and tells Companies House, and Companies House emails you your personal code. Through Vaulex this takes three working days from when everything is in, or 24 hours on working days on the fast-track, and costs £149.99 per person.

What One Login needs

GOV.UK One Login is the free route. The guidance is at gov.uk/guidance/verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house. It has one main route and two fall-backs.

The app route reads the chip in a biometric passport – a UK passport or one from many other countries – using an NFC-capable phone, and then takes a face match. If all three parts work, you are verified and your personal code follows.

If the app route cannot be completed, One Login offers two other free routes. One asks security questions drawn from your UK credit file. The other is an in-person check at a Post Office. Both need a UK footprint: a UK address history for the questions, and a visit to a UK counter for the Post Office check.

Why it stops for people abroad

One Login cannot always be used from abroad. It is not that the service turns away people outside the UK. It is that the pieces it relies on are more often missing. The usual reasons are:

• An older passport without a chip. The app route needs the chip. Without it there is nothing to read.
• A phone without NFC. The chip is read by NFC. A phone that cannot do that cannot complete the route.
• A face match that fails. The comparison is automated. If it does not pass, the route stops.
• A name that has changed. If the name on your passport is not the name the check expects, the route can stop.
• No UK address history. The fall-backs lean on a UK credit file or a UK Post Office. Someone who has lived in the UAE, Spain or Australia for years no longer has the first and cannot reach the second.

Vaulex Group's analysis of the Companies House PSC snapshot of 17 October 2026 found 10,925 PSC positions held by British nationals living abroad still outstanding, 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) and Australia (518). Those are the people this guide is for.

What you cannot do

There is no manual override. Companies House does not verify people by phone, by paper or by looking at a scan you send in. No member of staff can mark you as verified because One Login did not work. The two routes are One Login and an ACSP, and that is the whole list.

Nobody can verify in your place. It is the person who is verified, not the company, so a co-director, an accountant or a family member in the UK cannot do it for you.

The deadline does not move because One Login stopped. For a director it is the company's confirmation statement date, and the statement cannot be filed until every director has verified. A PSC who cannot meet their birth-month window can request an extension through the PSC verification service, but only while the window is open.

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

The ACSP route, step by step

1. Choose an ACSP and check it. An ACSP is registered with Companies House and supervised for anti-money laundering by HMRC or a professional body. Anyone can look one up on the Companies House public register of ACSPs. Vaulex Group Ltd is AP021384 on that register, is supervised by HMRC as a Trust or Company Service Provider (XLML00000218127) and is registered with the ICO (ZC087196).
2. Upload your documents from your phone. At my.vaulex.co.uk/verify you upload your British passport and a proof of address. It is a web page, not an app to install.
3. A reviewer checks them. A person reviews what you have sent, with an identity check run through nCino's identity verification tool, to the Companies House standard. If something is missing or unclear, you are asked for it.
4. The ACSP tells Companies House. Once the check is complete, Vaulex confirms to Companies House that you have been verified, and keeps the record for seven years as every ACSP must.
5. Companies House emails you your personal code. It is 11 characters, it belongs to you, and it covers every company you are involved with.
6. You provide the code for each role. For a directorship that happens with the confirmation statement. For a PSC role it is done through the "Provide identity verification details for a person with significant control" service on GOV.UK.

What to have ready

• Your passport. Vaulex verifies British passport holders, anywhere in the world. If you hold a different passport, choose another ACSP from the register.
• A proof of address. Dated within the last three months, in your name, at the address you live at – not a UK address you left years ago.
• Your phone. The upload is done from it. Good light and a steady hand save a second attempt.
• An email address you read. Your personal code comes by email from Companies House, not from the ACSP.

Timings

The standard service is three working days from when everything is in. "Everything is in" means a passport and a proof of address that meet the requirements. If the proof of address is out of date or in someone else's name, the clock has not started. The fast-track is 24 hours on working days.

After the code arrives there is one more step: providing it for each role. If the confirmation statement is due, that is the filing to do next.

Cost

GOV.UK One Login is free. Identity verification through Vaulex is £149.99 per person, with the 24-hour fast-track available on working days. Separately, Companies House charges £34 to file a confirmation statement online.

Start when you are ready

If One Login has stopped and your deadline is close, the quickest thing is to upload your passport and proof of address now at my.vaulex.co.uk/verify. The review starts when everything is in, and your code comes from Companies House by email.