Identity verification for PSCs: the birth-month rule, the 14 days, and the letter from Companies House

Every individual person with significant control (PSC) of a UK company must verify their identity with Companies House and then provide their personal code through the 'Provide identity verification details for a PSC' service within a 14-day window. For an existing PSC who is not a director, the window is the first 14 days of their birth month, once, during the transition year from 18 November 2025 to 18 November 2026. For a PSC who is also a director of the same company, it is the 14 days starting the day after the confirmation statement date. For a new PSC, it is 14 days from being added to the register. Companies House writes to each PSC with the dates. Missing the window may be an offence, and a 14-day extension can only be requested before the deadline passes.

Who counts as a PSC

A PSC is an individual who holds more than 25% of a company's shares or voting rights, has the right to appoint or remove a majority of the board, or otherwise has the right to exercise, or actually exercises, significant influence or control over the company. The company records its PSCs in its own register and reports them to Companies House, so the public register at https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/ shows who is recorded as a PSC of each company.

The rule applies to individual PSCs; Companies House has said verification for officers of corporate PSCs will come later.

The three timings

1. An existing PSC who is not a director: the first 14 days of your birth month. Companies House's example: if your date of birth is 22 January, your period begins on 1 January. The day you were born makes no difference; the window always runs 1st to 14th. It falls once, in the transition year that ends on 18 November 2026.
2. An existing PSC who is also a director of the same company: a 14-day period starting the day after the company's confirmation statement date. If the company files early, the dates do not change. You provide your code twice: in the confirmation statement as a director, and through the PSC service as a PSC.
3. A new PSC, added on or after 18 November 2025: you can provide your code when you are first added to the register, or within 14 days of being added.

Check your dates on the register, or by starting the PSC service and signing in.

The letter from Companies House

Companies House writes to PSCs ahead of their window, in a letter headed 'Verify your identity – person with significant control'. It gives the window, for example 1 to 14 October 2026, and the deadline: 'You must comply with identity verification requirements by 14 October 2026.'

It lists the two things to do: 1. Verify your identity. 2. Provide your personal code to Companies House. And the consequences: '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.'

No letter yet does not mean you are not affected: it goes to the addresses on the register, often an accountant's office, a former home or a relative's house.

Step one: verify your identity, once

Verification happens once per person, whatever roles you hold at however many companies. If you already have a personal code, because you verified as a director for example, you do not verify again; Companies House says you must not unless it tells you to.

The free route is GOV.UK One Login: the app reads the chip in a biometric passport with an NFC-capable phone and takes a face match, with security questions drawn from a UK credit file or an in-person check at a Post Office as fall-backs. It cannot always be used from abroad, because those fall-backs need a UK footprint. The other is an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP): an agent registered with Companies House and supervised for anti-money laundering, which checks your documents to the Companies House standard and tells Companies House. Either way the result is an 11-character personal code.

Step two: provide the code through the PSC service

The code alone does nothing. Within the window, you or someone acting for you goes to the PSC service on GOV.UK, signs in, enters the company number and your personal code, and ticks the statement confirming your identity is verified. Companies House says it takes up to 10 minutes, and may ask for your date of birth to check the details match.

A PSC of more than one company provides the code for each. The service cannot be used if the PSC's personal information is protected at Companies House, or an application to protect it is pending.

Extensions

If you cannot provide your details in time, the same service lets you request a 14-day extension. You must ask before your deadline has passed. It buys time to provide the code, not a reason to delay verifying.

If you miss the window

Companies House's guidance is direct: if you continue to be a PSC after the deadline without complying, you may be committing an offence, with prosecution and a fine through the courts or a financial penalty, and a note against your name on the public register. You will also be unable to be appointed as a director, register a new company, or register as an ACSP.

The register records, for each PSC, whether the statement has been supplied and the date wanted. Vaulex Group's analysis of the 17 October 2026 snapshot found 807,759 PSC positions at active companies already past their date, 240,759 more due in October 2026 and 451,794 in November.

If you are no longer a PSC

The requirement follows the register. If you have sold your shares or given up control but the register still lists you as a current PSC, Companies House still expects your code by its date. The fix sits with the company: it must update its own PSC register within 14 days of the change and notify Companies House within a further 14 days, using the notice that a person has ceased to be a PSC (form PSC07). Then check the public register shows it.

One exception is written into the guidance: a PSC who has died does not need to be verified, and stays on the register until a grant of probate or letters of administration have been received.

Find your date before the letter finds you

This is information, not legal advice; Vaulex is not a firm of solicitors or accountants. To find out where you stand, type the company name into https://guides.vaulex.co.uk/am-i-affected: it reads the register live and shows every director and PSC, whether each has supplied their verification statement, and the date Companies House wants it by. Accountants can run a whole client book through https://guides.vaulex.co.uk/am-i-affected/accountants. If One Login cannot be used, Vaulex Group is an ACSP and verifies British passport holders anywhere in the world for £149.99 per person: https://vaulex.co.uk/identity-verification/.