I verified but my Companies House personal code has not arrived

If you have verified your identity but no Companies House personal code has arrived, the first place to look is not your inbox but your Companies House account. For GOV.UK One Login verifications before 8 July 2026, Companies House never emailed the code at all; it is shown under "Manage account" once you sign in with the email you used for One Login. For verifications after that date it is emailed too. If an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) verified you, the code is emailed to the address the ACSP gave Companies House, so a single typo means no email. Work through the steps below in order. If the verification never completed, which is the most common reason for silence, the ACSP route gets you a code from a passport and a proof of address. Vaulex Group does this for £149.99 per person, three working days from when everything is in.

What the code is and why it matters

The personal code is 11 characters, issued once to you, not to any company. One code covers every director and PSC role you hold, and you provide it for each role on each company. For a director that happens in the company's confirmation statement. For a PSC it is through the separate "Provide identity verification details for a person with significant control" service. Companies House will not accept a confirmation statement until every director has provided a code, so a missing code is a filing problem.

Where the code is sent

Companies House sets out three delivery points, and the route you used decides which one applies.

• GOV.UK One Login, online or in the app. The code is in your Companies House account under "Manage account". Sign in with the same email address you used to verify. For verifications completed after 8 July 2026, Companies House also emails the code to that address.
• GOV.UK One Login at a Post Office. You receive an email from GOV.UK with the result, usually within a day. If it was successful, the code is then in your Companies House account as above.
• An ACSP. The code is emailed to the address the ACSP gave for you. If you later save it to your Companies House account, you can see it there too.

The One Login account page (home.account.gov.uk) is not where the code lives. People sign in there, see nothing, and assume it was never issued. The code is on the Companies House side.

How long it takes

GOV.UK publishes one timing: the Post Office result email usually arrives within a day. It does not publish a time for the online One Login route or for ACSP verifications. We would expect the ACSP code email within hours of the ACSP confirming the verification to Companies House, not days. If more than a working day has passed with nothing, something has gone wrong with the address or the verification itself, and waiting longer will not fix it.

Check in this order

1. Spam and junk. Search every folder for "Companies House" and "personal code", including any promotions tab.
2. The right mailbox. If you have more than one email address, the code went to the one used for One Login, or the one the ACSP typed.
3. Your Companies House account. Go to the Companies House sign-in, use the One Login email, and open "Manage account". If you verified with One Login, the code is there whether or not an email was sent.
4. The Post Office resume link. If you went to a Post Office and no result email arrived within 24 hours, GOV.UK gives return.account.gov.uk/resume to check the outcome.
5. The address the ACSP used. If an agent verified you, ask them to read back the exact address they submitted. If it is wrong, the ACSP corrects it with Companies House and the code is resent. If it is right and nothing arrived, the ACSP asks Companies House to resend. Companies House deals with the ACSP on this, not with you.

If the code was never issued

If every step above comes up empty, the likeliest explanation is that the verification did not complete. This is more common than people expect. One Login can stop at the chip read, the face match, the security questions or the Post Office scan, and the "we could not verify your identity" screen is easy to lose when the browser tab closes. A failed attempt is not recorded at Companies House, so there is no code to send.

Sign in to the Companies House service and look for a verified status against your account. If there is none, you have not verified, whatever the app said. Do not start One Login again unless you know why it stopped; the same stage will stop you again, and the security questions cannot be retried once you have answered one wrongly. There is no manual route at Companies House and nobody there can override the check.

Details that do not match

A code can also be issued and then refused at the point of use. Companies House says that if your details do not match its records when you provide the code, the causes are an incorrectly entered code, a wrong date of birth on the register, or incorrect details supplied by an ACSP. A transposed pair of characters is enough to reject it. If the date of birth on the register is wrong, it has to be corrected first, and Companies House says corrections can take up to 20 working days. If an ACSP entered wrong details, it has a form to correct them.

When the ACSP route is the answer

If the verification never completed, or One Login cannot be used for you (no chip passport, no NFC phone, no UK credit file, or you are abroad and cannot get to a Post Office), an ACSP is the other legal route. One Login cannot always be used from abroad. An ACSP is an agent registered with Companies House and supervised for anti-money laundering. It checks your passport and proof of address, confirms the verification to Companies House, and Companies House emails you the code.

At Vaulex Group an AML-qualified person reviews every case, and the email address you give when you order is the one we pass to Companies House, so check it carefully, because the address is where most missing codes go wrong. You need a current passport and a proof of address dated within the last three months, in your name, at the address where you live. Standard service is £149.99 per person, three working days from when everything is in. The fast track is £349 per person, 24 hours counted on working days once you have completed the biometric checks and we have everything we need. This guide is information, not legal advice.

Keep the code safe once it comes

Companies House compares the code to an HMRC Unique Taxpayer Reference: share it only with someone who files for you, such as your accountant. If you think it has been shared more widely, contact Companies House; it will email a new code and cancel the old one. If you verified through an ACSP, save the code to your Companies House account so you are not dependent on the email. And do not verify twice. A second verification creates a second record and a second code, and that is where the next mismatch comes from.

Start when you are ready

If the code is missing because the verification never completed, upload your passport and proof of address at https://my.vaulex.co.uk/verify, or choose the fast track at https://my.vaulex.co.uk/verify?plan=idv_24h. To check who in your company has verified, with the date for each person, use the free checker at https://guides.vaulex.co.uk/am-i-affected.