Director Identity Verification
Are You Ready For Companies House Director Identity Verification?
Director Identity Verification is a new requirement about to start rolling out, where company Directors and persons of significant control will be required to verify their identity in order to file documents at Companies House.
It’s not strictly car and van hire related, but the new rules coming in affect all Limited Companies, so we want to make sure our audience is forewarned and forearmed when it comes to the new Company Director Identity Verification rules.
Who Has To Verify & Why?
the 2023 Economic Crime and Transparency Act introduced the requirement for Directors of Limited Companies, ‘Members’ of Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), Persons of Significant Control and those responsible for filing various documents at Companies House (Authorised Corporate Service Provider – ACSP), to all verify their identity.
The goal of the new rules is to combat fraud, prevent the abuse of UK corporate structures, prevent and detect economic crime and ensure the accuracy of the data held by Companies House. Individuals should only need to verify once, obtaining a unique code they can use from then on and, crucially, only have one identity on Companies House.
When Does The Company Director ID Verification Requirement Start?
Currently, Director Identity Verification is voluntary, but from November the 18th 2025, verification becomes mandatory for new companies and new appointments. After this date, Directors, Members, PSC’s or other entities filing for existing companies at Companies House will and from April, have to verify their identity as they file their various documents. New company Directors (or other office holders) will be unable to act as Directors etc until their identity has been fully verified (it will be illegal for them to do so with potential criminal penalties). Once the year long transition period has expired, this will be the case for everyone.
How Do I Provide Company Director Identity Verification?
There are multiple ways to confirm your identity to Companies house, the most common being government issued biometric identity proofs you might already have access to – a passport or driving license probably being the easiest. Biometric Frontier work permits or biometric residence permits or biometric residence cards can be used too. In some circumstances a UK bank account combined with a national insurance number can also be used.
There are four separate ways to verify your identity. Download the ‘GOV.UK One Login’ app on your suitable camera equipped smartphone. Verification can also be done online at the One Login web service. (be ready to screenshot your code when you see it). Some Post Offices will also be able to provide a verification service.
The last option is to use an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) who, as well as being able to verify your identity using the identity documents listed above, may also be able to use additional proofs depending on your circumstances.
Once verified, you’ll receive an 11 character personal code unique to you that you’ll need every time you file at Companies House – you’ll use the same code even if you file multiple documents for multiple companies.
That’s it – chances are you’ll never need to re-verify once you’ve gone through the process, just make sure you record and safely store your code!
Scammers are already on it!
A word of caution though – We’ve already seen plenty of scam emails being sent out purporting to come from Companies House, (some quite convincing), with the ever enterprising hordes of internet fraudsters looking to exploit the uncertainty surrounding this new set of legal requirements. As ever, be vigilant and always be highly suspicious of emails you weren’t expecting which try to make you do something urgently, like click a link or click a button, usually making vague threats of what’ll happen if you don’t.
More Westwood News
- Director Identity Verification
Director Identity Verification is a new requirement about to start rolling out, where company Directors and persons of significant control will be required to verify their identity in order to file documents at Companies House. - Mercedes EQE SUVThe new Mercedes EQE SUV is an exceptionally interesting large electric car, from a manufacturer increasingly finding it’s own in the electric car categories.
- Skydive In Honour Of Absent FriendsTeam Westwood Drop From The Sky To Raise Funds For Charity. Our Fearless Four raise a fortune skydiving to honour our absent colleagues.
- Porsche CayenneThe Porsche Cayenne, from its very inception, has been the benchmark for the high performance SUV class. 2025 3rd Generation Porsche Cayenne e hybrid.
- Parklands Services (NW) Ltd – New VW Crafter FleetParklands Services (NW) Ltd are yet another Wigan based success and we’re delighted to provide fleet hire to meet their exacting requirements.
- Jack Cowan Sales ExecutiveIt takes a special calibre of person to be a part of Team Westwood and for us, more often than not, our top talent isn’t discovered, it’s created.
