Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) — sometimes called the “Companies House Act 2023” — UK directors, PSCs, and anyone filing on a company’s behalf must verify their identity at Companies House. Here’s what that means, who it applies to, and how to check the status of any UK company.
Last reviewed: 13 May 2026
Identity verification (often shortened to IDV) is a new requirement introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. It is the largest change to the Companies House regime in over a century. The Act gives Companies House the power, for the first time, to confirm that the named individuals behind UK companies are real, identifiable people — not aliases, fronts, or fabricated identities.
The reform sits alongside a broader package: stronger registrar powers to query and reject suspicious filings, suppression of historic personal information on the register, new offences for false statements, and a framework for Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSPs) who can verify identities on behalf of clients.
Every director of a UK company — existing and newly appointed — must verify their identity. New directors must verify before appointment; existing directors verify within a transition window tied to the company’s next confirmation statement.
Every registrable PSC of a UK company must verify their identity, whether they are individuals or relevant legal entities (RLEs). The duty applies to existing PSCs as well as new ones.
Any person delivering documents to Companies House on behalf of a company — including company secretaries, accountants, and agents — must be verified, or file via an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP).
Members of Limited Liability Partnerships are subject to the same identity verification duty as company directors.
There are two routes to verify your identity with Companies House:
Once verified, you do not need to re-verify each time you take a new appointment. Your personal code is reusable. Companies House will publish, on the public register, the fact that you are verified and the date your verification began.
Companies House publishes each person’s verification status on the public register, but it can be hard to spot among the rest of a company’s record. ltds.uk surfaces verification status directly on every officer and PSC row of a company page. You see a green badge for verified individuals, an amber badge when a statement is due, and no badge when a person is not yet within the verification regime.
Search any UK company on ltds.uk and open its Officers or PSCs tab to see verification status at a glance.
Identity verification (IDV) is a check, introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, that confirms a person's identity using government-recognised documents such as a passport or driving licence. Once verified, the person is issued a Companies House personal code linked to their verified identity, and their verified status is shown on the public register.
All UK company directors, all registrable persons with significant control (PSCs), all LLP members, and anyone who files documents at Companies House on behalf of a company. New directors must verify before they are appointed. Existing directors verify within a transition window aligned to their company's confirmation statement cycle.
Yes. Registrable PSCs must verify their identity in the same way as directors. The duty applies to existing PSCs as well as newly notified ones, and the verification status appears on the public register against each PSC entry.
Companies House is rolling identity verification out in phases. New directors must verify before appointment; existing directors verify in the run-up to their company's next confirmation statement after IDV becomes mandatory for that company. Because the timetable is being implemented in stages, always check the current commencement position on gov.uk before relying on a specific date.
An ACSP is a firm — typically an accountant, lawyer, or company formation agent — that is registered with Companies House to verify clients' identities using its existing anti-money-laundering (AML) processes. Filings made through an ACSP carry a record of which ACSP performed the verification, and the ACSP must keep records of the checks it has run.
Failure to verify is a criminal offence under the Act, and the unverified person may not act in their role. The company itself, and other officers, can also be liable. In practice, missed verification will block confirmation statements and other filings, so non-compliance quickly becomes visible at Companies House.
You can check on the Companies House register, but the verification status is buried among other information. ltds.uk shows a green "Verified" badge next to each officer and PSC name on the company page when their identity is verified, and an amber "Verification due" badge when a statement is outstanding. You can also add the company to your watchlist and receive an email when status changes.
Yes, those are two names for the same statute. The formal name is the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (often abbreviated ECCTA). It is widely — if informally — called the “Companies House Act 2023” because the Companies House reforms are by far its most visible part. The Act also covers cryptoassets, strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPPs), and other matters.
Companies House is the source of truth, but its website is built for one-off lookups. ltds.uk lets you watch many companies at once, see historical change, get email alerts the moment a director or PSC verification status changes, and surfaces verification badges, ceased PSCs, and other change signals directly on the company record. It is free to sign up.
Free to sign up. Build a watchlist in seconds and get email alerts the moment a director or PSC’s verification status changes.