If you are a company director in Northern Ireland, you now have to verify your identity with Companies House. It became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025, and the 12-month transition period for existing directors and people with significant control (PSCs) ends in mid-November 2026. If your company’s confirmation statement is due this autumn, you are among the last group to be brought in, and you should act now.

This guide sets out who has to verify, your exact deadline, the steps for each of the two routes, and what happens if you miss it.

Why this is happening

Companies House used to take company information largely on trust. Anyone could be registered as a director under almost any name, with no check that the person was real. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act changed that. Every director and every PSC now has to prove they are who they say they are, and identity verification is how Companies House checks it.

Who has to verify

  • Company directors. Anyone appointed as a director of a UK limited company, including here in NI.
  • People with significant control (PSCs). The individuals who ultimately own or control the company, usually anyone holding more than 25% of the shares or voting rights.

If you are both a director and a PSC, which is normal for an owner-managed NI company, you verify once and get one personal code. You then give that code twice: once as a director and once as a PSC (more on this below).

When is your deadline?

Who When you must verify and give your personal code
New directors (from 18 November 2025) Before the company is incorporated or you are appointed
Existing directors When your company files its next confirmation statement after 18 November 2025
Existing PSCs who are also directors Within 14 days starting the day after the company’s confirmation statement date
Existing PSCs who are not directors Within the first 14 days of your birth month
New PSCs (added after 18 November 2025) When you are added to the register, or within 14 days

Here is how that works in practice:

  • 18 November 2025. Identity verification became compulsory, and the 12-month transition period started.
  • Your next confirmation statement. Every company files a confirmation statement at least once a year, so each existing company’s directors fall due at some point during the transition. Companies House will not accept your confirmation statement until all directors have verified.
  • Mid-November 2026. The transition period ends. By then every existing director and PSC should have verified and given their code.

A worked example from Companies House: if your confirmation statement date is 31 March 2026 and you are a director and PSC, your PSC window runs from 1 April to 14 April 2026.

The practical point for this autumn: if your company’s confirmation statement date falls in October or November 2026, look it up on the Companies House register now. You have a 14-day window after that date to file, and you cannot file until every director is verified. Our key tax dates for NI businesses guide is a useful place to keep your other deadlines in view too.

What happens if you miss it

Companies House guidance says that if you do not comply with the identity verification requirements on time, you may be committing an offence. You may face prosecution and a fine through the courts, or a financial penalty. Acting as a director without being verified is an offence.

There is a knock-on effect for the company too. Your confirmation statement will be rejected until every director is verified, and failing to file a confirmation statement can lead to a fine of up to £5,000 and the company being struck off. For PSCs, Companies House has said it may also display a note against your name on the public register in future.

How to verify your identity as a director

There are two routes. Both end with the same result: a Companies House personal code.

Route 1: verify yourself through GOV.UK One Login (free)

  1. Go to the GOV.UK “Verify your identity for Companies House” page and sign in to, or create, a GOV.UK One Login account. You need an email address that has not already been used to verify someone else’s identity, as each email can only be used once.
  2. Answer the questions. GOV.UK One Login asks a few simple questions to work out the best way for you to verify.
  3. Verify by one of three methods:
    • the GOV.UK ID Check app, scanning your photo ID and your face
    • online, using your bank or building society details, National Insurance number and security questions
    • in person at a Post Office, after entering your photo ID details online
  4. Get your personal code. Once you are verified, you can see your code in your Companies House account under “Manage account”. If you verified after 8 July 2026, it is also emailed to you.
  5. Give your code to your company. Your code is used on the next confirmation statement. If you are a PSC as well, you also provide it through the “Provide identity verification details for a PSC” service within your 14-day window.

Documents accepted through GOV.UK One Login include a biometric passport from any country, a UK photo driving licence (full or provisional), and a UK biometric residence permit, biometric residence card or Frontier Worker permit. If you do not have photo ID, the bank details route may work for you.

Route 2: have an ACSP verify you

An Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) is a firm registered with Companies House and supervised for anti-money-laundering purposes to check identities to the Companies House standard. Accountants and solicitors can register as ACSPs. Arro Group is a registered ACSP.

The steps with us are simple:

  1. Get in touch and tell us who needs verified: a single director, the whole board, or the people behind a new company.
  2. Come to our Belfast office with a valid passport, or a UK or Irish driving licence. Those are the only documents we accept, so check yours is in date. Where we already know you personally, we can arrange a secure video call instead.
  3. We check your ID and tell Companies House that you are verified, as your ACSP. You do not need a GOV.UK One Login account.
  4. You receive your personal code by email from Companies House. It is 11 characters long. If you complete your part straight away, it is all done the same day.
  5. We use it on your filings if we look after your confirmation statement, or you pass it to whoever files for your company.

Most of the directors who come to us choose this route because they would rather have it done once, properly, by a professional, and want certainty it has been recorded correctly.

Your personal code: what it is and where you use it

The Companies House personal code is the closest thing to a “director identification number”. It is an 11-character code that belongs to you as a person, not to your company. You use it:

  • on your company’s confirmation statement, for each director
  • as a PSC, in your 14-day window
  • when you are appointed as a director of a new or existing company
  • for each company you are involved with, if you hold several roles

Treat it like your UTR from HMRC. You can share it with people you trust to file for you, such as your accountant, but keep it secure. If you think it has been compromised, Companies House can change it.

What to do now

  1. Check who in your company needs verified. Every director and every PSC.
  2. Look up your confirmation statement date. If it falls this October or November, deal with verification this month.
  3. Choose your route. GOV.UK One Login, or an appointment with us as your ACSP.
  4. Collect everyone’s personal codes before the confirmation statement is filed.

How Arro Group can help

We verify directors and PSCs as a registered Authorised Corporate Service Provider, whether or not you are an existing client. Our director ID verification service is a standalone appointment at our Belfast office. If you are forming a new company, verification of the directors and shareholders is built into our company formation and secretarial service, and we can file your confirmation statement too.

If you are not sure where you stand, tell us your company name and we will tell you who needs verified and by when. Contact us or call 028 9508 4138.