Overview of Identity Verification Regime 
An identity verification regime is one of the key changes being introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Up until the introduction of this Act, it will have been possible to register an appointment at Companies House without the knowledge or consent of the person being registered. Companies House had no powers to confirm consent and was legally obliged to register the appointment. Once recognised as a fraudulent appointment, it proved time consuming and costly to remove such appointments.
It is hoped that ID verification will make it much harder to register fictitious directors or beneficial owners, stopping most fraudulent appointments from reaching Companies House. It is also hoped that the ID verification regime will provide greater assurance to third parties searching the register that the information on the register is genuine.
ID verification will ensure that there is always a natural person associated with an incorporation or a filing – making individuals easier to trace.
All entities registered at Companies House will have to have at least one fully verified natural person directly associated with them on the public register.
There will be various routes to undertake the ID verification process.
Companies are well advised to start planning for these changes which are in force during 2025 and 2026 and make sure that they have all necessary information and systems in place to comply with the new regime.
Since 8th April 2025 Companies House has allowed individuals to voluntarily verify their identity. From 18th November 2025, ID verification will be a compulsory part of incorporation and new appointments for new directors and PSCs. At the same time, the 12-month transition period for existing directors and PSCs to verify their identity will begin - identity verification will largely be tied to the date of a company's annual confirmation statement filing, although for PSCs this is nuanced by whether an existing PSC is also a director of the company. By Spring 2026, it is expected that Companies House should be able to make identity verification compulsory for anyone filing a document with them and require third party agents filing on behalf of companies to be registered as an ACSP. Note that to date, no timetable has been issued to introduce mandatory identity verification for corporate directors or legal officers of relevant legal entities.
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