The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) was introduced to ensure that information in the register at Companies House (CH) is accurate and to prevent companies and others from carrying out unlawful activities. As part of this, identity verification will soon be required for more than 7 million individuals.
What is changing?
From Autumn 2025, all company directors and Persons with Significant Control (PSCs) will be required to provide Companies House with evidence of their identity. Members of LLPs will similarly be required to provide their ID.
The registration of ID is a one-off process and if an individual has multiple directorships, ID only needs to be registered once. The unique ID code is then applied to other directorships.
Failure to do so will be considered an offence, and if all directors and PSCs of a company have not provided their ID, the company will not be able to file documents at Companies House.
For existing companies who will be required to provide identity verification, there will be a transitional period of 12 months in which their confirmation statement will be due.
Who is considered a Person with Significant Control (PSC)?
Aside from holding 25% or more of the shares or voting rights or having the right to appoint or remove the majority of the Board of Directors, a PSC can also be a person who can exercise significant influence or control over a company and so could also be a director. If you are a director of a company, you may have already heard from Companies House regarding these changes.
Examples of valid ID to register
The online GOV.UK One service will require one of the following:
- UK photocard driving license
- UK passport
- Non-UK passport with a biometric chip
- UK biometric residence permit
- UK biometric residence card
- UK Frontier Worker permit
The initial provision of ID will only be necessary for the filing of Confirmation Statements and new director appointments, but there are plans to extend the requirement to all company filings such as accounts and changes to registered office. This is scheduled to take effect in Spring/Summer 2026.
