Companies House Identification Requirements 2025

If you act as a Company Director or Trustee of an incorporated charity, you may have received an email from Companies House in relation to new rules which are being introduced later this year around the identification of directors and shareholders of companies. Up until now, Companies House has very much been a registry which accepts any filing submitted with very little power to question it. This has led to the records at Companies House often containing misleading or incorrect information, some of which can be very misleading. In order to combat this, from the autumn of 2025 anyone who is to be appointed as a director or who becomes a shareholder of significance in a company, will have to be formally identified by Companies House in order for that appointment to be made.

Developments around this new requirement are in their final stages and there will be a period of voluntary registration between April and the autumn whereby existing directors and shareholders can go through the process of identifying themselves with Companies House. As we understand it, this will be a once only requirement after which each individual will receive a unique code which identifies them with Companies House. This code will be used for any future appointments with Companies House so that they are aware of the individual involved.

From the autumn onwards there will be a 12 month period during which time all existing directors and shareholders of companies will be required to go through the process of identifying themselves. This will be done either using Companies House online system involving submitting identification data electronically through a Gov.uk One account.  Alternatively, Companies House have created a way in which professional firms can register as Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSP) who will be able to verify the identification on behalf of Companies House.

At this stage it is very early days, and we will be receiving more information in due course which we will pass on to you once we know more. We would recommend, in the meantime, looking out for any emails from Companies House, but be careful to ensure that these are genuine. This kind of new requirement is likely to be picked up by scammers who will no doubt send out thousands of emails inviting you to submit your identification documents and pay a fee for them to verify your identity. Such scams will be very dangerous as they are likely to ask for copy of your passport or driving license, thus passing on to them very sensitive personal details which could allow them to hijack your identity. There will of course be some legitimate companies who will offer this service in due course.  If you receive any emails such as this, please forward them on to us so we can review them and pass them on to Action Fraud.

If you have any queries let me know but for the time being we advise that you hold fire until the new processes have been established and further information is available.