Your Confirmation Statement Now Depends on Identity Verification: Why Unverified Directors Can No Longer File (2026)

Since 18 November 2025, verifying your identity with Companies House has been a legal requirement — not a recommendation. For the millions of people who already run UK limited companies, that requirement is being phased in over a 12-month transition period that ends in mid-November 2026. For most existing directors, the moment it becomes real is when the company files its next annual confirmation statement.

Here is the part that catches non-resident owners off guard: if any director has not verified, the company cannot file its confirmation statement at all. The routine filing you have made every year without a second thought can now be blocked by a single unverified person on the board.

Here is how the rules actually work, based on Companies House guidance, so you know exactly what to do and when.

What Changed on 18 November 2025

Identity verification comes from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. From 18 November 2025 it became a legal requirement for directors and people with significant control (PSCs) to prove who they are to Companies House. The aim is to make it far harder to use UK companies for fraud.

Companies House estimates that 6 to 7 million individuals will need to verify by mid-November 2026. To manage that volume, it is phasing the requirement in over a 12-month transition period rather than switching it on for everyone at once. Your personal deadline depends on your role and when you took it up.

The Confirmation Statement Is Now the Trigger

If you are already a director of an existing company, you do not verify on a single fixed national date. Instead, you must provide your Companies House personal code when your company files its next confirmation statement. In other words, your confirmation statement date is your deadline.

This matters because every UK company must file a confirmation statement at least once a year. So every company reaches this checkpoint within the transition window. And Companies House has been explicit: your company will be unable to file its confirmation statement unless all of its directors are verified. One unverified director — a co-founder abroad, a family member on the board, a nominee — is enough to stop the whole filing.

For new directors the trigger is earlier still: from 18 November 2025 you must verify before you can incorporate a company or be appointed to an existing one.

What the Personal Code Is

When you verify successfully, Companies House issues you a unique personal code. It belongs to you, not to your company, and in most cases you only verify once. You then use that code to connect your verified identity to each role you hold — as a director, on the confirmation statement, and as a PSC through the dedicated PSC service.

Keep the code as securely as you would your HMRC Unique Taxpayer Reference. You may need to share it with an accountant or agent who files on your behalf, but with no one else.

How to Verify From Outside the UK

You do not need to be in Britain, and you do not need a UK address. There are two routes.

The first is GOV.UK One Login, which is free. It asks questions about you, then guides you to verify with an app, by answering security questions online, or via a participating Post Office. Companies House reports the identity-checking app takes only a few minutes on average.

The second is to use an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) — an accountant, solicitor or formation agent registered with Companies House and supervised by a UK anti-money-laundering body. An ACSP can verify you from any country. This is often the simplest route for non-residents whose documents or circumstances do not fit neatly into the One Login flow.

PSCs Have Their Own 14-Day Clock

If you are a person with significant control — broadly, someone who owns or controls more than 25% of the company — you have a separate obligation with its own timing. Every PSC gets a 14-day window in which to provide their personal code.

When that window opens depends on your situation. If you are also a director, it is tied to the company's confirmation statement date. If you are a PSC but not a director, it starts on the first day of your month of birth as shown on the register — so a PSC born in March has a window opening on 1 March. If you became a PSC after 18 November 2025, the 14 days run from the date you were registered.

What Happens If You Miss It

The consequences are not trivial. If you do not comply on time you may be committing an offence, and can face prosecution and a court fine or a financial penalty. Continuing to act as a director without being verified after your deadline is itself an offence — and the company and all its directors may be committing an offence too.

On top of that, until you verify you cannot be appointed as a new director, cannot register a new company, and cannot register as an authorised agent. And, as above, your existing company simply cannot file its confirmation statement — which pushes it toward being late, and eventually toward the risk of being struck off the register.

What Non-Resident Owners Should Do Now

Do not wait for your confirmation statement date to arrive. Check when your confirmation statement is due, confirm that every director and every PSC has verified and holds a personal code, and gather those codes before the filing window opens. If a co-director is hard to reach, start now — chasing an unverified board member at the last minute is exactly the scenario that causes a missed filing.

If you would rather not manage the GOV.UK One Login process yourself, an ACSP can verify you and handle the codes as part of your filing.

Have Questions About Your Own Situation?

Every company's board and ownership structure is a little different, and the date of your confirmation statement changes exactly when your deadline lands. If you would like to talk it through with the MP Partner experts team — no pressure, no hard sell, just clear answers — we are happy to help.

Book a free consultation with our experts →