In November 2025, Companies House brought in some changes to how you can interact with them.
Companies don’t need to make changes immediately but will need to do so when they need to file or make changes with Companies House.
In essence, you will need to prove your identify to them in some way before you can interact with them. For most people, this can be done online, but if you are unable to do so then you may be able to complete the process at a Post Office.
We would recommend that the identify verification process is completed as soon as possible, so that the company is ready for whenever a filing or change needs to be made.
All company directors will need to verify their information before a company can file their confirmation statement. If a confirmation statement becomes very overdue, Companies House may even start the process of winding up the company, so it is important to ensure that all of this is completed in time.
It will also need to be done for any person with significant control (PSC). In practice this is usually just company directors, but there may be instances when other individuals are a PSC without being a company director.
There will also be changes to the requirements for accountants to be registered and verified in the future, although this should not be something that would affect clients.
Identify verification is a 2-step process
1. Verify your identify with Companies House.
The experiences of both Anderson Accounts and our clients so far is that this is probably best started on a computer. You will get to a point where they will then request that you download their app to your phone or tablet. If you do so, you can then pick up your application process there. If you have a passport, the easiest thing is probably to put that next to your phone and with the wonders of modern technology, your phone will read the chip and verify your identity. There are obviously other methods available such as using a Driving Licence, but the passport was a stress-free process.
The website to verify your identity is here.
2. Link the verified identity to each company role you hold.
You then need to link the verified identify using the unique personal code that Companies House will provide you with after step 1 to link to any companies for which you are either a director or PSC.
You only need to do the verification process once, but the linking will need to be done for every instance. The due date for this can be seen if you search for the company on Companies House and then select people. At the bottom it will give you a date by which the verification is due.
To link the code, you will need to sign in to Companies House Webfiling and add the personal code when the company files its next confirmation statement.
This is a new requirement, and there have been teething problems which have hopefully now been resolved.
