Companies House updates for November 2025: ID verification and statutory registers
30/09/2025
There are two practical changes coming into effect on 18 November 2025 of which a company’s directors will need to be aware. They are:
- a mandatory requirement for the directors and any person exercising significant control over the company (a PSC) to verify their identity at Companies House; and
- companies will no longer be required to maintain certain statutory registers, with the register at Companies House to become the only definitive record.
The changes have arisen from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, and form part of a wider package to prevent the use of UK businesses for criminal activities.
ID verification
Taking first the ID verification framework, it will be become mandatory for any of the following individuals to verify their identity at Companies House from 18 November 2025:
- all newly appointed directors of UK companies;
- all members of limited liability partnerships (LLPs); and
- all PSCs.
Within the 12 months from 18 November 2025, existing directors will need to verify their identity at the same time as the company’s next annual confirmation statement is filed. Every PSC will have a 14 day period during which they must submit a statement confirming they have verified their identity, along with their Companies House personal code. The dates of this 14 day period will differ for each PSC and depend on if they are already a PSC on 18 November and if they are also a director of the company.
It is worth noting that that the obligations outlined above only apply to individuals who are directors, LLP members or PSCs; equivalent ID verification obligations for corporate directors, corporate LLP members and corporate PSCs will be introduced at a later date. The ID verification is intended to be a one-off process in most cases.
Companies House will write to companies at their registered email addresses to inform them about identity verification requirements. Individual directors, LLP members and PSCs can verify their identity with Companies House free of charge through the GOV.UK One Login system, either online or via the Post Office. The alternative is to use a third party agent known as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) to complete the ID verification process on their behalf.
Once the ID verification process is complete, the individual will receive an 11 character personal code, which can be used each time verification is required. Therefore, a director of several companies will only need to verify their identity once and the same personal code can be used to confirm verification for each appointment.
If a director continues to act without verifying their identity after it becomes a legal requirement, they will be committing an offence and could be disqualified. Similarly, a PSC who fails to verify their ID after it becomes a legal requirement may be committing an offence.
Company statutory registers
Turning second to the changes regarding statutory registers, UK companies have previously had to duplicate certain corporate information; first, in certain local “statutory” registers kept at a company’s registered office (or at a Single Alternative Inspection Location (SAIL)) as well as, second, on the register at Companies House. This information included registers of a company’s directors and their residential addresses, company secretaries, PSCs and shareholders.
With effect from 18 November 2025, companies will no longer be required to maintain local registers of directors and their residential addresses, company secretaries or PSCs. Instead, the Companies House register will become the sole statutory record for these matters, noting that a director’s usual residential address may remain shielded from disclosure on the public record.
Two further points regarding private companies are worth noting. First, private companies had previously been able to keep information about directors, secretaries, and PSCs on the central register at Companies House instead of maintaining local registers. The option will be abolished and so, from 18 November 2025, the Companies House record itself is the legal register, without duplication or election. Second, the register of shareholders (also known as “the register of members”) will remain a mandatory local register, so private companies will continue to be obliged to keep it and update this register, as necessary. Private companies have been able to elect to maintain their register of shareholders centrally at Companies House but this has not been widely adopted and so private companies will need to revert to a locally held register with effect from 18 November 2025.
This article is not legal advice, which it may be sensible to obtain before you take any decisions or actions in the areas covered. Please do contact me if you would like an initial discussion of your situation.
