Companies House Changes Directors Need to Know About

As I write this in late September, fewer than 60 days remain until 18 November 2026. That's the date the 12-month transition period for Companies House identity verification ends, and it's the date after which an unverified director can no longer act, sign off filings, or expect Companies House to accept a confirmation statement on the company's behalf. Fewer than 60 days. For a task that takes most people about ten minutes.

I'll be honest: this is the one change in this whole series where I'd rather you stopped reading and did something. If you haven't verified your identity yet, that's the single most useful thing you can do this week. Then come back and read the rest.

I've spoken to plenty of directors who assumed this was a "big company problem", or that their accountant would quietly deal with it in the background. Neither is true. Verification is personal. It attaches to you, not to your company, and nobody else can do it on your behalf without you being present for the checks. This guide explains who needs to verify, by when, how it ties into your confirmation statement, and what the fees look like for 2026.

Companies House Identity Verification

Why the Rules Exist

Companies House has historically accepted whatever it was told. A name, an address, a date of birth, all filed in good faith and rarely checked. That trust was exploited: fake directors, stolen identities, and shell companies used to hide where money came from. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 changed the position, and identity verification is the most visible result. The register is meant to be reliable, and that means knowing the people on it are real.

Who Has to Verify

Every director of a UK company must verify, whether the company is a busy trading business, a dormant shell, or a special purpose vehicle that hasn't traded in years. People with significant control, known as PSCs, must verify too, and so must members of limited liability partnerships. There's no small-company exemption and no "I only own a dormant company" exemption.

You verify once. That single verification covers every role you hold, whether you're a director of one company or five.

Two Ways to Verify — GOV.UK One Login or an ACSP

There are two routes. The first is direct: you use the GOV.UK One Login service, prove who you are with a photo ID such as a biometric passport or a UK photocard driving licence, and it costs nothing. For most of the directors I work with, this takes a few minutes on a phone.

The second route is through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider, an ACSP, which is a firm registered with Companies House and supervised for anti-money-laundering purposes. An ACSP checks your documents itself and then registers your verification. This tends to suit directors with older passports or licences, overseas directors, or anyone who finds the online route difficult. A fee usually applies, often somewhere around £35 plus VAT, though it varies by provider.

One warning that matters: not every accountant is an ACSP. If you'd rather go through your adviser, ask them directly whether they are registered, rather than assuming.

Your Personal Code — Keep It Safe

Once you've verified, Companies House issues you a personal code. It's this code that gets attached to filings, and it's how the register links your verified identity to your roles. Record it immediately somewhere safe. I've had clients verify successfully, close the browser, and then discover a fortnight later that they had nowhere to find the code when their confirmation statement came round. Don't be that client.

When Do Directors Need to Verify Their Identity?

New Directors — Before You Appoint

Since 18 November 2025, a new director has to verify before being appointed. Not after. If you're bringing a co-founder, a spouse, or a senior hire onto the board, get their verification done first, otherwise the appointment can't be registered.

Existing Directors — Your Next Confirmation Statement

If you were already a director on 18 November 2025, your real deadline isn't November 2026. It's your company's next confirmation statement after that date. Companies House won't accept the confirmation statement until every director has verified and the code is included. Depending on your company's cycle, that date may already have passed, or may be a matter of weeks away.

The easiest way to find your date is to look up your company on the Companies House register and check the confirmation statement section on the overview page. Companies House also emails companies ahead of their filing, but I wouldn't rely on that email alone. Check the date yourself.

The 18 November 2026 Backstop

Think of 18 November 2026 as a backstop rather than a target. It marks the end of the transition period, and it's the point by which every existing director and PSC should have verified, regardless of when their confirmation statement falls. Companies House has said it won't prosecute individuals for being unverified during the transition period. After it ends, that grace is gone.

Directors of More Than One Company

If you sit on the board of several companies, your practical deadline is the earliest of all their confirmation statement dates. I've watched this catch out a director with three companies who focused on the one with the busiest year and forgot that a dormant company's confirmation statement was due two months sooner. One verification covers everything, so the fix is simple: verify once, early, and provide the code wherever it's needed.

A Worked Example

Let's make this concrete. Imagine a director, Sam, who runs two companies. Company A has a confirmation statement date of 31 January. Company B, a small property vehicle Sam set up years ago and rarely thinks about, has one of 30 November. Sam assumes Company A is the priority because it's the trading business.

In fact, once the transition began on 18 November 2025, the earliest date Sam needs a verified identity and a personal code is whichever confirmation statement comes up first. In this case that's Company B's, and it's easy to overlook precisely because nobody's paying attention to it. Sam verifies once, records the code, and uses it for both companies. Total time: about ten minutes. Total cost: nothing.

Now imagine Sam waits. Company B's filing window opens, the confirmation statement is rejected because the code is missing, and the company shows as overdue on the public register. A lender running a routine check on Company A's finance application sees a director linked to an overdue company. It isn't a disaster, but it's exactly the sort of avoidable friction that makes a good business look disorganised.

What Happens If You Miss It

Continuing to act as a director without verifying can be a criminal offence under the Companies Act 2006, and the company itself can also be in breach. Companies House can reject filings, block new appointments, and, where non-compliance continues, impose civil financial penalties, which professional bodies have put at up to £10,000. In serious cases, it can refer matters to the Insolvency Service. And practically, an unverified director simply can't get a confirmation statement accepted, which leaves the company open to being struck off the register.

People With Significant Control (PSCs)

Who Counts as a PSC

A PSC is generally anyone who holds more than 25% of a company's shares or voting rights, or who has the right to appoint or remove a majority of the board, or who otherwise exercises significant influence or control. For a typical owner-managed company, that means the shareholders with meaningful stakes, which is very often the directors themselves.

PSC Deadlines: Two Different Rules

This is where directors most often get confused, because PSC deadlines aren't the same as director deadlines.

If you're a PSC who's also a director of the company, you have a 14-day window that starts the day after the company's confirmation statement date. If you're a PSC who isn't a director, the timing is different: broadly, your 14-day window is tied to the first day of your birth month. New PSCs registered after 18 November 2025 generally need to verify within 14 days of being added to the register.

Because these rules interact in different ways, there is genuinely no single date that every business owner can safely put in their diary. Work out your own position for each role you hold.

Providing the Code — A Separate Step for Director-PSCs

Here's the detail that trips people up. If you're both a director and a PSC of the same company, providing your code in the confirmation statement covers your director role only. Your PSC role needs a separate submission, made through Companies House's dedicated PSC service, within your 14-day window. Doing one doesn't satisfy the other.

If you've already been given the usual two extensions and still can't verify, for example because your ID documents haven't arrived, there's a formal route to request more time, but you must ask before your current deadline expires, and you'll need supporting evidence.

Keeping Your PSC Register Accurate

This is a good moment to check your PSC register is actually correct. If a shareholder has changed, if someone's stake crossed 25%, or if an old PSC is still listed, fix it before you start verifying people. Verification only helps if the underlying register is right, and a wrong register turns a ten-minute task into a muddle of filings.

Confirmation Statement Changes

The Code Now Sits Inside the Filing

A confirmation statement used to be a short, mostly administrative filing: confirm the registered office, the directors, the shareholders, the PSCs, and pay the fee. It's still all of those things, but there's now an extra requirement. For every director, the filing needs the personal code that proves they've verified.

Why Your Statement Can Be Rejected

If a director hasn't verified, or the code is missing or entered incorrectly, Companies House won't accept the confirmation statement. A rejected filing means a missed deadline, which in turn puts the company on the register as overdue, visible to anyone who looks: lenders, suppliers, potential buyers. There's no automatic fine for a late confirmation statement, but persistent failure is an offence and can end in strike-off, and, as I explained in our guide to deadlines, Companies House now has new civil penalty powers too.

Filing Early Doesn't Move PSC Deadlines

Here's a subtle one. If your company files its confirmation statement early, your PSC verification window doesn't move. It stays anchored to the stated confirmation statement date, not the day you happened to file. It's a small point, but I've seen it produce a missed PSC deadline for a director who thought filing early had bought extra time.

A Simple Pre-Filing Checklist

Before your next confirmation statement, run through these:

• Confirm every director has verified and you hold each personal code
• Check your PSC register is accurate and up to date
• Work out each PSC's separate 14-day window, including director-PSCs
• Check your registered office, SIC codes and shareholder details are current
• File online, well before the 14-day filing deadline

Companies House Fees 2026

Confirmation Statement — £50

Companies House raised its fees from 1 February 2026, and the annual confirmation statement now costs £50 when filed online, up from £34. Paper filing costs considerably more, which is a not-so-subtle push towards filing digitally. The fee covers your whole 12-month review period, so if you update company details more than once, you don't pay again.

Incorporation — £100

Setting up a new company digitally now costs £100. If you're planning a second company, a new venture, or a property vehicle alongside your existing business, that's worth knowing, and worth remembering that a new company means new directors and PSCs, all of whom must verify before they can be registered. It also raises the associated companies point we covered in our corporation tax guide, so it's worth a quick conversation before you incorporate.

Verification Costs: Free vs ACSP

Verifying through GOV.UK One Login is free. An ACSP will normally charge, so if your ID documents are straightforward, the direct route is usually the cheaper and quicker one. If your documents are older or you're based overseas, the fee for an ACSP can be money well spent, because a failed attempt costs time you may not have if your deadline is close.

Late Filing Penalties for Accounts

Filing your annual accounts with Companies House costs nothing, but filing them late does. Penalties are automatic and start at £150, rising to £1,500 for accounts more than six months late, and they double if you're late two years running. Unlike the confirmation statement, there's no gentle grace: the ladder starts immediately, and Companies House rarely accepts "I was too busy" as a reason.

The Joint Filing Service Has Closed

One more change worth knowing about, because it affects how your accounts get filed. The joint HMRC and Companies House filing service closed on 31 March 2026. From 1 April 2026, company tax returns and annual accounts must be filed separately, with tax returns submitted through commercial software. If you or your bookkeeper used to file both together through the old route, that's no longer possible, and it's worth checking your process with us before your next year end rather than finding out at the deadline.

None of these changes is difficult on its own. The problem is that they arrive together, on different timetables, with different consequences, and most directors only discover them when a filing gets rejected. If you'd like help working out your verification deadline, checking your PSC register, or making sure your next confirmation statement goes through first time, get in touch with the team at Cannon Accountants. It's a short conversation, and it's far better to have it now than in the final week of November.

For the wider picture of how these changes fit alongside corporation tax, expenses, director's loans and everything else covered in this series, head back to our complete Limited Company Tax Guide 2026/27: Corporation Tax, Dividends & Director Tax →.

Disclaimer:

The content of this blog is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered professional tax advice. The information is correct at the time of publishing but may change following future UK budget announcements or updates to HMRC guidance. Individual circumstances vary, and tax obligations can differ based on your personal situation. We strongly recommend consulting with us or a qualified tax professional to receive advice tailored to your specific needs.