No more Corporate Catfish: Companies House’s new ID rules
Ever come across the term "catfished" or been a victim of "catfishing"? Companies House certainly has, and it's putting a stop to it! Thanks to the new identity verification reforms under the Economic Crime & Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA), Companies House is catching the corporate imposters and making sure it knows exactly who it's dealing with.
The aim of ECCTA is to provide greater transparency over corporate entities and to better tackle economic crime. To achieve this, identity verification is being introduced, impacting directors, persons with significant control (PSCs) and eventually anyone making filings with Companies House, impacting what has been historically simple day-to-day corporate compliance.
From autumn 2025, it will be compulsory for individuals who are directors or PSCs of a company to have their identity verified. The exact date for the introduction of these provisions has not yet been announced. However, once they go live, it will be compulsory for new directors and PSCs to verify their identity upon appointment and for existing directors and PSCs to verify their identity as part of the company’s first annual confirmation statement filing from the autumn date. Once an individual has verified their identity, Companies House will issue them a unique identifier number.
Ahead of the provisions becoming mandatory, Companies House is giving individuals the opportunity to voluntarily verify their identity from 8 April 2025. If impacted individuals choose to get their identity verified at the earliest opportunity, then it would mean the confirmation statement process later in the year would be business as usual (as all relevant identities would already be verified).
Companies House estimates that there are more than 7 million existing directors and PSCs that will be impacted by the new requirements. Given this volume, we recommend that companies and individuals take the opportunity to go through the voluntary process, and have all directors and PSCs complete the identity verification procedure as soon as possible from 8 April 2025. This will allow individuals to work through the process without the added pressures and deadlines of the company having to file a confirmation statement. This also means in the event there are any unexpected issues, they can all be dealt with in good time.
The process of having an individual’s identity verified can be handled directly with Companies House or via an authorised corporate service provider who has registered at Companies House. Details of the process and identity documents required to verify are available from Companies House.
Companies House is taking a phased approach to the new rules imposed by ECCTA. It’s expected that from spring 2026, anyone filing a document will either need to be identity verified or, in the case of professional advisors filing on behalf of companies, to be registered as an ACSP.
We appreciate that many companies and directors are looking to plan ahead as far as possible, and we are happy to assist with this. For more information about the issues in this article, please contact our Corporate team.
