Companies House ID verification: what charitable-company trustees must do

Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, Companies House is introducing mandatory identity verification for company directors and people with significant control. This matters to charities set up as charitable companies (usually a company limited by guarantee), because their trustees are also registered as company directors.

The key dates

• 8 April 2025 — identity verification opened on a voluntary basis.
• 18 November 2025 — verification became mandatory for anyone newly appointed as a director, and for new people with significant control (PSCs).
• 18 November 2025 to 18 November 2026 — a 12-month transition period for existing directors. Each existing director must verify by the time their company files its next confirmation statement in that window, and the company cannot file the statement until every director has. Your deadline is set by your filing date, not by the end of the transition, so a company whose confirmation date fell in the spring needed its directors verified then.

A PSC who is not also a director generally has to verify within the first 14 days of their birth month — though many charitable companies have no PSC at all, since members do not usually control the charity in the technical sense. It is worth checking your own PSC register.

How a trustee verifies

Verification is done once per person and then reused across every directorship you hold. There are two routes:

• GOV.UK One Login — verify your identity yourself online (free), and Companies House issues you a personal code to use on future filings.
• An authorised agent (an Authorised Corporate Service Provider, such as many accountants and formation agents) can verify you instead.

Why it matters — and what to do

Once verification is required for you, it becomes an offence to act as a director without having verified, and unverified status can hold up your filings. None of this is difficult, but it is easy to overlook on a volunteer board.

• Ask every trustee who is a director to verify now via GOV.UK One Login — it takes minutes and clears the deadline early.
• Find your confirmation statement date so you know each director's backstop deadline.
• Keep each person's personal code safe for future appointments and filings.
• Check your PSC register to see whether anyone must verify as a PSC as well.

Official guidance: Companies House — verifying your identity.

This guide is general information for trustees and committee members, not legal, accounting or security advice, and every charity is different. The rules described here are changing during 2025–2027 and some detail may still shift, so always confirm the current position with the relevant regulator or a suitably qualified adviser before acting. Last reviewed September 2026.