Director ID verification: everything a UK company director actually has to do

Every director of every UK company now has to prove who they are to Companies House by verifying their ID. This isn't a form, it isn't a tick box buried in the confirmation statement, and it isn't something your accountant can quietly do on your behalf: you need to verify your own ID, personally, and Companies House then emails you an 11-character personal code that's yours for life.

There are exactly two ways to do the ID verification. You can use GOV.UK One Login, which is free; or you can use an ACSP (Authorised Corporate Service Provider) such as directorverifications.com, which costs £24.99 per person (or £39.99 for our seven day per week same day service). Both the government route and the ACSP route end in the same type of 11-character personal code being emailed by Companies House, and Companies House accepts them equally - there's no better code and no worse one, and no advantage to either route except which one works best for you.

The part nobody tells you is what happens when the free route says no, as it often does. GOV.UK One Login is built around UK documents and UK addresses, so it refuses a lot of people who hold non-UK passports or live outside the UK - and if it refuses you, you don't get a second government attempt. You may find yourself locked out of GOV.UK One Login for weeks or months, and there's no second free route sitting behind it, ready and waiting. We know that at first hand: one of our own directors tried to verify his ID using the government route, it couldn't verify his ID, he rang the Companies House helpline himself - and was told the only route left to him was to verify his ID using an ACSP. That's why our simple, straightforward and easy ID verification service was established.

So, this is the whole explanation in one place - who has to verify, who doesn't, what the two routes really involve, what the 11-character personal code is for, and what happens after you've got it. Because getting the code is only half the job, and the half that catches people out is sometimes the other one.

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Who has to verify, and who doesn't

The requirement doesn't stop at the person whose job title says Director. The Companies House list of who has to verify now is wider than that, and it's worth reading properly, because a lot of people are on the list without realising:

• a director;
• the equivalent of a director - which includes members, general partners and managing officers;
• a director of an overseas company that's registered in the UK;
• a person with significant control (PSC) - somebody who owns or controls the company rather than runs it.

As such, a member of an LLP is caught in the net. A general partner is caught. Somebody who owns 30% of a company and never goes near the place is caught, because verification attaches to control, not to how involved you are in the company.

What isn't on that list matters just as much. Shareholders under 25% aren't named on it, and neither are employees, company secretaries or your accountant - being connected to a company isn't what triggers this.

And it's a one-off. You verify yourself, not each company - so one 11-character personal code covers every company you're a director or a PSC of, and you don't do it again next year. What does come round again isn't the verification; it's being asked for the personal code.

What the 11-character personal code actually is

It's the whole point of the exercise, and almost nobody is told what it's for before they've got one.

When your ID has been verified, Companies House emails you a code, eleven characters long, direct to your inbox. It isn't a password and it isn't a company number. It's your own permanent identifier at Companies House, and it stays with you for life across every company you're involved with.

You never verify twice. What you do again is hand that code over, and when you hand it over depends on what you are:

• A director provides it as part of the company's next confirmation statement. GOV.UK's words: "You will need to provide your Companies House personal code as part of your company's next confirmation statement." There's no separate director service - it goes in the confirmation statement, and the company can file that early, at any point it likes, with every director's code in it.
• A PSC who isn't a director provides their personal code through a separate Companies House service called "Provide identity verification details for a PSC", within the first 14 days of their birth month.
• Somebody who's both a director and a PSC of the same company provides the same code twice, once for each role, on two different dates, through two different systems. Most owner-managers sit here, and Companies House won't let you make both submissions at once - which is completely ridiculous, and it's why so many people are being caught out. We've explained it in full in PSC ID verification: why Companies House makes you send the same 11-character personal code twice.

One thing no ACSP does, and that includes us: we don't submit your 11-character personal code to Companies House for you. That submission requirement will always be your task, and we'll show you exactly where it goes.

The thing that's very easy to miss is that verifying your ID and submitting your code are two separate jobs. ID verification is a one-off and you can do it today - nothing makes you wait. It's the submission afterwards that has the dates on it.

The two routes, honestly compared

The government route is free, and for some people it works. But two things are worth knowing before you start it.

Firstly, it's more difficult and more time-consuming, and therefore a good deal more hassle: it means downloading an app and setting up a GOV.UK One Login before anyone at Companies House so much as looks at your documents. And secondly, there's what happens if it doesn't work - which nobody warns you about before you begin. That's why many people choose an ACSP such as directorverifications.com instead: it's quicker, it's more straightforward, and there's far less that can go wrong.

What happens if GOV.UK One Login won't verify you

Once the government's service has refused to verify you, that's the end of it. You don't get a second attempt at it, you may find yourself locked out of GOV.UK One Login for weeks or even months, and there's no other government route waiting behind it for you to attempt to verify your ID again. The Post Office route is closed to you as well once the GOV.UK One Login has refused you.

That's why many of our customers choose to use our service, and many of them hold non-UK passports or live outside the UK. It isn't that they wanted to pay - it's that the free route wouldn't accept them, so they had no option but to use an ACSP such as directorverifications.com.

If you've been rejected by GOV.UK One Login, you haven't done anything wrong and there's probably nothing wrong with your ID documents. The government's service is built around UK documents and UK addresses, and yours simply weren't what it was expecting.

How our ID verification works, step by step

1. You sign up by clicking "Get verified for £24.99" on our website and paying for our ID verification service. An email reaches your inbox automatically, usually immediately or within a minute or two.
2. You click "Start Verification" in that email, then follow the instructions to scan a government-issued ID document - a passport or a driving licence, for example - and take a scan of your face using your smartphone camera, your desktop PC camera or your laptop camera.
3. Our ID verification partner then checks the document and the face scan against it. If the automated, AI-powered ID verification check can't verify your ID, one of our team reviews your documents by hand instead, at no extra cost.
4. Next, we upload the completed and certified ID verification details to the Companies House ACSP portal.
5. Then, Companies House emails you your own 11-character personal code, direct to your inbox.

You'll notice what isn't in that list: no app to install on your phone, no GOV.UK One Login, no UK address needed, nothing for you to post. It's really much easier and simpler to use an ACSP such as directorverifications.com to take the hassle out of verifying your ID.

What it costs

The standard service is £24.99 per person and takes 24-48 hours on weekdays. Fast Track is £39.99 per person and is same day, seven days a week, as long as your payment and your ID document both reach us before 5pm.

It's priced per person whose ID we verify, not per company. What's more, the price you see is the price you pay. And if our automated, AI-powered check cannot verify your ID, a member of our team reviews your documents by hand. That's included in the price - we'll never charge you twice.

Companies House doesn't set ACSP prices - every authorised agent sets its own, and they vary far more than you'd expect. When we checked the published prices in September 2026 they ran from about £25 to £150 and upwards per person - and plenty of agents publish no price at all until you ask. The part worth knowing is that several charge a good deal more if your passport isn't British: we found £74.99 advertised for a non-UK passport by a firm charging £24.99 for a British one. We charge £24.99 whoever you are and wherever in the world you live, and £39.99 if you want it the same day. There's more in our guide to how much an ACSP costs.

Get verified for £24.99 · Get Fast Track, same day, for £39.99

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to verify my ID if my company is dormant?

Yes. The requirement attaches to being a director, not to whether the company trades. A dormant company still files a confirmation statement, and that filing still needs every director's 11-character personal code.

Can my accountant verify my ID for me?

Only if your accountant is a registered ACSP - and even then, you still have to do the identity check yourself. What an ACSP does is run the check and tell Companies House it's been done. Nobody can be verified on your behalf.

I'm a director of five companies. Do I verify five times?

No - you only need to verify your ID once. You verify your ID, not the companies you're involved with, and the same 11-character personal code covers all your companies. Each company will need your personal code for its own confirmation statement, though.

Do I need to verify again next year?

No. ID verification is a one-off and the code lasts for life. What repeats is being asked for the code when a filing falls due.

I live abroad and my passport isn't British. Can you verify me?

Yes. Many of our customers hold non-UK passports and a good many live outside the UK. What's more, you don't need a UK address to use our service.

How long does it take?

Our standard service takes 24-48 hours on weekdays. Fast Track is same day, seven days a week, as long as your payment and your ID document both reach us before 5pm.