What is an ACSP? The plain answer, and why you’ve been advised to use an ACSP

ACSP stands for Authorised Corporate Service Provider. It’s a business that Companies House has authorised to check who you are and verify your ID on your behalf, and since 18 November 2025 it’s one of only two ways a UK company director or PSC can get their ID verified.

The other way is the government’s own service, GOV.UK One Login. It’s free, and for some people it works. For a lot of people - particularly anyone holding a non-UK passport, or living outside the UK - it doesn’t, and when it refuses you there’s no second government route to try.

That’s usually why somebody ends up reading a page like this. You’ve seen "ACSP" on a Companies House letter or a GOV.UK page, or you’ve been rejected when trying the free government route and told to find and use an ACSP, and nobody has explained in plain words what an ACSP actually is.

So that’s what this page does: what the letters stand for, what an ACSP is allowed to do and what it isn’t, how to check a firm really is an ACSP, and what it should cost you. directorverifications.com is an ACSP, so we’ll be straight about what we charge to verify your ID on your behalf - £24.99 per person, whoever you are and wherever in the world you live, whichever country issued your passport, and there are no hidden extras. It takes 24-48 hours. Or, if you prefer, you can opt for our Fast Track, same day service - that costs £39.99.

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

What ACSP stands for, and what one actually does

An ACSP is an Authorised Corporate Service Provider. Companies House also calls them authorised agents, and it uses both names on its own pages, which is part of why this is more confusing than it needs to be. They mean the same thing.

What an ACSP does is narrow, and it helps to be precise about it. An ACSP checks your identity documents up to the standard Companies House sets, it confirms to Companies House that it has done so, and it submits your verified details via an ACSP portal. Companies House then emails your 11-character personal code, direct to your inbox. That code is yours for good - you don’t verify again for each company you’re involved in, or each year.

What an ACSP isn’t is Companies House. An ACSP can’t change the rules, it can’t overturn a refusal you’ve already had from the free government ID verification service, and it can’t submit your 11-character personal code for you once you’ve got it. This last point catches people out, so it’s worth saying plainly: submitting the 11-character code is your job, and no ACSP will do it on your behalf. This page explains exactly where it goes.

A firm can’t simply decide to call itself an ACSP. To register to become one, it has to be supervised for anti-money laundering purposes - by HMRC, or the FCA, or one of the accountancy or legal bodies - and its own senior people have to be ID-verified first. Companies House then registers it as an ACSP and it appears on the list of ACSPs that Companies House publishes. It’s worth checking that list before you use an ACSP: if a firm isn’t on it, it isn’t an ACSP, whatever its website says.

It’s a lot of machinery for what is, in the end, someone checking and verifying your passport or other ID document. But that’s the system we’ve all been given, and the practical question for you isn’t whether it makes sense - it’s which route gets you verified with the least hassle.

Who has to verify their ID, and by when

The ID verification requirement comes from the ECCTA (Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023). Verifying became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025, and Companies House opened a twelve-month transition period that closes on 18 November 2026. That closing date isn’t your verified ID submission date, though, and the next few paragraphs explain why.

Who has to verify: every director, and everyone who counts as the equivalent of one - LLP members, general partners and managing officers; the directors of overseas companies registered in the UK; and every PSC (Person with Significant Control). Anyone registering as an ACSP has to verify too.

Once you’ve verified your ID, whether you've used the free government route or you've verified your ID via an ACSP, Companies House will email you your 11-character personal code. This is the code you'll be submitting to Companies House to prove that you verified your ID.

When you have to submit your 11-character personal code is a separate question, with dates of its own. If you’re a director, GOV.UK says you "will need to provide your Companies House personal code as part of your company’s next confirmation statement" - so your actual submission date is your company’s next confirmation statement date, not November 2026.

If you’re a PSC and not a director, you provide your 11-character personal code through a Companies House service called "Provide identity verification details for a PSC", in the first 14 days of your birth month. And if you’re both a director and a PSC of the same company - which is most people who own and run their own business - the submission dates are different. In this case, you’ll provide the same code twice: once in the confirmation statement, and once through the PSC service, in the 14 days starting the day after the company’s confirmation statement date. Nothing in the confirmation statement submission tells you you’ll need to submit the 11-character personal code twice.

Verifying your ID, though, can be done today. It isn’t tied to any of those dates, and there’s nothing to wait for.

The two routes, and why people end up at an ACSP

There are exactly two ways to get verified. The government’s own route is GOV.UK One Login: you set up an account, install an app on your phone, and let it read your document and your face. It’s free, and for plenty of people it works first time.

The other route is an ACSP, which costs money and involves no app and no One Login account.

The reason this page exists is to explain what happens when the free route says no - which it frequently does, and does so far more frequently than anyone would ever imagine. The free government system is built around UK documents and UK records, and it turns away a great many people who hold non-UK passports, who live outside the UK, or who simply haven’t got the years of UK history the checks look for. And when it refuses you, it won’t tell you which detail didn’t match, so there’s nothing on the screen for you to correct or check.

And once the free government route has failed to verify your ID, there’s no second government route waiting behind it to give you a second chance to verify. You may find yourself locked out of GOV.UK One Login for weeks or even months, and the Post Office route isn’t open to you either once GOV.UK One Login has refused you. We know that at first hand: it happened to one of our own directors, and the Companies House helpline told him the only route left was to use an ACSP. That’s why this service exists.

What an ACSP checks, and which documents it can accept

Companies House sets the standard, and it gives an ACSP such as directorverifications.com two ways to meet it.

The first is an automated check, using ID document validation technology. It takes one photographic document from a closed list: a biometric or machine readable passport (from anywhere in the world) or an Irish passport card; a UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or EU photocard driving licence; a biometric identity card from the EU, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein; a UK biometric residence permit or residence card; a UK Frontier Worker permit; or an eVisa. A passport can be up to 6 months expired on this route, as long as the technology can still read its security features and the passport hasn't been cancelled.

The second route an ACSP can take to verify your ID is a check made by a person, and GOV.UK is explicit that "you must use option 2 if the documents are being checked by a person, either remotely or in person". That route needs two documents rather than one, and at least one of them has to come from a defined list of photographic documents - which is wider, and includes a passport up to 18 months expired, a UK accredited PASS card, and photographic ID listed on PRADO.

Two things are worth knowing, whichever route you take. A document that has been cancelled or replaced is never acceptable - a passport with a cut-off corner, for instance. And if you don’t live in the UK, at least one of your documents has to be government issued.

This is where the difference between ACSPs shows up. Some only handle the automated route, so a document their technology can’t read is the end of the conversation. We check by hand when the automated check can’t verify you, and that’s included in the price.

Whichever route it uses, every ACSP has to work through the same six steps Companies House sets out. It asks for your details, gets the evidence of your ID, checks that the evidence is genuine, checks that the identity is real and belongs to you, keeps records of the checks, and then decides whether it’s satisfied you are who you say you are. Companies House can suspend or stop an ACSP whose checks don’t meet that standard.

How to check that a firm really is an ACSP

Anyone can put "ACSP" on a website. Three checks take about two minutes and are worth doing before you pay anybody.

First, the list. Companies House publishes a list of registered ACSPs, and it says plainly that "the agents on this list have requested to have their details published", so it may not include every registered agent - but if a firm is on it, that is confirmation. Companies House also says it "does not endorse or recommend the agents on this list", which is fair enough: being on it means registered, not recommended.

Companies House publishes a second list too, of ACSPs that have ceased or been suspended. If a firm is on that one, it can’t act as an ACSP, whatever it tells you.

Second, ask who supervises them for anti-money laundering. Every genuine ACSP has a supervisor - HMRC, the FCA, or one of the accountancy or legal bodies such as the ACCA or the ICAEW - and none of them will mind being asked. Companies House isn’t an AML supervisor: it registers ACSPs, and somebody else supervises them, which is the whole point of the scheme.

directorverifications.com is a trading name of Finovium Limited, and Finovium Limited is an ACSP.

Third, look at what the firm tells you about the process before you pay. A careful ACSP will tell you what it needs, what it will do if the automated check fails, and what happens to your documents afterwards - it has to keep records of the checks for seven years.

Can you become an ACSP yourself?

Probably not, and you don’t need to. Registering as an ACSP is for businesses that want to verify other people’s IDs, and Companies House only accepts a business that’s already supervised by a UK anti-money laundering supervisory body. Not every business is even eligible for that supervision.

The application has to be made by someone in a senior role - a director, general partner, partner or member - and that person has to verify their own ID for Companies House first. A sole trader can register themselves. A company or LLP gives its company number and authentication code, and every applicant gives the names of its anti-money laundering supervisory bodies and its membership numbers.

Once registered, an ACSP has to stay supervised for anti-money laundering, tell Companies House about any changes to its details, and keep records and provide further information about filings when it’s asked to. It also chooses whether to appear on the published list.

If you’re a director or PSC who simply needs your own ID verified, none of that applies to you. You don’t register as anything - you use an ACSP. With us that’s £24.99 per person, completed within 24 to 48 hours.

What an ACSP should cost

There’s no set fee for an ACSP to verify your ID. Companies House doesn’t regulate what an ACSP charges, so prices vary more than you would expect for what is, in the end, the same check against the same standard.

We checked the published prices of UK ACSPs in September 2026. They run from about £25 to £150 and upwards per person, and plenty of firms publish no price at all until you ask. Some charge substantially more for a non-UK passport than for a British one.

Our price is £24.99 per person for standard verification, and £39.99 per person for Fast Track, completed the same day when your payment and your ID document both reach us before 5pm, seven days a week. The price is per person whose ID we verify, not per company.

Two things to check on any quote. Is the quoted price per person or per company - because a company with four directors needs four verifications. And what happens if the automated check can’t verify you: with us, a member of our team reviews your documents by hand - that’s included in the price, and we’ll never charge you twice.

What happens after your ID is verified

Once your ID is verified, we submit your verified information to Companies House, and Companies House emails your 11-character personal code direct to your inbox. It usually arrives quickly; it doesn’t come from us, it’s always emailed by Companies House.

Next comes the part that is yours to do. As a director, your code goes into your company’s next confirmation statement - there’s no separate service for it, and the company can file that statement early if it wants to. As a PSC who isn’t a director, it goes through the "Provide identity verification details for a PSC" service, in the first 14 days of your birth month. You don’t have to work your own window out - Companies House publishes the exact 14 days for each PSC on the company’s page on the public register.

The 11-character personal code itself doesn’t expire and the ID verification process doesn’t need repeating. Verify your ID once, and the same code covers every company you’re involved in, for as long as you’re involved in them. What comes round again is being asked for the code, not the verification.

Once you’ve used your personal code to link your verified ID to the Companies House record, the public register shows an identity verification statement against your name. It gives your name, the date your ID checks were completed, the name of the ACSP that verified you, and the anti-money laundering supervisory bodies that ACSP is registered with. The statement doesn’t include your ID documents, and an ACSP doesn’t need to send Companies House copies of them. The ACSP’s name is on it, though, so it’s worth choosing one you’re happy to have on the record next to yours.

What happens if you don’t verify

Companies House has published how it intends to deal with people who haven’t complied, and it isn’t only a letter. It starts with a default letter when you miss your date. After that it can prosecute through the courts, refer you to the Insolvency Service, or issue financial penalties "at company or individual officer level" - so a penalty can land on you personally, not just on the company. It can also annotate the public register against your name.

This stopped being theoretical on 16 September 2026, when three directors were convicted and fined at City of London Magistrates’ Court in the first prosecutions brought over these requirements. One of the directors had verified his own ID and was prosecuted anyway, for failing to take reasonable steps to stop an unverified co-director from continuing to act as a director of the same company. The Insolvency Service put it plainly: "There is no option to opt out."

There’s also a quieter consequence that arrives sooner. Companies House won’t accept a company’s confirmation statement until every director has verified and provided their personal code, so one unverified director holds up the whole filing.

How ID verification works with directorverifications.com

We’re an ACSP. directorverifications.com is a trading name of Finovium Limited, which is supervised for anti-money laundering by HMRC and appears on the list of ACSPs that Companies House publishes, as FINOVIUM LIMITED ACSP. It says this in the footer of every page on this site.

The process is short. You pay £24.99 (or £39.99 for Fast Track), you upload your ID document and a photo of yourself through the secure link we’ll email you, and we do the ID checking. There’s no app to install, no GOV.UK One Login to set up, and no UK address needed. Our standard verification is completed within 24 to 48 hours on weekdays; Fast Track is same day when everything reaches us before 5pm, seven days a week.

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.

When we've uploaded your verified ID details to the Companies House ACSP portal, then Companies House will email your 11-character personal code directly to your inbox.

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

Questions people ask

What does ACSP stand for?

ACSP stands for Authorised Corporate Service Provider. Companies House also calls ACSPs authorised agents. The two terms mean the same thing: an organisation that Companies House has authorised to verify identities and file on other people’s behalf.

Do I have to use an ACSP?

No. You can use the government’s free service, GOV.UK One Login, and if it verifies you there’s no reason to pay anybody. If you want the completely hassle free and easy option, an ACSP (such as directorverifications.com) is the other route, and it’s the only one left when the free government service has refused you, or when you’d rather not set up a GOV.UK One Login and install the app.

How do I check that an ACSP is registered?

Look for the firm on the list of ACSPs that Companies House publishes, and ask which body supervises it for anti-money laundering. The list is opt-in, so a genuine agent may not appear on it, but an agent that does appear has certainly registered. Companies House doesn’t endorse anybody or any organisation on the list, but the list proves that they are an ACSP.

directorverifications.com is a trading name of Finovium Limited, and Finovium Limited is an ACSP.

Can an ACSP verify me if GOV.UK One Login has already refused me?

Yes. A refusal by the government service doesn’t bar you from using an ACSP - it’s the reason most of our customers come to us. Please note that a refusal by the free government service doesn’t mean there was anything wrong with your documents.

How much does an ACSP charge?

We checked online published prices in September 2026: prices ranged from about £25 to £150 and upwards per person, and some agents charge more for non-UK passports. We charge £24.99 per person, or £39.99 for Fast Track, whoever you are, wherever you live and whichever country issued your passport.

Will the ACSP submit my personal code to Companies House for me?

No, and no ACSP will. Companies House emails your 11-character personal code to your inbox, but submitting it to Companies House falls to you; it's submitted in your company’s confirmation statement if you’re a director, or through the PSC service if you’re a PSC. Where it goes for each role is set out above.

Can an individual become an ACSP?

Only as a sole trader, and only if they’re supervised for anti-money laundering. Otherwise it’s a business that registers, through someone in a senior role. A director or PSC who just needs their own ID verified doesn’t register at all - they use an ACSP.

Will my ACSP’s name appear on the public register?

Yes. Once you’ve used your personal code to link your verified ID to the Companies House record, the register shows your identity verification statement: your name, the date your ID checks were completed, the ACSP’s name and the anti-money laundering supervisory bodies it’s registered with. Your ID documents aren’t part of it.