The Identity Is Verified. Why Is the Companies House Filing Still Blocked?
Scope a Companies House identity-verification request by person, director or PSC role, verification route, personal code and filing event.
Signals to watch
- A verified individual is both a director and PSC but the personal code has been linked for only one role
- A company formation or confirmation statement has a date while one or more directors have no verified-role handoff
- An accountancy, legal or formation business wants to verify clients but its Companies House authorised-agent status and AML supervision remain unclear
Successful identity verification is not the end of a Companies House implementation request. The personal code issued to the individual must still be connected to the correct role and filing event. A director, a person with significant control (PSC) and an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) follow different handoffs; one individual who holds two roles must complete the role-specific action for each.
That distinction matters to a corporate-services and identity-verification integration provider’s business-development lead reviewing authorised company-secretarial, ACSP, company-formation and compliance Telegram groups. The useful commercial discussion is a named person or company whose next incorporation, appointment, confirmation statement or PSC window is blocked by a specific missing handoff. Seeing it a day late can mean missing the scope call before the client chooses an agent, changes its filing process or submits the relevant company record.
What had changed by 13 August 2026
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 created the legislative framework for Companies House identity verification. Companies House opened voluntary direct verification on 8 April 2025. Its current guidance records 18 November 2025 as the date identity verification became a legal requirement for the roles covered by the present implementation.
The rollout is role-dependent. Current Companies House guidance covers directors and equivalent roles, directors of overseas companies registered in the UK, PSCs and people applying to be ACSPs. It separately says later phases will cover people who file at Companies House, limited partnerships, corporate directors, corporate members of limited liability partnerships and officers of corporate PSCs.
That wording matters. A provider can design for a future filing-agent change, but it should not describe every future role as already subject to the current step or invent an implementation date that Companies House has not stated on the cited page.
Identity verification creates a person record, not a finished company filing
An individual can verify directly through the free Companies House service using GOV.UK One Login, or ask an ACSP to verify on the individual’s behalf. Successful verification produces a unique Companies House personal code. The code belongs to the person, not to one company or the service provider.
The code is the join between verified identity and role records. It should be protected and shared only with trusted people who need to file on the individual’s behalf. It is not a company number, not proof that every company role is connected and not a reusable public credential.
For implementation scoping, create one role card per person with:
- personal identity verification status and route;
- personal-code availability and authorised holder;
- each company and legal role affected;
- filing or role-linking action required;
- applicable window or filing date;
- authorised filer, unresolved mismatch and evidence source.
This person-role card is the article’s original contribution. It exposes the exact handoff a generic “verified” status hides.
In practice, the business-development lead first has to notice when an incomplete group discussion contains enough of that card to deserve review. TOP Prospect can filter and group those fragments from Telegram groups a user deliberately connects and is authorised to access, retain original text, source and time, remove obvious duplicates and rank candidates for a person to inspect. It cannot verify identity, handle documents or personal codes, determine a legal deadline, register an ACSP, file at Companies House or contact the poster. Pricing and access options describe that discovery layer. The remaining sections show which role-specific record the human reviewer needs next.
A director links the code through the company filing
An existing director provides the personal code as part of the company’s next confirmation statement. A director of more than one company must connect the verified identity for each company. A person becoming a new director provides the code through the appointment filing or incorporation process.
The implementation object is therefore not “verify the board.” It is a set of person–company role joins attached to a filing event. Sales should confirm the company number, director status, confirmation-statement date, who will file, whether every director has verified and who may handle each code.
A directorship recorded under a variant name or old personal details may create a separate record-resolution issue. The provider cannot assume that possession of a code automatically fixes the register match.
A PSC uses a separate role route and a 14-day period
A PSC is a person with significant control over a company or limited liability partnership under the applicable register rules. Companies House says every PSC has a 14-day period for providing the personal code, with timing depending on the person’s situation.
If the same individual is both a director and PSC of one company, the code must be supplied separately for each role. The director route runs through the confirmation statement; the PSC route uses the Provide identity verification details for a PSC service. For an existing PSC who is not a director of that company, current guidance uses the first 14 days of the person’s birth month. A person added as a PSC after 18 November 2025 can provide the code when first added or within 14 days afterward.
These are role-linking rules, not a reason to collect a person’s date of birth in a public Telegram thread. The authorised company or agent should retrieve sensitive information through its approved process.
An ACSP is a verification route and a regulated service role
ACSP means Authorised Corporate Service Provider, also described by Companies House as an authorised agent. Accountants, solicitors and company-formation agents may provide the service, but the business must first register with Companies House and be registered with a UK anti-money-laundering supervisory body.
An individual can use an ACSP from any country, while the agent itself must meet those UK registration conditions. The agent verifies against the Companies House identity-verification standard and submits the required statement through the authorised route. The agent may charge for its service; this is distinct from direct verification through GOV.UK One Login, which Companies House describes as free.
For a software or integration request, confirm whether the buyer is already an ACSP, is applying to become one, or merely intends to refer people to an ACSP. Those states require different product access, evidence, responsibilities and launch claims.
Example: one person is verified, one company filing is still blocked
Consider this composite fragment, written for explanation and not taken from a real client:
“Director did the ID check already, but confirmation statement still blocked. Same person is PSC. Agent says code is there somewhere.”
The fragment does not establish the company, person, verification route, ACSP status, filing date, director records, PSC window or authorised code holder. A useful first review creates two role cards for the same person.
The director card asks whether the personal code will be provided in the correct company’s confirmation statement and whether all other directors are ready. The PSC card asks whether the separate PSC service was completed in the applicable 14-day period. The agent card then records whether the filer is an authorised ACSP or another trusted person allowed to handle the code for the relevant filing.
The deliverable may be record reconciliation, a filing-workflow change, ACSP integration or no technical project at all. The group message cannot decide which.
Key facts and future boundaries
- Voluntary direct verification opened on 8 April 2025.
- Identity verification became a legal requirement for the current covered rollout on 18 November 2025.
- Direct verification uses GOV.UK One Login and is free; an ACSP is a separate authorised route and may charge.
- A personal code belongs to the individual and must be connected to each relevant role.
- Director and PSC actions are separate even when one person holds both roles.
- Current guidance labels identity verification for general filers and several corporate or partnership roles as future implementation; no unannounced date should be presented as current.
When a forwarded implementation claim loses its government source, use the official-source ladder to recover the current guidance. If the underlying problem is an organisation identifier rather than a person’s verified role, the lapsed LEI renewal article follows that different record path.
FAQ
Can a person verify directly with Companies House?
Yes. Companies House offers a free service using GOV.UK One Login. The service selects an available verification method based on the individual’s answers and circumstances.
Can an accountant or solicitor verify a client for Companies House?
Only if the business is registered with Companies House as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider, also called an authorised agent. It must also be registered with a UK anti-money-laundering supervisory body.
Is a Companies House personal code tied to one company?
No. The code is personal to the verified individual. The person uses it to connect the verified identity to each relevant role; a director who is also a PSC must provide it separately for those roles.
Do all people who file at Companies House already need identity verification?
No. Current official guidance says identity verification for people who file, limited partnerships, corporate directors, corporate LLP members and officers of corporate PSCs will be introduced at a later date.
The scope is ready only when the person, role, verification route, code handoff and filing event sit on the same card. “Identity verified” alone is not an implementation brief.
Frequently asked questions
Can a person verify directly with Companies House?
Yes. Companies House offers a free service using GOV.UK One Login. The service selects an available verification method based on the individual’s answers and circumstances.
Can an accountant or solicitor verify a client for Companies House?
Only if the business is registered with Companies House as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider, also called an authorised agent. It must also be registered with a UK anti-money-laundering supervisory body.
Is a Companies House personal code tied to one company?
No. The code is personal to the verified individual. The person uses it to connect the verified identity to each relevant role; a director who is also a PSC must provide it separately for those roles.
Do all people who file at Companies House already need identity verification?
No. Current official guidance says identity verification for people who file, limited partnerships, corporate directors, corporate LLP members and officers of corporate PSCs will be introduced at a later date.
Sources and further reading
- Companies House, Verifying your identity for Companies House, updated 1 June 2026, accessed 13 August 2026
- Companies House, When you need to verify your identity for Companies House, updated 30 July 2026, accessed 13 August 2026
- Companies House, Applying to register as a Companies House authorised agent, accessed 13 August 2026
- Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, official text
How a Signal worth attention is found
See how Top Prospect finds and organizes Signals worth checking, keeps the original Telegram context, removes duplicates, and helps you decide what to review first. You decide whether to follow up and what to do next.
