Tell Companies House you have verified someone's identity
Source: gov.uk (2025-04-08)

How to tell Companies House you have verified someone's identity.

What this service is for

This service is for authorised agents (Authorised Corporate Service Providers, ACSPs) to tell us when they have verified someone’s identity for Companies House.

People need to verify their identity for Companies House if they are:
- a person with significant control (PSC)
- a director
- the equivalent of a director – this includes members and general partners
- someone who files with Companies House
You cannot use this service to tell us about verification checks for the register of Overseas Entities. For this, you should read the guidance on registering an overseas entity and its beneficial owners (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/register-an-overseas-entity).

Who can use this service

You, or the business you work for, must be registered as a Companies House authorised agent to use this service.

What a Companies House authorised agent is

These are agents that are registered with a UK Anti-Money Laundering (AML) supervisory body. For example, accountants, solicitors or company formation agents.

They must register with us to be able to:
- form companies and registrable partnerships on behalf of clients
- file on behalf of clients
- verify the identity of clients for Companies House
For more information, read the guidance on how to register as a Companies House authorised agent (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/applying-to-register-as-a-companies-house-authorised-agent).

Before you start

You must have completed identity checks that meet the Companies House identity verification standard. These are different to customer due diligence checks to prevent money laundering.

Read the guidance on how to meet Companies House identity verification standard (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-meet-companies-house-identity-verification-standard).

What you’ll need

You’ll need to tell us the person’s details and information about the checks and documents you used to verify them.

What you’ll need to tell us about the person

You’ll need to tell us the person’s:
- name (as it’s shown on at least one of the identity documents they provided)
- date of birth
- home address
- email address - we’ll use this to send their unique identifier, known as a Companies House personal code
We’ll include the person’s name in the identity verification statement. This statement will be shown on the online Companies House register when the person connects their verified identity to our records.

You’ll be able to provide a different name if the one on their identity documents cannot be shown on the register.

What you’ll need to tell us about the identity checks

You’ll need to tell us:
- whether the person’s identity documents were checked by a person, or using identity document validation technology (IDVT)
- which documents you used as evidence
- the date you completed the identity checks
You do not need to submit copies of the documents you used to verify their identity. However, for relevant documents you’ll need to give the:
- document reference number, or equivalent
- expiry date
- country of issue
You’ll also need to confirm a statement that you:
- are satisfied that the person is who they claim to be
- have completed identity checks that meet the Companies House identity verification standard
You must keep records of all identity checks you complete, including copies of the documents. You will need to keep records for 7 years from the date you completed the identity checks.

Print or save a copy of the details you submit

We will show the identity verification details you’ve submitted on the confirmation page. You must print or save a copy of these for your records.

Tell us you’ve verified someone’s identity

You can access this service from your authorised agent account.

Sign in to your account (https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/authorised-agent).

What happens when you verify someone’s identity

We will email the person their Companies House personal code. This is an 11 character code they can use to connect their verified identity to our records.

You must make sure the email address you provide for them is correct. It is the only place we will send their personal code.

They can share their personal code with people they trust to file on their behalf.

For more information about when they will need their personal code, see verifying your identity for Companies House (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house).

Providing more information about the identity checks

You must provide evidence of the identity checks you completed if we ask you.

We could suspend or stop your business from acting as an authorised agent if you:
- cannot provide records of identity checks when asked
- have not met our identity verification standard
What we’ll show on the public register

When the person uses their personal code to connect their verified identity to our records, we’ll show their identity verification statement. This will include the:
- person’s name
- ACSP name - this is the name of your authorised agent
- names of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) supervisory bodies the agent is registered with
- date you completed the identity checks