Recent changes to Company Law means that some charity trustees are now required to verify their identity with Companies House. Read on to find out more...
If your charity is also a company limited by guarantee, your trustees also act as directors. Directors and people with significant control (PSC) within charitable companies are now required to verify their identity through GOV.UK One Login when filing with Companies House. For most people this will be a one-off process that can be done in a few minutes.
Companies House says it will be contacting organisations to tell them what to do next, but is urging individuals to verify their identities as early as possible.
Who is this relevant for?
- All company directors and people with significant control
- From the 18/11/2025 company confirmation statements (on Companies House) will require the director’s/PSC’s personal codes.
Why has this been introduced?
The aim is to increase transparency and reduce fraud under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency (ECCT) Act 2023. The government says that organisations will be able to prove who’s behind them in a fast, secure, and user-friendly way. Ministers say that identity verification will increase confidence and play a key role in improving the quality and reliability of data and tackling misuse of the companies register.
How to verify your identity
The process should take between no more than 10 minutes.
You will need one of the following to verify your identity:
As well as:
- Access to a mobile phone with a working camera
- A GOV.UK One Login
- The GOV.UK One Login app on your phone
- your current address, and the year you moved in
Either have your phone next to you or follow these steps in the browser on your phone.
- On this page, scroll down and click 'Verify your identity'.
- Log into, or create and log in to, a GOV.UK One account.
- After selecting 'no' to ‘has your identity been verified for Companies House?’ scroll down and click continue.
- You will be asked to download the GOV.ONE Login app to continue with the verification process:
- Log into the app using your GOV.UK One account
- Once logged in you should be prompted to verify your account – follow the steps in the app.
- If anything goes wrong (likely due to scanning your passport!) – log out of the app and log back in to restart the verification process.
- After verifying on the app, you will return to your browser and complete the process by entering your current address
- Once your address has been checked you will receive your personal code which will be eleven digits and a combination of numbers and letters:
Note:
You will only need one identity code (as its specific to you not a given company) – however this will need to be provided for every role you hold.
Don't forget to verify!
Acting as a director without being verified once director duties commence will be an offence. Existing directors will need to verify their identity ahead of their company’s confirmation statement.
Companies House says that it will help and support directors and PSCs to comply with the requirements and will adopt a proportionate approach to enforcement.
For more information about this and other changes to Company Law, visit the government's campaign website.
With thanks to In Kind Direct for contributing information to this article.