Understanding Companies House ID Verification: What You Need to Know

By Sarah Croft | November 10, 2025 | Other

After 18th November 2025, anyone registering, managing or owning a UK company will need to have their identity verified; including Directors, People with Significant Control (PSCs) and members of LLPs. Identity checks can be done either online with GOV.UK or by using an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). The changes come under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) and are a landmark reform in UK company registration rules.

At TrustID, we’re working with a growing number of ACSPs, providing Identity Document Validation services to support identity checks on their clients. To complement this, we’ve created a comprehensive FAQ guide, following our webinar with Companies House, that answers the most common questions about the requirements, the verification process, and how TrustID helps ensure compliance.

This blog gives you a top-level overview of the new identity verification framework, plus a preview of the key questions we’re being asked most often, answered by experts from both Companies House and TrustID.

What’s inside the full FAQ guide?

Our guide is structured into nine clear sections that cover every stage of the new process, from verification requirements through to enforcement and compliance. Topics include: 

1. Who Must Be Verified, and When
2. The TrustID Verification Process
3. Personal Codes and Administration
4. ACSP Obligations
5. Companies House Systems and Roll-Out
6. Special Cases
7. AML and Compliance Overlap
8. Enforcement, Deadlines & Penalties
9. TrustID’s Commerical Model

Below is a snippet of some of the key questions and answers featured in the guide.

1. Who needs to verify their identity with Companies House?

All new and existing company directors and people with significant control (PSCs) must verify their identity with Companies House. This requirement also applies to new and existing individual members of a limited liability partnership (LLP). 

2. What happens is a verification fails or is rejected?

If a verification fails and an ACSP decides it’s necessary to complete a new check, they need to issue a new link to the applicant to complete the process again. Each new check will use another TrustID credit. 

3. Can verification be done via TrustID and meet Companies House standards?

TrustID supports the steps required in Companies House guidance to get evidence of a person’s identity, check that evidence is real, and check that it is a real identity. 

Companies House guidance states that if you use any commercial provider or platform, it is still important for you to decide if the required information a person provides you with is true. 

4. Does Companies House verification replace AML or compliance checks?

AML and Companies House requirements are part of wholly separate regimes, and one does not negate the need for the other. 

5. How do I obtain the personal code (UVID)?

Once an ACSP has received the results from a successful check, they download this and store it securely.. The ACSP then logs into the Companies House portal and confirms the person’s details along with information about the check and documents used to verify the applicant. The ACSP also confirms that Identity Document Validation technology (IDVT), such as that provided by TrustID, was used to validate the identity. Companies House then email the personal code to the Director / PSC and they can share this with people they trust to file on their behalf. 

6. What does it cost to verify clients, and how do credits work with TrustID?

The TrustID service is based on a pay-per-check commercial model with ACSPs purchasing a bundle of ‘credits’ which are valid for 24 months. Each validated document uses one TrustID credit, and typically, one document is validated per Director check. 

There are no set-up costs, no minimum monthly usage requirement and no additional fees for personalisation features or adding users to your account. 

Download the TrustID Companies House ID Verification FAQ Guide

This article provides just a selection of the most common questions. 

For the full set of 40+ FAQs, including details on enforcement, re-verification, and ACSP obligations, you can download the guide here.