Elemental

Elemental Cosec is a leading independent UK provider of company secretarial, governance, accounting, and tax advisory services. Founded and run by professionals with Big Law and Big Four accountancy experience, the company is widely recognised for its expertise, agility, and forward-thinking approach. Supporting law firms, other corporate services providers and their clients, Elemental has built a strong reputation for embracing regulatory change and technological innovation when it comes to economic crime compliance.

In recent times, Elemental emerged as the UK’s number one UK regulated agent by market share for the Register of Overseas Entities. This commitment to excellence has continued into the next phase of regulatory reform—identity verification under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA), when Elemental was amongst the first to register as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP).

Challenge: New Requirements for Director Identity Verification

In March 2025, Companies House began  introducing identity verification checks for those that own, control or manage UK entities including all company directors, People with Significant Control (PSCs) and members of LLPs. These changes were introduced under ECCTA, with the goal of:

• Enhancing corporate accountability
• Reducing fraud and misuse of UK companies
• Ensuring directors are verifiably who they claim to be

Verification can be completed directly through Companies House or via an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP)—a regulated organisation authorised to carry out these checks and file verifications on the individual’s behalf.

Solution: Becoming an Early ACSP

Elemental was among the first organisations to register as an ACSP in March 2025. To deliver best-in-class identity verification services, Elemental partnered with TrustID, a leading identity verification technology provider. This partnership ensures compliance with Companies House requirements while offering a secure, efficient process for clients.

Knowledge, security and accuracy

Late in 2024, as Companies House began to release timescales for the new verification process, Elemental began to research the market for technology which could support them with verification checks to the standard required by Companies House, albeit this standard had not been fully confirmed.

Having spoken to several providers, Elemental were impressed by the TrustID team who were quickly able to work with them to find a service which supported their processes. Elemental were also already familiar with the ease of use provided by the TrustID service, thanks to their previous experience of the partnership to support Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.

Companies House identity standard guidelines were published just a few weeks before verification went live at Companies House. TrustID worked in partnership with Elemental and their software developer to create a bespoke, white-labelled solution in line with the published guidance. When final guidelines were published, TrustID supported them to further interpret the guidelines and meet the additional requirements needed by Companies House.

Tobias Latham, Director of Corporate Services at Elemental said: “In TrustID we have found a partner that meets our requirement to work in an agile way without compromising on standards. In particular, we are impressed by the levels of collaboration and industry expertise”.

With their combination of leading technology and team of experts, the TrustID service gave Elemental the confidence they needed that verification would be accurate. The additional certifications – ISO9001, ISO27001 and ISO27701, CE Plus and certification in line with DIATF Digital Scheme frameworks – added further assurance around the services’ security.

The partnership has allowed Elemental to start carrying out Director identity checks and seamlessly continue to advise and support their clients.