Unfortunately, we’re in the unwelcome position of notifying all clients of further Government requirements for all Company Director. At this stage, we would also like to remind all clients that there is a new UK Government Budget due in November with heavy rumours that the chancellor intends to significantly increase business taxes. As soon of the details of this are released we will update our clients on the implications of the new changes.
ID VERIFICATION ROLLOUT NOVEMBER 2025
It’s likely that if you’re registered as a company director or as a person with significant control (PSC) you will have received correspondence from Companies House notifying you that from the 18th of November 2025 they are implementing a new ID check system
Companies House confirms identity verification rollout from 18 November 2025 – GOV.UK
What are the new requirements
All Directors and PSCs will have to set up a new Gov.uk One Login through which they must prove their identity to the UK government. The government claim this is part of a plan to roll all government digital services into a single account and login. It’s also tightly connected to their plans to implement a digital ID for all UK citizens.
For our part, this appears to simply require that we now have 5 different government logins instead of 4!
What do you need to do?
Before your company’s next Confirmation Statement date, you must have registered Gov.uk One Login and complete the identity check function.
Verify your identity for Companies House – GOV.UK
You can check your confirmation statement date by searching for your company here: Find and update company information – GOV.UK
You will need one of the following:
- biometric passport from any country
- UK photo driving licence (full or provisional)
- UK biometric residence permit (BRP)
- UK biometric residence card (BRC)
- UK Frontier Worker permit (FWP)
You’ll also need:
- your current address, and the year you moved in
- to sign in to or create a GOV.UK One Login
What to do if you cannot complete the verification online?
Proactive are registered as an Authorized Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) to allow us to verify identities on behalf of clients. However, this is not as easy as our normal ID verification process. Under the new rules, we are no longer allowed to simply verify your ID in the same way we have done previously for our own Anti Money Laundering checks.
In order to verify you, we are forced to have your identity check completed using a third party software provider to comply with the new rules. We are charged on a client by client basis for this and therefore have to pass this cost on.
This will have an initial cost to any client needing this service of £30 (plus VAT)
Once we’re more familiar with the system we may reduce or increase this cost, depending on the exact requirements of the identity verification service.
We are aware this this is a complete compliance burden with no actual upside for our clients. We had hoped to simply complete this on your behalf without charging anything as we view it as needless red tape, but unfortunately it appears we are unable to do this without being charged by software providers to comply with the new rules.
Summary
- If you are a director or PSC you must verify your identity before your company’s next Confirmation Statement date.
- If possible, set up a Government One Login and complete your identity verification. This won’t cost you anything and is the simplest method of complying.
- If you cannot complete this, we can do it on your behalf but have to pass on costs at £30 plus VAT per verification
- You will need to provide us with photographic ID and proof of address if we are completing this on your behalf. We cannot use the existing AML documents we have on record for all clients as the verification requires documents dated within the last 3 months.