govuk

Being an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP)

Being an ACSP Guidance outlines requirements for Companies House authorised agents to maintain AML supervision, report details within 14 days, and retain identity check records for 7 years under being an authorised corporate service provider legal requirements for authorised agents and being an authorised corporate service provider services for authorised agents tell companies house you ve verified someone s identity.

Verified at publication, 2026-11-12 11:41 UTC

14 provisions in 6 parts · official text ↗

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impact by vertical

Summary

What this law does

Sets out operational requirements for Authorised Corporate Service Providers registering with Companies House, managing authorised agent accounts, reporting verified client identities, maintaining Anti-Money Laundering supervisory registration, and retaining identity check records for 7 years.

Why it matters to Signicat and its customers

No Signicat-specific relevance narrative is stored for this instrument; the stored applicability is shown below.

Who is bound: Companies House authorised agents; agents that plan to verify the identity of clients for Companies House; sole trader; directors; all officers; company directors (or equivalent); Users that have been added to the authorised agent account; An account owner; users of the identity verification reporting service · Regulators: Companies House

Services: Establishes identity verification, record retention, and registration standards for professional service providers acting as Companies House authorised agents.

Key obligations each linked to the provision it comes from

Part summaries

0 of 0 parts have a verified summary.

L1 unavailable for current verification: the overall summary needs every part verified. Provisions and the verified summaries remain readable.

Verification findings (21)

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 main

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-chunk-1

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 who-needs-to-register-as-an-authorised-agent

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-who-needs-to-register-as-an-authorised-agent

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 legal-requirements-for-authorised-agents

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-legal-requirements-for-authorised-agents

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-legal-requirements-for-authorised-agents-who-s-responsible-for-complying-with-the-legal-requirements

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 what-happens-if-an-agent-does-not-comply-with-legal-requirements

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-what-happens-if-an-agent-does-not-comply-with-legal-requirements

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-what-happens-if-an-agent-does-not-comply-with-legal-requirements-if-we-need-to-suspend-an-authorised-agent

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 how-to-use-your-authorised-agent-account

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-how-to-use-your-authorised-agent-account

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-how-to-use-your-authorised-agent-account-add-and-remove-users

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-how-to-use-your-authorised-agent-account-update-the-authorised-agent-s-details

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-how-to-use-your-authorised-agent-account-close-the-authorised-agent

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 services-for-authorised-agents

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-services-for-authorised-agents

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-services-for-authorised-agents-tell-companies-house-you-ve-verified-someone-s-identity

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/acsp-guidance#being-an-authorised-corporate-service-provider-services-for-authorised-agents-file-as-an-authorised-agent

Instrument tier unavailable

Change history as published

Added guidance on how to sign into the authorised agent account and how to give colleagues access to ACSP services to the 'How to use your authorised agent account' section. · 2026-06-19T13:20:50Z

The Spring 2026 due date for presenter measures will be postponed until no earlier than November 2026, to prioritise the completion of the identity verification transition period for directors and PSCs and to give us more time to address stakeholder feedback. · 2026-02-17T14:57:15Z

The services to update and close an authorised agent are now live. · 2025-06-19T09:47:24Z

From 8 April 2025, ACSPs can use our online service to tell Companies House when they've verified someone's identity. Link added to guidance page. · 2025-04-08T07:00:01Z

You can tell Companies House you have verified someone’s identity from 8 April 2025. · 2025-03-17T17:08:32Z

Added translation · 2025-02-19T00:00:00Z