Verifying your identity for Companies House · Why you need to verify your identity

Why you need to verify your identity

verifying your identity for companies house why you need to verify your identity · in force: unknown

Captured source text (L5)

Why you need to verify your identity

Identity verification is a new legal requirement. It will help to deter people intending to use companies for illegal purposes.

By law, you will need to verify your identity to confirm you are who you claim to be.

This will:

- reduce the risk of fraud - improve transparency, trust and accuracy of information on the Companies House register

Full captured verbatim text

Identity verification is a new legal requirement. It will help to deter people intending to use companies for illegal purposes.

By law, you will need to verify your identity to confirm you are who you claim to be.

This will:

- reduce the risk of fraud
- improve transparency, trust and accuracy of information on the Companies House register

What this provision means

Model summary, checked against the text on the left.

Relevance to Signicat: 2/3 · detailed summary (L4) Status: not needed for a short provision · Stored artifact; current recipe verification unavailable

Individuals must verify their identity by law to confirm their identity and use Companies House services.

Only the one-line summary above is stored for this provision; the text itself is the evidence.

Refers to

No captured references.

Referred to by

No captured references.

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 (24)

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 why-you-need-to-verify-your-identity

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-why-you-need-to-verify-your-identity

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 who-needs-to-verify

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-who-needs-to-verify

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 when-you-need-to-verify

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-when-you-need-to-verify

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 ways-to-verify-your-identity

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-ways-to-verify-your-identity

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-ways-to-verify-your-identity-using-the-verify-your-identity-for-companies-house-service

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 what-happens-when-you-verify

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-what-happens-when-you-verify

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-what-happens-when-you-verify-only-share-the-personal-code-with-people-you-trust

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-what-happens-when-you-verify-how-your-information-is-stored-and-used

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 what-you-need-to-do-with-your-companies-house-personal-code

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-what-you-need-to-do-with-your-companies-house-personal-code

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-what-you-need-to-do-with-your-companies-house-personal-code-directors

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-what-you-need-to-do-with-your-companies-house-personal-code-people-with-significant-control-pscs

synthesis coverage: missing/unverified L2 what-happens-if-you-do-not-verify

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-what-happens-if-you-do-not-verify

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-what-happens-if-you-do-not-verify-directors-or-equivalent

synthesis coverage: missing evaluation uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house#verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house-what-happens-if-you-do-not-verify-people-with-significant-control-pscs

Instrument tier unavailable

Change history as published

In the 'Who needs to verify' section, removed 'someone who files for a company - for example, a company secretary' . · 2026-06-01T08:34:23Z

Identity verification is now a legal requirement. Added link to the 'Provide identity verification details for a PSC' service. Added guidance to 'What happens if you do not verify'. · 2025-11-18T10:14:03Z

Content added to Using the 'Verify your identity for Companies House' service. You must provide answers about yourself, not your company. · 2025-09-12T12:54:47Z

Identity verification will be a mandatory requirement from 18 November 2025. Updated section for people with significant control (PSCs). · 2025-08-04T23:01:00Z

From 8 April 2025, individuals can voluntarily verify their identity with Companies House. Link added to service start page. · 2025-04-08T08:00:06Z

Added translation · 2025-03-18T00:00:00Z

Pending effects amendments not yet applied to this text

No captured pending effects.

Provenance

Every claim the system makes about this text is traceable to these identifiers.

Instrument: uk:govuk/verifying-identity-companies-house
Part: Why you need to verify your identity
Version: aac1fc1b8cc9dec1f3f707cd…
Content hash: sha256 5d972aa96dc909ab6b274d79…
Source: gov.uk/guidance/verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house