Companies House to start rollout of ID verification from early 2025

Companies House to start rollout of ID verification from early 2025

Companies House has issued a timeline for ID verification, which will affect more than seven million company directors and PSC’s who in the future will have to provide proof of their identity before filing information on the register to reduce abuse and fraud.

The reforms set out in the Economic Crime and Transparency Act 2023, which kicked off in March included identity verification as one of its major components, giving Companies House more powers to remove fraudulent information from the register.

The first registration point for ID verification will be for accountancy firms and solicitors registered for anti-money laundering, which will kick off in early 2025.

Companies House will introduce the first step by spring 2025 by allowing trust and company service providers (TCSPs) and other professional service providers such as accountants and solicitors, who are registered for anti-money laundering with a supervisor in the UK, to register to become authorised corporate service providers (ACSPs), which will allow them to carry out verification services for their clients and provide these details to the registrars.

By autumn 2025 identity verification will be a compulsory part of incorporation and new appointments for new directors and persons with significant control (PSCs), who will be required to verify their identity at the point of incorporation.

There will be a transition period of 12 months for existing companies until autumn 2026. They will be required to provide identity verification credentials for their directors and PSCs when their confirmation statement is due within this period.

These higher levels of diligence and emphasis on transparency require a substantial investment in IT and processes at Companies House so the rollout of all new services will be a lengthy exercise, they have advised.

As we have reported in previous blogs, a new penalty scheme will come in to force to ensure high levels of compliance with the new rules.

Companies House have also advised that ‘further transparency of company ownership will be improved by the publication of more information on shareholders. We know this will be a significant undertaking for some companies and we are currently working through the implementation options’.