Companies House reform has moved from policy into routine company administration. Identity verification became a legal requirement from 18 November 2025, beginning a 12-month transition during which directors and people with significant control must complete verification according to their own filing timetable.
For boards and company secretaries, the operational risk is assuming that November 2025 was either a one-day deadline or a distant future change. It was neither. It started a phased compliance process that now sits alongside confirmation statements, director appointments and PSC records.
The deadline depends on the person's role and filing cycle
Companies House guidance is explicit that 18 November 2025 was not a single deadline for every existing director and PSC. Existing directors generally connect identity verification to the company's confirmation statement cycle, while new appointments face verification requirements as part of the appointment process.
That makes central record-keeping important for groups with several entities. A business that manages multiple subsidiaries should know which individuals have verified, which Companies House personal codes have been issued and which filing dates trigger the requirement for each company.
Verification is part of a broader change in Companies House's role
The reform comes from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which gave Companies House stronger powers intended to improve the reliability of the register and make abuse of UK corporate structures harder.
The practical consequence is that Companies House is becoming less like a passive filing repository and more like an active gatekeeper. Businesses should expect identity, registered-office and filing-quality requirements to be enforced more systematically than in the old regime.
Our view: treat verification as governance, not admin
British Business Review's view is that identity verification belongs on the board's compliance calendar rather than in an ad hoc filing checklist. The rules affect directors, PSCs and service providers, and failures can interrupt ordinary corporate actions.
The simplest control is a central register of verified individuals, personal codes and the next filing event that creates an obligation. That is mundane work, but it is exactly the kind of mundane work that prevents avoidable compliance problems.