Every director and person with significant control of a UK company now has to prove who they are to Companies House. There are two ways to do it. One is free. This page is an honest account of when the free one is the right answer — and when it isn't.
Companies House verifies you directly, at no cost. Right for most people, and you should try it first.
A firm Companies House has authorised does the check and confirms it for you. Worth paying for when the free route won't work or hasn't worked.
| GOV.UK One Login | ACSP | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Anywhere from under £20 to £150, depending who you use. Ours is £18.00. |
| Who checks you | Companies House, directly | A firm authorised by Companies House and supervised for anti‑money‑laundering |
| What you need | UK passport or UK photo driving licence, and a phone | Photo ID — providers can usually accept a wider range, including non‑UK documents |
| If it fails | You try again yourself, or switch to an ACSP | A person looks at it and tells you what's wrong |
| AML screening | Not part of it | Usually included — sanctions and politically‑exposed‑person checks |
| Evidence you keep | Your personal code | Your personal code, plus a certificate and a record of the check |
| Who gets the code | Companies House, always to you directly — never to the agent | |
One Login works well for a straightforward case, and if that's you it would be silly to pay. The reasons people end up paying are consistent and worth knowing before you start:
The app is strict about glare, shadow, blur and the edges of the document. People with a perfectly valid passport can bounce off this several times before it takes.
If you've moved, married, or the register shows a slightly different spelling or an old address, the automated match can fail even though the documents are genuine.
The free route is built around UK documents. Overseas directors and PSCs are the group most likely to find it simply doesn't have a path for them.
Lighting, older phones and front-camera quality all matter. It is a common place to get stuck, and there's no one to ask.
None of this means the free route is bad — it means it's automated, and automated checks have edges. The question isn't which is better, it's whether you fall inside the edges.
Use One Login. Ten minutes, no cost. Paying anyone for this would be paying for nothing.
Stop trying. A third attempt usually fails the same way. An ACSP check is a different process with a person behind it, and it's the cheapest way to stop losing evenings to it.
Go straight to an ACSP. Providers can accept a wider range of documents than the free route is built for, so this is usually the first workable option rather than the fallback.
Use an accountant who is an ACSP. Then the verification, the confirmation statement and the rest of your filings sit with one firm, and you're not the one keeping track of what's due.
Whichever route you take, Companies House issues you an 11-character personal code. It comes to you by email, from them — never to the firm that verified you. That code is the thing that actually matters: you'll be asked for it each time you appear as a director or PSC, including on your company's confirmation statement. Save the email somewhere you'll find it again.
If you use an ACSP, the sequence is: you complete the check, the firm confirms to Companies House that it has verified you, and Companies House then sends you the code. The firm doesn't need it back afterwards — unless you're asking them to file on your behalf, in which case they will.
Yes. Existing directors and PSCs were given a transition year from 18 November 2025. You need to be verified by your company's next confirmation statement, and by 18 November 2026 at the latest.
No — the opposite of the worry. Companies House requires ACSP checks to meet the same standard as verifying directly, and ACSPs must be registered with Companies House and supervised for anti-money-laundering. What you're paying for is a wider set of accepted documents and someone to sort it out when something doesn't fit.
No. You verify once as a person. The personal code you receive is yours, and you use the same one for every role you hold across every company.
Filing for the company becomes a problem, and being an unverified director once verification is required is an offence. It is not a fine you can quietly absorb — sort it out before your next confirmation statement rather than after.
Only if they are a registered ACSP. Not every accountant is. Ask before you assume — and if they aren't, any registered ACSP can do it for you without you having to change accountant.
The check itself is minutes. The wait is Companies House issuing your code afterwards, which is not instant. Leave yourself more than a day if a confirmation statement is close.
We're an accountancy practice and a registered ACSP. Photo ID, facial liveness and AML screening, done from your phone in about five minutes, and we confirm it to Companies House for you.
Get verified — £18.00Try GOV.UK One Login first if you haven't — it's free, and for a lot of people it just works.
ClearCash is a service of Cadogan Advisory Ltd, an Authorised Corporate Service Provider registered in England & Wales, no. 13493038.
This page is general information about the Companies House identity verification process, not advice about your own situation.
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