Background
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECTA) introduced robust new laws to fight corruption, money laundering and fraud. The changes required as a result of these new laws are being introduced in stages, and contain amongst them the need to verify the identity of individuals acting as company directors and those being a person of significant control (PSC).
From 18 March 2025, individuals and organisations were able to register as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP), and from 8 April 2025, individuals were able to voluntarily verify their identity using GOV.UK One Login or via an ACSP.
Mandatory ID verification will be introduced for new appointments and incorporations from autumn 2025, which will also mark the start of a 12-month transition period for existing directors to complete ID verification.
These reforms are expected to impact approximately 7.4 million existing officers listed on the register who will need to undergo verification.
As part of PK Group’s continued commitment to its clients, we have successfully registered as an ACSP. During the period leading up to Autumn 2025 we will continue to review our procedures to ensure we are well placed to efficiently deal with the identification requirements when they become mandatory, and to support those existing directors and PSC amongst our client base as we work through the 12-month transition period.
The process
Guidance published by Companies House on 19 February 2025 (last updated on 8 April 2025) confirms that the verification process will fall into the following steps:
- Step 1: Obtain personal ID information, being your full name and any former names, date of birth, home address and address history for the last 12 months and your email address.
- Step 2: Obtain two pieces of documentation to confirm the above information, which must be either two documents from group A below or 1 document from group A, and 1 document from group B below. If you do not live in the UK, we will ask that you provide least one government issued document.
Group A documents consist of the following:
- passport or Irish passport card – these can be up to 18 months expired
- identity card with biometric information from the EU, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein
- UK biometric residence permit (BRP) – these can be up to 18 months expired
- UK biometric residence card (BRC)
- UK accredited PASS card
- UK or EU driver digital tachograph card
- UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and EU photocard driving licence (full or provisional)
- UK HM Forces ID Card
- UK HM Armed Forces Veteran Card
- UK Frontier Worker permit
- photographic work permit (government issued)
- photographic immigration document
- photographic visa
- UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man firearms licence
- another type of photo ID, such as a National Identity Card (Pakistan), crew member certificate (South Africa), or Permanent Resident Card (USA)
Group B documents consist of the following:
- birth or adoption certificate
- marriage or civil partnership certificate
- non-photographic immigration document
- non-photographic visa
- non-photographic work permit
- bank or building society statement
- UK local authority or social housing rental agreement – this must be for the person’s current address
- mortgage statement – this must be for the person’s current address
- UK council tax statement – this must be for the person’s current address
- utility bill – this must be for the person’s current address
- Step 3: We will need to review the information supplied in step 2 to confirm it is real and belongs to you.
- Step 4: Once we are satisfied with the documents provided, we will need to confirm to Companies House that our checks have been satisfactorily completed. Copies of the documents you provide will not be placed on public record, but will be retained by us for a period of seven years from the date we complete our verification checks.
Final thoughts and closing comment
Many of you will recognise the strong similarity between the above checks and those that we have been completing for many years now as part of our new client engagement procedures. The notable difference is the need to verify those checks and their positive outcome to Companies House.
Should you have any questions or would like to consider how the above changes may affect you, please contact PK Group’s Professional Services team who are here to support you.
For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us via welcome@pkgroup.co.uk or by phone on +44 (0)20 8334 9953.
