Confirmation statement identity verification: what you need before you file

If you are responsible for filing a confirmation statement (CS01), identity verification is no longer a background compliance detail - it can block the filing outright. Here is what changed, who it applies to, and how to check you are clear before your filing date.

What changed about the confirmation statement?

Since 18 November 2025, Companies House rejects a confirmation statement (CS01) if any current director has not completed identity verification under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA). Companies House enforces this per company at its own filing date, so there is no single deadline to plan around - each company hits the rule the next time its confirmation statement falls due. See our guide on what happens when a filing is rejected for this reason if you have already run into it.

Who has to be verified before you can file?

Every current director, plus any individual PSC - new appointees must verify at the point of appointment, and existing directors must verify before the company's next confirmation statement. Verification happens once, either directly through GOV.UK One Login (a photo ID and likeness check) or via an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) such as an accountant or formation agent. Corporate PSCs - companies rather than individuals - are not affected; this is a check on people, not entities.

What happens if a director is unverified when the statement is due?

The CS01 is rejected outright until every director shows as verified, and from 18 November 2026 acting as an unverified director becomes a criminal offence, with prosecution, disqualification and strike-off as possible consequences. Failing to file a confirmation statement is itself a separate offence, and persistent failure starts the strike-off process - so an unverified director does not just delay your paperwork, it puts the company's standing at risk. Companies House estimates six to seven million individuals need to verify during the transition, which is why this catches so many filings by surprise.

How do you check verification status before filing?

Verification status is recorded per officer on the Companies House register, or you can check any company free and instantly with Registrum's ECCTA verification checker. The Companies House register now shows a verification date (or the lack of one) against each officer, so you can look this up manually for a single company. For a faster check, our ECCTA verification checker lists every director and PSC with their status, and our guide to checking verification status walks through all three ways to do it, including via the API.

How do you handle verification across a portfolio of companies?

Checking the register company by company does not scale once you are responsible for more than a handful of filings, which is why Registrum offers a free portfolio scan that ranks every client by confirmation statement date. Each client company has its own confirmation statement date, so the risk is spread across the whole year rather than sitting on one calendar deadline. If you file for multiple companies - as an accountant, company secretary or in-house filer - our guide for accountants managing a client book covers building that list and keeping it current.

Send us your company list and get back a gap report showing exactly which confirmation statements are at risk, ranked by filing date, so you can chase the right directors before you hit a rejected filing.