Since 18 November 2025, directors and Persons with Significant Control have had to prove who they actually are, not just file a name and a signature. It's part of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, and it's already reshaping onboarding and due diligence roles across the market. Here's what's changing and why it matters for your next move.
What's actually required now
Directors and PSCs need to provide valid photo ID and proof of address, things like a biometric passport, a UK driving licence, or a Biometric Residence Permit. Anyone without the right documents can verify in person at a Post Office or through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider instead.
Once verified, each person gets a personal identification code that follows them across every filing, at every company they're involved with. Companies House can now trace an individual across multiple directorships in a way it simply couldn't before.
The deadlines aren't one date, they're a moving target
This is the part that catches people out. There's no single cut-off everyone has to hit. Existing directors need to verify by their next confirmation statement. New directors and new incorporations need to verify before appointment. Existing PSCs have 14 days from their birthday, whenever that falls after 18 November 2025. Someone holding both roles gets their own separate timeline again.
Get it wrong and the consequences aren't trivial. Individual fines run from £250 to £2,000, on top of company fines, strike-off action, prosecution, or referral to the Insolvency Service. And an unverified director simply can't file the company's confirmation statement at all, which stalls everything behind it.
Why this is a KYC problem
Here's the bit that makes this relevant to your actual job rather than just admin. Companies House data now feeds directly into AML, sanctions, and beneficial ownership checks. Verified identity at Companies House level means firms need their internal compliance records to actually match it, and any gap between the two throws up a red flag fast, especially in M&A, financing, and investment due diligence where director identity gets scrutinised hardest.
That means onboarding and KYC teams can't treat this as something Companies House sorts out on its own. Verification gaps delay appointments, invalidate filings, and create exactly the kind of inconsistency a sanctions screen or an AML review is built to catch. Firms are having to build director and PSC verification into their own onboarding, appointment, and restructuring workflows rather than relying on the public register to be right.
The staffing gap
Because the deadlines are individual, not universal, someone actually has to map every director and PSC across a firm's structure, work out which trigger date applies to each of them, and chase it before it becomes a problem. That's not a one-off project. It's an ongoing operational task that most compliance teams haven't resourced properly, because until now nobody needed to.
If you're in onboarding, KYC, or due diligence right now, this is a genuinely good moment to build expertise here. Get familiar with the ACSP route, understand how the personal identification code changes cross-entity screening, and you're positioning yourself for a specialism that barely existed a year ago. Firms are going to need people who can own this, not just react to it when a filing gets rejected.
If you're hiring for onboarding or due diligence roles that need this expertise built in from day one, or you're a candidate looking to move into it, Direct Compliance lists roles across banking, insurance, and legal, direct from employers.
Read next: What Is AML? Anti-Money Laundering Explained in Plain English, Why Get Into a KYC or AML Career? UK Career Guide for 2026 and The AMLAR Strategy 2026-2029: What You Need to Know.