PSC verification is the process of proving your identity to Companies House as a person with significant control, then providing your eleven-character personal code against your PSC entry within a fixed 14-day window. You verify your identity once. You provide the code separately for every company where you are a PSC.
You verified your identity with Companies House, saved the eleven-character code, entered it on the confirmation statement, and reasonably assumed the job was finished. Then a letter arrives, stating that your PSC verification is still outstanding and that a note has appeared against your name on the public register. In most private companies, the director and the person with significant control are the same human being.
In most private companies, the director and the person with significant control are the same human being. Companies House still treats them as two separate obligations, with two separate deadlines, and the PSC one lasts fourteen days.
You only verify your identity once. Telling Companies House about it twice is not optional.
This guide covers who needs PSC verification, when your 14-day window opens, how to provide your code step by step, what to do if your window has already closed, and how the rules work for non-resident owners and property SPVs.
Key Takeaways
- PSC verification became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025 under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, with a twelve-month transition period ending 18 November 2026
- Every PSC has a 14-day window in which they must provide their Companies House personal code and tick an identity verification statement; the dates differ from person to person
- If you are a PSC who is also a director of the same company, your 14-day period begins the day after the company’s confirmation statement date
- If you are a PSC but not a director of that company, your window is the first 14 days of the month your birthday falls in
- Verifying your identity as a director does not complete your PSC obligation, because the code has to be provided again through a separate PSC service
- Missing your window can be a criminal offence, can attract a financial penalty, and result in a note being displayed against your name on the public register
- You can still file after your deadline has passed. You cannot request an extension once it has.
Three PSCs, Three Different Deadlines: Which One Are You?
| Your situation | When your 14-day window runs | Worked date | What you must do in the window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Existing PSC who is also a director of the same company | Starts the day after the company's confirmation statement date | Confirmation statement date 31 March 2026, so window runs 1 to 14 April 2026 | Provide your personal code through the PSC service, in addition to giving it on the confirmation statement |
| Existing PSC who is not a director of that company | The first 14 days of the month containing your birthday | Birthday 24 February, so window runs 1 to 14 February | Provide your personal code and tick the verification statement through the PSC service |
| New PSC registered on or after 18 November 2025 | When your details are added to the register, or within 14 days of being added | Registered as a PSC on 7 September 2026, so the code is due by 21 September 2026 | Provide the code at the point of registration or within the 14 days confirmed in the letter Companies House sends |
What is PSC Verification & Why Has It Become Compulsory?
PSC verification has two halves. First, you verify your identity once to obtain a personal code. Second, you provide that code to Companies House within a fixed 14-day period, against each company where you are a PSC.
The requirement comes from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which sits on top of the existing PSC regime in Part 21A of the Companies Act 2006. For years, anyone could be registered as owning or controlling a UK company on the strength of a name, an address and a date of birth, with nothing checked. Compulsory identity checks for directors and PSCs started on 18 November 2025. That date marks the start of a 12-month rollout rather than a universal deadline, and the transition concludes on 18 November 2026, after which there is no further grace period for people already on the register.
Who Needs PSC Verification?
Anyone registered as a person with significant control over a UK entity must undergo PSC verification. This covers registered and unregistered companies, limited liability partnerships, UK societies, Scottish limited partnerships, and Scottish qualifying partnerships, and applies whether the entity trades.
Most owner-managed companies have at least one PSC, because the test is met by:
- holding more than 25% of the shares
- holding more than 25% of the voting rights
- holding the right to appoint or remove a majority of the board
- otherwise exercising significant influence or control
Residency makes no difference. A PSC living in Dubai, Lisbon or Sydney has the same obligation as one living in London, and non-resident owners are the group most likely to miss a letter sent to a registered office they never visit.
Where the PSC is another company rather than a person, the position is different for now. A registrable legal entity is not verified the same way an individual is, and the requirement to verify officers of corporate PSCs is scheduled to come into effect later rather than being live today. The individuals above that corporate structure, however, are usually PSCs of the parent company, and their obligation is already in force.
Does PSC Verification Apply to a Private Limited Company like Mine?
Yes. PSC verification applies to every UK private limited company with an individual registered as a PSC, including single-shareholder companies, dormant companies, and companies with no bank account and no activity. There is no small company exemption and no turnover threshold.
The practical shape of the obligation in a typical private limited company is worth spelling out because the double-filing trap lies there. Take a company with one director who also owns all the shares. That person is a director, so their personal code must be included in the company’s next confirmation statement. That same person is also a PSC, so they must provide their personal code again through the separate PSC service within their own 14-day window. One identity check, one code, two entirely separate filings. Companies House has been explicit that one verification is enough, but the code must be supplied for each role.
Do Property SPVs Also Need PSC Verification?
Property SPVs need PSC verification in the same way as any other limited company, and the fact that an SPV holds one buy-to-let property and files dormant or micro-entity accounts changes nothing. In practice, SPV owners are more exposed than most, because they often hold several companies at once.
The reason is arithmetic. An investor with four SPVs has four sets of confirmation statement dates, four PSC entries, and, if they are the director and shareholder of each, eight separate code submissions to track. The single personal code is reused across all of them, which is the part people remember, but the statement has to be provided company by company, which is the part they forget.
Group structures add a layer. Where a holding company sits above the SPVs as a registrable legal entity, the SPV PSC entries point at the holding company, and no verification is currently due at SPV level. The individuals behind the holding company carry the personal obligation at that level instead. If you are unsure where your PSC entries actually point, check the PSC register entry for each company before assuming.
When Exactly is My PSC Verification Deadline?
Your deadline is a fourteen-day window rather than a single date, and which window you get depends on whether you were already registered on 18 November 2025 and whether you are also a director of the same company. You can check the dates that apply to you on the Companies House register, or by signing in to the PSC verification service.
Two traps sit inside this.
First, filing the confirmation statement early does not pull the PSC window forward, because that window is anchored to the confirmation statement date itself, not to the date you happen to file.
Second, the fourteen-day PSC period and the fourteen-day deadline for filing the confirmation statement span roughly the same fortnight, which is convenient if you handle both together and unforgiving if you handle neither.
Can I get an extension?
Yes, but only before your original deadline has passed. You request a further 14 days through the same PSC service, giving a reason and supporting evidence, proof that you have applied for a passport that has not yet arrived, a booked Post Office identity appointment, or medical evidence. The decision sits at the registrar’s discretion, so treat it as a safety net rather than a scheduling tool.
Once the window has closed, the extension route closes with it.
How Do I Do a PSC Verification Step by Step?
You verify your identity once to get a personal code, then provide that code when you enter your PSC within your fourteen-day window. The sequence below is the whole process.
Verify Your Identity
Use the Companies House identity verification service, which runs on GOV.UK One Login, and have a passport, UK photocard driving licence, or other accepted photo ID to hand, along with your current address and the year you moved in. This route is free. If online checks will not work for you, an authorised corporate service provider, such as an accountant or solicitor, can verify you instead, usually for a fee.
Collect Your Personal Code
The code is 11 characters long and is personal to you, not to any company. If you verified through GOV.UK One Login, it appears in the "Manage account" area of your Companies House account. If you verified through an authorised provider, they email it to you. Store it somewhere you can find it again, and don't confuse it with the company authentication code used for filings.
Check Your Window Before You Need It
Look up the fourteen-day dates for each PSC role you hold. Verifying in advance costs nothing and removes the risk of an identity check failing at the worst possible moment.
Provide PSC Verification
Use the dedicated service for providing identity verification details for a PSC. You sign in, give the company number and your personal code, and tick the statement confirming your identity has been verified. Someone else, such as your accountant or company secretary, can do this on your behalf if you share the code with them.
Confirm It Has Landed
Check the register afterwards to see the verification recorded against your PSC entry, and repeat steps four and five for every company where you are a PSC.
Verifying If You Live Outside the UK
Most non-UK passports are accepted.
The technology-validated route allows you to use a biometric or machine-readable passport (even if it expired up to six months ago), an Irish passport card, EU, Norwegian, Icelandic or Liechtenstein biometric ID cards, and several UK immigration documents like biometric residence permits, biometric residence cards, Frontier Worker permits, and eVisas. However, older passports that are not machine-readable are not accepted.
The Post Office route is only available in the UK
You can access it through GOV.UK One Login after entering your photo ID details. This option isn’t practical if you are outside the UK, such as in Dubai or Singapore.
The ACSP route can be used from any country.
Companies House says you can use an authorised corporate service provider “from any country, but your agent must register with Companies House to become authorised.” With this route, a person checks your identity instead of technology. You need to provide either two photographic documents from the approved Group A list, or one Group A photographic document and one supporting document. If you live outside the UK, at least one document must be government issued.
What is an ACSP?
PSCs Holding Through a Trust or a Nominee
There are two common ownership patterns in SPV and family investment structures that people often misunderstand. These topics are not well explained in other resources.
Shares held through a nominee. Under Part 2 of Schedule 1A to the Companies Act 2006, shares or rights held by a nominee are treated as held by the person for whom the nominee acts. The nominee is not the PSC. The beneficial owner behind the nominee is the individual who must verify and provide a personal code.
Shares held on trust. When trustees hold shares, they are considered to hold the interest. Each trustee who meets a control condition is a PSC and has their own 14-day window. In addition, anyone who can exercise significant influence or control over the trust itself, such as a settlor or a protector depending on the terms, may also need to be registered as a PSC.
In practice, a single family trust that holds an SPV can create three or four separate PSC obligations instead of just one. Each person has their own birth-month window if none of them is a director. Most trustees do not realise they are personally responsible.
Trust and nominee structures are fact-specific. If your SPV is held this way, have the PSC analysis confirmed before you rely on it. Getting the PSC entry wrong is a separate offence from failing to verify.
How Do I Provide PSC Verification If My Details Do Not Match?
Before you submit, make sure the personal details Companies House holds for you, particularly your date of birth and the spelling of your name, match the identity documents you used to verify. A mismatch is the most common reason the code will not link, and the error message isn’t always clear about why.
If they do not match, you have to correct the register first and wait for the change to be processed, which eats into a fourteen-day window with no slack. Another category of PSCs cannot use the online service at all: anyone whose personal information is protected at Companies House, or who is waiting for the outcome of a protection application, must deal with Companies House separately rather than filing through the standard route.
One Identity Check, Two Filings: How the Director & PSC Routes Differ
| Director route | PSC route | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the code is provided | Inside the company's confirmation statement | Through the separate PSC verification service |
| Timing | With the next confirmation statement after the requirement began | Within your specific 14-day window |
| Does the other one cover it | No | No |
| Who can submit it | A person filing the confirmation statement for the company | The PSC, or someone acting for them |
| Same personal code | Yes | Yes |
What Mistakes Are Catching PSCs Out?
The most expensive mistake by a distance is assuming that verifying as a director completes the PSC obligation. It does not, and because the person has genuinely verified their identity, nothing about their own records looks wrong until the register shows otherwise.
A property investor who owned three SPVs through a holding structure verified their identity in February 2026, entered the personal code on each company’s confirmation statement as it fell due, and treated Companies House as dealt with for the year. No separate PSC statement was ever filed for any of the companies. The default letters arrived in the summer, by which point two of the three fourteen-day windows had already closed, and each of those PSC entries carried a note on the public register. Identity verification was completed correctly and on time throughout. Only the second filing was missing.
Other recurring errors are worth naming.
- Non-director PSCs checking the wrong date. A spouse holding 30% without a board seat works to the confirmation statement date, when their window is actually the first 14 days of their birth month.
- Owners of several companies submitting once. One code, one statement, instead of one statement per company.
- Waiting for the end of the transition period. Your personal window may have arrived months earlier.
- Code errors. Typing it from memory rather than copying it, sharing it over insecure channels, or confusing it with the company authentication code.
- Leaving dormant SPVs out. A reasonable assumption that a company doing nothing owes nothing. It is wrong.
I Have Already Missed My Window. What Now?
You can still file. The 14-day window is just a starting point, not a hard deadline. The PSC service will accept your personal code and verification statement even after the deadline, and many practitioners have filed successfully for clients weeks after their window closed. It is best to file as soon as possible instead of waiting for another letter.
You can no longer request an extension. Extensions are only available before your original deadline. Practitioners say the service will simply refuse, saying things like “You cannot request an extension. Your verification deadline has passed.” Once the window closes, there is no benefit in trying.
Your accountant can file for you. If you are having trouble with the service, someone else who has your personal code can submit the statement for you, even after the deadline.
The register note is still an open issue. Companies House says it may add a note to your name if you do not comply. There is no clear process for removing this note once you do comply. Plan for the note to stay for a while after late filing, and consider this in any refinancing or sale plans instead of assuming it will be removed right away.
Deal with the knock-on filing. Address any related filing problems. If someone is unverified, it can block routine filings. A company that cannot file its confirmation statement is committing a separate offence, which could eventually lead to being struck off. If a missed PSC verification is stopping your confirmation statement, complete the verification first, then file the statement right after. Late is a better position than not filing. Backdating, or filing a statement for someone who has not actually verified, is materially worse.
What Happens If I Miss My PSC Verification Deadline?
Missing the window can be a criminal offence, can result in a financial penalty from Companies House, and can produce a note against your name on the public register that anyone searching the company can see. The register annotation usually bites first commercially, because lenders, buyers and counterparties run those searches.
Enforcement follows a pattern. Companies House writes to say the deadline has passed and that action may follow without further notice, and its published approach is to escalate where obligations continue to be ignored rather than to prosecute a first slip immediately. From there it has three routes: financial penalties, referral to the Insolvency Service, and prosecution through the courts, with the strongest powers reserved for deliberate evasion or fraud. Non-compliance becomes serious when a pattern of offences develops. Separately, and often sooner, an unverified individual becomes an obstacle to routine filings, and a company that cannot file its confirmation statement is committing a different offence altogether, with strike-off as the far end of that road.
Worked Example: Counting a 14-Day Window Correctly
A single-director SPV has a confirmation statement date of 31 March 2026, and its sole director owns 100% of the shares, so the same person is both a director and a PSC. The PSC window opens the day after the confirmation statement date, so day one is 1 April 2026 and day fourteen is 14 April 2026, weekends included. The confirmation statement itself must also be filed within 14 days of 31 March, so both obligations fall within the same fortnight. Filing the confirmation statement on 2 April, with the personal code entered, satisfies only the director requirement. If nothing is submitted through the PSC service by the end of 14 April, the PSC obligation will be missed, even though the individual verified their identity in January and used the correct code on the confirmation statement 10 days earlier. Doing both on 2 April closes the matter with twelve days to spare.
Conclusion
Companies House PSC verification is not complete just because you have verified your identity. You still need to provide your personal code for every company where you are a person with significant control, within the correct 14-day window. For directors who are also PSCs, that means completing both the director and PSC requirements separately.
This is particularly important if you own multiple property SPVs, because one missed PSC verification can leave a note on the public register and potentially expose you to financial penalties and further enforcement.
FAQs
PSC verification is the process of proving your identity to Companies House as a person with significant control, then providing your eleven-character personal code against your PSC entry within a fixed 14-day window. Identity verification and providing the code are two separate steps.
Verify your identity once, either free of charge through the Companies House service that uses GOV. UK One Login or through an authorised corporate service provider, then use your eleven-character personal code to file an identity verification statement against your PSC entry. The statement goes through a dedicated PSC service, not through the confirmation statement. You must complete the second step within your 14-day window.
Use the “provide identity verification details for a person with significant control” service on GOV.UK. You sign in, enter the company number and your personal code, and tick a statement confirming your identity has been verified. An accountant or company secretary can complete this on your behalf if you give them the code.
The online identity check itself usually takes minutes if you have a valid passport or photocard driving licence and can use a smartphone to scan the document. Verifying at a Post Office or through an authorised provider takes longer, potentially several days, depending on appointments and document checks. Providing the code afterwards takes only a few minutes, so the sensible approach is to verify well before your window opens rather than during it.
Search the company on the Companies House register and review the PSC entry, which shows the verification status and the relevant due dates. If a PSC has missed their deadline, a note appears next to their name. Signing in to the PSC verification service also confirms the exact fourteen-day dates that apply to each role you hold.
Your personal code is not company-specific, so you only need to find one if you verified through GOV.UK. UK. UKUK One Login, sign in to your Companies House account and open “Manage account”, where the eleven-character code is displayed with a copy button. If an authorised provider verified you, they emailed you the code, so search your inbox or ask the provider to resend it.
Most UK limited companies have at least one PSC. A company must identify and register its PSCs or explain on the register why it has none. If no one meets the control criteria, the company must file a statement confirming this rather than leave the entry blank. Where there is no registrable individual PSC, no individual PSC verification is required, but the directors must still verify their identities separately.
You verify your identity once, and the same personal code covers every role you hold. However, you file the identity verification statement per company. So, a person who is a PSC for four companies provides the same code four times, each within that company’s fourteen-day window.