Companies House Director Verification

As part of reforms introduced under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (EECTA), all company directors and persons of significant control (PSCs) will need to verify their identity. They can verify their identity directly with Companies House or through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP).  This article provides you with an overview on the Companies House standard and how ACSPs can use Credas to verify these directors.

• What do you need to do?
• Meeting Companies House standards
• Useful links

What do you need to do?

ACSPs are able to use Credas, as an IDVT, to verify individuals identities to meet Companies House Standards via both Option 1 & Option 2 for Identity Documents (explained below in 'Meeting Companies House standards'). Credas has created two journeys that you can use to gather the information you need for Companies House. 

Step One: Send a director verification journey

Firstly, you will need to issue one of Credas' director verification journeys to the individual in question. Credas has created two journeys for director verification:

• Companies House ID Verification
• Companies House ID Verification + AML

You can send one of these journeys to an individual by following the steps laid out here - Sending a new check to your client.

If you do not currently have these journeys, but would like them enabled, please reach out to team at sales@credas.com. 

Step Two: Review and remediate results

Once the individual has completed the journey, you will need to review their results, and remediate where needed, to ensure Companies House standards have been met. You can learn more regarding Companies House standards below, and also learn more about the different results you may see here - Director Verification (Companies House) Results.

Step Three: Notify Companies House

Finally, you must decide if you are satisfied the individual is who they claim to be and you have been able to verify them to the required standard. Once you have notified Companies House, the director will then be issued with their unique code from Companies House directly.

• If you have been able to verify the individuals identity, you must notify Companies House that the verification has been completed . You can log into your ACSP account using the link below to notify Companies House. Companies House has also created a page which outlines the information you need to submit here.

Click here to login into your ACSP account and notify Companies House

• Whether you have been able to verify the individuals identity or not, you still need to keep these records for seven years. We recommend downloading the results into a process PDF which you can do by following the steps here: Exporting to PDF.

Meeting Companies House standards

Companies House has outlined six steps you need to follow to verify someone's identity, these steps are outlined below, or you can access them here: How to meet Companies House identity verification standard - GOV.UK.

Step One: Ask for information about the person

The following information needs to be obtained and reviewed:

• Full name and any former names;

• Date of Birth;

• Residential Address;

• Address history for the last 12 months;

• An email address (this will be the email address Companies House will send the directors code too).

Credas will obtain this information as part of our journeys and where applicable, request further information if needed e.g. a document confirming the individuals change of name for your review within the 'evidence' tab of their profile.

Step Two: Get evidence to verify the person's identity

Documents need to be obtained to verify the individuals identity. Companies House has provided two ways to meet this requirement. Credas will capture and verify one biometric document from 'Option 1', or 'Option 2, Group A' if the individual does not have a document from 'Option 1'. If a NFC scan has not been completed on a passport, we will automatically capture a document from 'Option 2, Group B' which will appear to you as a supporting document for your manual review.

• Option 1: For 'Option 1', Identification Document Validation Technology (IDVT) must be used to validate the cryptographic features of the identity document. If the document does not contain cryptographic features (for example, a non-chipped UK driving licence), the technology must instead be able to validate the physical security features to confirm the document is genuine. Credas meets these requirements, allowing you to satisfy the standards for 'Option 1'. Only one document from the 'Option 1' list below is required.
  

• Option 2: If the documents are being check in-person (either face-to-face or remotely), and/or if Option 1 cannot be satisfied, you must obtain two forms of identification from the 'Option 2' list below. This must be either:

• two documents from Group A, or 

• one document from Group A + one document from Group B.

If the individual does not live in the UK, they must provide at least one government issued document. 

This list only includes documents that Credas will verify for biometric documents. For a  full list of the Identity Documents Companies House can accept can be found here: How to meet Companies House identity verification standard - GOV.UK 

Step Three: Check the evidence is real

Documents must be checked they are real, and for any signs of tampering. If you have any concerns regarding the documents, Companies House recommends you reach out to the issuing authority or the relevant embassy.

Credas will verify biometric documents to ascertain if they are real and that they have not been tampered with. 

Step Four: Check it is a real identity & it belongs to the person claiming it

The next step is to ensure that the documents supplied match the information given to you such as:

• Do the documents confirm the individual's name and date of birth?
• Does the individual physically match the photo, or goes with the document(s)?
• Are they a real person?

You should also ask to see additional documentation if:

• The documents they have provided do not confirm their address history for the last 12 months;
• They have changed their name.

Our passive liveness technology automatically measures and analyses physical characteristics and reactions to determine if the person being captured is live and present. We then compare the image captured to the image on the document to verify that the same person is present in both images. We also use trusted data sources such as the electoral roll, HALO database and financial institutions to run additional address & mortality checks in the background to help establish the identity has existed over time and is not synthetic/fabricated. 

Step Five: Keep records of the identity checks

You must keep records of all the evidence and information used to verify an individual's identity for seven years from the date the identity verification took place. Companies House has clarified this includes:

• Copies of the documents checked;
• Evidence of the identity checks completed;
• Records of any failed verified attempts.

Within the Credas platform, you are able to download records into PDF's - which includes any additional evidence or notes you have added by download a 'process PDF'. To download a PDF, please follow the steps outlined here. 

Step Six: Decide if you can verify the person's identity

Finally, you must decide if you are satisfied the individual is who they claim to be and you have been able to verify them to the required standard.

• If you have been able to verify the individuals identity, you need to tell Companies House you have verified the individual which you can do here.
• If you have been unable to verify the individuals identity, you still need to keep these records for seven years.

Useful links

• Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act: outline transition plan for Companies House - GOV.UK 
• Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023: Factsheets - GOV.UK 
• How to meet Companies House identity verification standard - GOV.UK 
• Tell Companies House you have verified someone's identity - GOV.UK

Got any questions? 

If you have any questions please reach out to the Credas support team by contacting us here

We are committed to continually improving our support resources for you. We would greatly appreciate your feedback on this article to help us enhance your experience.