The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 is legislation intended to enhance UK corporate governance with the aim of increasing transparency and accuracy and preventing anonymous filings on the public registers by verifying the identity of certain key officers/owners who set up, run, own, or control a company in the UK.
To remain compliant with the act, organisations will be required to verify their identity voluntarily from 8 April 2025, with compulsory verification required by autumn 2025 (date to be confirmed). This article outlines who needs to verify their identity within an organisation and how to do this, what happens if identity verification requirements aren't met and advises next steps for organisations.
The following key officers/owners of organisations will be required to verify their identity, with limited exceptions:
To verify your identity, visit the Companies House Webpage and follow the section 'Ways to verify your identity'. This page also contains further details of who needs to verify their identity and proposed timelines.
Once verified, a person will be issued with a unique identification number.
If individuals are unable to satisfy the documentation requirements for direct verification, for example non-UK/non-EU nationals, they will need to engage an authorised corporate service provider (ACSP) to verify their identity. These providers are individuals or organisations that are authorised by Companies House and are supervised within the UK by one of the relevant anti-money laundering supervisory bodies.
There are various consequences for failing to verify when required to do so including fines, penalties, and potential director disqualification proceedings. It's important to note that non-compliance is an offence, which could be a criminal offence depending on the circumstances, by both the company and the individual. It should be noted that It will also be an offence for any person to provide misleading, false or deceptive information without reasonable excuse and there is a new aggravated criminal offence for knowingly providing misleading, false or deceptive information.
Organisations should identify all the persons within each of their organisations, such as their persons of significant control, directors, members etc, that will be affected by the new regime. Timing for compliance should be noted, which will most likely be the date of filing of the next confirmation statement following autumn 2025, and if possible, the relevant individuals should collate the appropriate identification documents to register directly with Companies House, including new joiners to whom the provisions apply. Relevant individuals should verify their identities voluntarily now and organisations should collate the relevant unique identification number for future reference.
For further information, please contact the corporate team.
