The ECCTA is introducing new identity verification requirements for all new and existing company directors (and equivalents for other entities), PSCs and those filing information with Companies House. The requirements for directors and PSCs are expected to come into force in autumn 2025 (with a 12-month transition period for existing directors and PSCs).
The ECCTA itself is light on the detail of how the IDV requirements will operate in practice. These details were left to be set out in secondary legislation, some of which has now been made. The Registrar (Identity Verification and Authorised Corporate Service Providers) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/50):
- contain provisions relating to the verification or reverification of an individual’s identity, including giving Companies House the power to make more detailed rules on the steps to be taken and evidence required (Companies House published a draft of these rules in May 2024 – see our blog post here);
- provide the framework for suspending and terminating an ACSP’s status and impose record-keeping and information-sharing obligations on ACSPs; and
- set out the procedure for the allocation of unique identifiers for verified individuals and ACSPs.
The Regulations, which were made on 20 January 2025, will come into force when the relevant provisions of the ECCTA come into force.
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