Companies House delays presenter identity verification to November 2027 — what it means for you

Companies House has confirmed another delay to one of the biggest remaining pieces of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA): the requirement for anyone submitting documents to Companies House — a presenter — to be identity verified or filing through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP).

The new position, communicated by the Companies House software liaison team and reflected in the ECCTA outline transition plan on GOV.UK (updated 5 August 2026): presenter filing restrictions will be introduced no sooner than November 2027, and Companies House will give at least six months' notice before they come into effect.

First, what is a "presenter"?

Presenter is Companies House's own operational word — the box on a paper form, the account that submits through the API — rather than a term used in the legislation. The provision behind it is section 1067A of the Companies Act 2006, inserted by ECCTA under the cross-heading "Who may deliver documents to the registrar". In plain terms, the presenter is whoever actually presses submit, and that need not be a director, a shareholder, or anyone connected to the company at all.

Section 1067A does two things once it commences. If you deliver a document on your own behalf, your identity must be verified and the filing must be accompanied by a statement saying so. If you deliver a document on behalf of someone else — which covers essentially every filing an accountant makes — you must fall within one of a defined list of categories, and the filing must carry a statement identifying which one.

For a document delivered on behalf of a company (the Act says "firm", which covers any entity that is not an individual), that list is:

• An officer or employee of the company itself, whose identity is verified — the director or company secretary filing their own confirmation statement.
• An officer or employee of a corporate officer of the company, whose identity is verified.
• An Authorised Corporate Service Provider.
• An officer or employee of an ACSP.

There is a parallel set of categories for documents delivered on behalf of an individual rather than a company: a verified individual, an ACSP, or an officer or employee of an ACSP.

Note the asymmetry in those lists, because it is the commercially important detail. Where someone files under their own steam, the statute requires their identity to be verified. Where they file as an officer or employee of an ACSP, the required statement is simply that they work for the ACSP — the verification burden sits with the registered firm rather than with every member of staff who touches a filing. That, more than the registration itself, is the practical argument for a practice holding ACSP status.

Software does not change the analysis. A filing package or API integration is a delivery channel, not a presenter — the accompanying statement still has to point at a person or an ACSP standing behind the submission.

ECCTA's design, then, is that this last mile stops being anonymous. That is a bigger change than it sounds, because it touches every statutory filing service Companies House runs. Section 1067A also gives the Secretary of State power to create exceptions by regulations, so the fine detail of who is caught can still shift before commencement.

What has actually been delayed

Two linked measures move together, and both are now no sooner than November 2027:

1. Compulsory identity verification of presenters — making verified identity a condition of filing any statutory document.
2. Mandatory ACSP registration for third-party agents — requiring firms that file on behalf of companies to be registered as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider.

This is the third time the date has moved. The measures were originally signposted for spring 2026, pushed in January 2026 to no earlier than November 2026, and have now landed at no sooner than November 2027 — with the six-month notice commitment on top. Read literally, that means the earliest a firm could be caught by surprise is around May 2027, when the formal notice would have to be issued.

Why Companies House says it moved

The stated reasoning is scale and complexity: the presenter provisions require changes across all statutory filing services, not just one form or one route. Companies House says it is continuing to work with partners to test proposals and to understand real-world filing activity and models, and that the insight is feeding into policy development. The explicit goal is to balance a more accurate, transparent register against giving businesses and software providers enough runway to prepare.

There is also a sequencing argument. The director and PSC verification transition period runs to 18 November 2026. Layering a presenter regime on top of an unfinished verification programme would have meant two overlapping compliance shocks for the same population of small companies and their accountants.

What has not changed

This is where the misreading risk sits. A headline that says "Companies House delays identity verification" is easy to skim as "I don't need to verify yet." That is wrong.

Source: ECCTA outline transition plan for Companies House, GOV.UK, as updated 5 August 2026. Dates described as "no sooner than" or "no earlier than" are indicative and subject to further change.

So if you are a director who has not yet verified, or a PSC sitting on an unverified record, the delay gives you nothing. Your obligation is tied to your company's confirmation statement, and the transition window closes in November 2026. We cover the mechanics in full in our PSC and director verification guide.

What it means if you're an accountant or agent

The temptation is to file this under "revisit in 2027." We'd argue against that, for three reasons.

1. ACSP registration is already the practical route for client verification

Even before the mandate, being an ACSP is what lets a firm verify its own clients rather than sending every director off to wrestle with GOV.UK One Login. For overseas directors, clients without UK photo ID, and anyone whose biometric check keeps failing, the ACSP route is the difference between a filing that goes out on time and one that doesn't. That value exists today and is entirely independent of the 2027 date.

2. The queue in 2027 will be worse than the queue now

ACSP registration is not instant. It requires AML supervision to be in place, an application to Companies House, and checks on the firm and its people. If a large share of UK practices wait for the formal six-month notice before applying, that notice period becomes a bottleneck — the same pattern the profession just watched play out with director verification in late 2025.

3. Your systems, not just your registration, need to be ready

Under the presenter regime, every filing carries a statement naming the basis on which it was delivered — an officer or employee of the client, an ACSP, or an officer or employee of an ACSP. Filings become attributable to a specific person in a specific capacity. That means knowing which staff member submitted what, holding personal codes securely, keeping client registers accurate before you file, and having a clean audit trail. Firms whose company secretarial work lives in a spreadsheet and a shared inbox will feel this far more than the registration step itself.

What it means if you're a director filing your own company

Short version: carry on, but verify.

• You can still file your own confirmation statement, accounts and forms through Companies House web filing, and you will be able to for at least another year and a half.
• You still need your Companies House personal code as a director or PSC — that requirement is live and unaffected.
• When the presenter rules do arrive, a director who is already verified will simply carry on filing. The people affected are unverified presenters and unregistered third-party agents.

In other words, completing your own verification now is also the thing that makes the 2027 change a non-event for you. If you haven't done it, our plain-English guide to identity verification walks through both routes.

A note on planning around "no sooner than"

It's worth reading the phrasing precisely. "No sooner than November 2027" is a floor, not a date. Combined with the six-month notice commitment, the reasonable planning assumption is:

1. Formal notice at the earliest around May 2027.
2. Commencement at the earliest November 2027.
3. A realistic possibility of further slippage into 2028, given the track record so far.

Plan for the floor, don't bank on the slippage. Companies House has said further information will follow in due course, and we'll update this post when the formal notice is issued.

Frequently asked questions

Does this delay push back my own director verification deadline?

No. Director and PSC identity verification became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025. Existing directors and PSCs verify by their company's next confirmation statement, within a transition period that closes on 18 November 2026. This announcement does not touch that at all.

Can my accountant still file for me without being an ACSP?

Yes, for now. The requirement for third-party agents to be registered as an ACSP in order to file is part of the delayed presenter package, so it will not apply before November 2027 at the earliest — and Companies House has committed to at least six months' notice first. Note that if your accountant is verifying your identity for you rather than just filing, they need to be an ACSP to do that today.

Should we still register as an ACSP this year?

If your firm files for clients or wants to verify clients in-house, yes. Registration takes time, depends on your AML supervision being in order, and is the only way to verify identities on a client's behalf right now. Waiting for the mandate means competing for capacity with everyone else who waited.

Does the delay affect the software-only accounts filing change?

That is a separate item on the transition plan. As it currently stands, mandatory software filing of accounts and profit and loss disclosure for small companies and micro-entities sits from April 2028, following a formal notice period. It is worth checking your accounts production software's roadmap well ahead of that.

Where is the official source?

The ECCTA outline transition plan for Companies House on GOV.UK, and the Changes to UK company law campaign site. Both have been updated to reflect the revised timetable. Software-specific questions go to the Companies House XML team.

Where Filing HQ fits

Filing HQ is a registered Companies House Authorised Corporate Service Provider. That means we can verify directors and PSCs directly — including overseas officeholders and anyone GOV.UK One Login won't play nicely with — and issue their personal code without a government login. We also handle the filings that depend on it: confirmation statements, director appointments, and PSC notifications.

For practices, Filing HQ Practices keeps client companies, statutory registers, verification status and filing history in one place — so whenever the presenter rules do commence, the answer to "who filed this, and were they verified?" is already sitting in your dashboard.