Director ID Checks: 421 of 460 UK Firms Fully Verified

Data last verified: 29 October 2026. Figures re-checked against their primary sources under the Whito rolling re-verification programme.

Last Updated on October 29, 2026

Read: 29 October 2026. The public Companies House People tab for 472 company numbers listed in the Whito directory, every active director and LLP member recorded the same day. A second, separate read of 46 companies (10%) agreed on all 46.

Since 18 November 2025, company directors and LLP members have had to verify their identity with Companies House. People already in post got a 12-month transition period: they verify ahead of their company’s next confirmation statement. Companies House expected 6 to 7 million people to need to verify by mid-November 2026.

Official figures do not show how far along ordinary local firms are. So we looked. Most are done. Of 460 active companies, 421 showed every active director or member as verified. 34 still had at least one person due to verify, and for 9 of them the due date shown had already passed.

What we checked

The Whito directory lists UK businesses that people search for: home care providers, plumbers, roofers, accountants, solicitors and more. 472 listings carry a Companies House number (our own company is left out). On 29 October 2026 we opened the People tab for each one and recorded, for every active director and LLP member, what Companies House shows under identity verification: verified, or a due date.

Secretaries are not counted, because they do not have to verify in their own right. 12 numbers were left out of the results: 5 companies in liquidation, 3 dissolved and 4 registered societies, which are not companies. That leaves 460 active companies and 1,076 active directors and members.

What we found

Counted by person, 960 of 1,076 active directors and members (89%) were verified. 100 were due with a date still ahead, 10 had a due date that had passed and 6 showed no status. The 100 is pushed up by two firms: one LLP with 33 members still to verify and one company with 11 directors.

Of the 25 companies with a date still ahead, 16 are due on or before 18 November 2026 and 9 later. Of the 9 with a passed date, 3 also show an active proposal to strike off, which usually means the company is being closed or has missed filings.

The share fully verified barely changes with the age of the company: 90% for companies set up before 2010, 91% for 2010 to 2019 and 94% for 2020 onwards.

By sector

Most sectors have fewer than 50 companies, so read the sector figures as a description of these firms, not of each trade. The solicitors’ 75% comes from 12 firms, 2 of which show an LLP member with no status at all rather than a due date.

What a passed due date does and does not tell you

A due date in the past means Companies House was still showing that person as not verified on 29 October, after the date it gives. It does not tell you why. The confirmation statement may be late, the company may be closing, or the person may have verified and the record not yet caught up. We do not name any company in this study, and the free data has no names or numbers.

The People-tab check: how to see this for any firm

We call it the People-tab check. It takes about a minute and costs nothing.

1. Search the company name on Find and update company information, the free Companies House search.
2. Open the company and choose the People tab.
3. Under each active director, look for “Identity verification status: Verified”. A line reading “Identity verification due” with a date means that person has not verified yet.

It is one check among several. It tells you a real person stands behind the company. It does not tell you the work will be good, so still look at the firm’s own registration (Gas Safe, CQC, SRA and so on) and its reviews.

If you are a director and still due

Verify yourself first, then tell Companies House when you file your confirmation statement. You can verify online through GOV.UK One Login with photo ID, at a Post Office, or through an authorised agent such as your accountant. The steps are on GOV.UK: verify your identity for Companies House. Verifying online through GOV.UK One Login is free; agents usually charge.

Limits

• These are firms listed in the Whito directory, not a random sample of UK companies. Many are listed because they hold a register entry such as CQC, which may make them tidier than average.
• Companies House shows 35 people per page. Three LLPs had 35 or more and we read the first page only.
• One reading, on one day. A company can verify the day after we looked.

Next edition

We will read the same 460 companies again in early December 2026, after the transition period ends, and publish the change as a new dated edition. This page will keep its 29 October figures.

Download the data

One row per company number, with sector, status, company type, year set up, and the count of active directors or members verified, due and past due: whito-director-id-verification-check-2026-10-29.csv. Rows are shuffled and carry no company names or numbers. Free to reuse with a link to this page.

Related: how many trade websites show their company number.

Questions

Do company directors have to verify their identity?

Yes. Since 18 November 2025 directors and LLP members must verify their identity with Companies House. People already in post had a 12-month transition period and verify ahead of their company’s next confirmation statement.

How many small firms have verified so far?

Whito read the Companies House People tab for 460 active companies in its directory on 29 October 2026. 421 showed every active director or member as verified. 34 had at least one person still due, and for 9 of them the due date shown had passed.

How can I check whether a firm’s directors are verified?

Use the People-tab check. Search the company on the free Companies House service, open the People tab and look under each active director for “Identity verification status: Verified”. A line saying “Identity verification due” means that person has not verified yet.

Does it cost anything to verify?

Verifying online through GOV.UK One Login is free. Authorised agents, such as accountants, usually charge for doing it for you.

Cite this research

Whito Research (2026). Director ID Checks: 421 of 460 UK Firms Fully Verified. Whito. https://whito.co.uk/research/director-id-verification-check/

Key finding: On 29 October 2026, 421 of 460 active UK companies in the Whito directory showed every active director or LLP member as identity-verified at Companies House, and 34 still had at least one person due to verify.

Whito

Whito is an independent UK research publisher. We publish research on how UK businesses are found, trusted and priced: what they cost to market, how their sectors work, and who actually gets recommended. Studies are free to read, every figure carries the date it was checked, and nobody pays to appear.

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