We would like to draw your attention to the upcoming deadline in connection with the new requirement for identity verification at Companies House. As you will have heard, Companies House now requires identity verification for all new directors of companies and PSCs, as well as members of LLPs. The new regime was introduced on 8 April 2025 when voluntary identity verification was introduced. There is a 12 month transition period during which existing company directors, PSCs and members of LLP’s will need to verify their identities. This started in Autumn 2025 and will end in Autumn 2026. However, Academy Trusts and incorporated charities should be aware of a further upcoming deadline:
*Upcoming deadline*
November 2026 – identity verification will become compulsory for anyone filing documents at Companies House. Please note that the original deadline was Spring 2026 and that this has been moved to mid-November 2026.
It will be important, if this task has not been completed already, to ensure that the individuals responsible for filing documents at Companies House on behalf of your Academy Trust/ charity do so soon so that documents can continue to be filed in the usual way.
Our original article provides more detail on these requirements and can be found here: https://wslaw.co.uk/insight/changes-to-companies-house-new-identity-verification-regime/
Amendments to Housekeeping Practices – Company Statutory Registers
From 18 November 2025, companies, and therefore both Single Academy Trusts and Multi Academy Trusts are no longer obliged to keep Registers of Directors, Directors’ residential addresses, Secretaries and PSCs. Instead, this information must be filed directly at Companies House. Academy Trusts might choose to keep registers locally for the sake of good order and so that they maintain accurate records of their governance history.
Academy Trusts will still be required to keep a Registers of Members locally in hard or soft copy format under the Companies Act 2006. By way of reminder, the Register of Members must contain specific information about the members in order to comply with Companies Act requirements; if you need guidance with this please contact us.
Please note that by April 2027, Companies House will no longer be using a paper based filing system. Companies House currently operates a hybrid system allowing companies to use both a paper based and web-based filling. However, from April 2027 all companies will be required to use a digital reporting system to fulfil their reporting obligations at Companies House.