UK Director Identity Verification (IDV) Checker — Companies House ECCTA

Bulk-check whether UK company directors and PSCs have verified their identity with Companies House, as now required by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA). Paste any list of company numbers — a client book export, a spreadsheet, or the output of our New Incorporations or Charges Lookup actors — and get one row per person with a computed status: verified, due in future, or OVERDUE.

Why this matters — the ECCTA deadline

Identity verification is no longer optional:

• From 18 November 2025, all newly appointed directors and PSCs must verify their identity with Companies House (directly via GOV.UK One Login, or through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider — ACSP)
• Existing directors must verify by their company's next confirmation statement after that date
• The 12-month transition window closes mid-November 2026 — after that, every serving director should be verified
• Sanctions are real: acting as an unverified director is a criminal offence, the company and its officers commit an offence too, and Companies House can block filings and annotate the public register

The officers and PSC registers now expose per-appointment identity_verification_details — this actor reads them at scale and turns them into a clean compliance report.

What you get

One flat row per director/PSC appointment:

Field	Example
company_number	13969004
company_name	ROADWAYS TRANSPORT SERVICES LIMITED
company_status	active
confirmation_statement_next_due	2026-03-23
person_type	officer (or psc)
name	PANAYI, Andreas Theohari
role	director (officer_role, or PSC kind)
appointed_on	2022-03-10 (PSCs: notified_on)
idv_status	overdue (verified / due_future / overdue / no_field)
idv_due_on	2026-03-23
days_until_due	-116 (negative = overdue)
idv_verified_start	2026-06-01 (verified people only)
identity_verified_on	2025-10-22
acsp_name	MICHAEL GEORGE & CO ACSP
aml_bodies	Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
preferred_name	DAVID HENRY DUNSDON

idv_status is computed against today's date at run time: a past appointment_verification_statement_due_on = overdue, a future one = due_future, a present appointment_verification_start_on = verified, and the rare appointment with no IDV data at all = no_field.

Inputs

Input	Default	What it does
companiesHouseApiKey	—	Your free Companies House REST API key (stored encrypted)
companyNumbers	—	Company numbers or full Companies House URLs — numbers are extracted automatically
includePscs	true	Also check persons with significant control
activeOnly	true	Skip resigned officers and ceased PSCs
onlyUnverified	false	Output only people still needing to verify (due_future + overdue) — instant chase list

Who this is for

• Accountants & ACSPs — audit your whole client book in one run; find every director who still needs verifying before their confirmation statement lands
• Company secretarial & compliance teams — portfolio-wide ECCTA exposure report with exact deadlines and days remaining
• Formation agents — confirm verifications completed via your ACSP actually show on the register (acsp_name is captured per person)
• Risk & onboarding teams — an overdue director is a compliance red flag on any counterparty

Setup — free API key (2 minutes)

Uses the official Companies House API, free:

1. Register at developer.company-information.service.gov.uk
2. Create an application → copy the REST API key
3. Paste it into the actor's API Key input (stored encrypted)

Typical usage

• Client book audit: paste all client company numbers, turn onlyUnverified on → a ready-made chase list with deadlines
• Full register view: leave onlyUnverified off to see verified people too, including which ACSP verified them and under which AML supervisory body
• Historical view: turn activeOnly off to include resigned/ceased appointments

Export & integrations

Results land in an Apify dataset — export CSV, Excel, JSON, or connect Google Sheets, Make, Zapier, and webhooks via Apify integrations.

Data source & fair use

Data comes from the official Companies House API and is Crown copyright, available for reuse under the Companies House policy. This actor is not affiliated with Companies House. It reports register data only — it is not legal advice; confirm obligations and deadlines with Companies House guidance.

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Need something more custom? A standing weekly feed of newly-overdue directors in your sector, alerts on your client book, or a fully managed compliance pipeline — message me via my Apify profile and I'll build it.