Published: 10 April 2025 4:28 pm  Author: Oliver Stanley

IDV completed – using Companies House One Login

We’ve just completed ID verification through the Companies House direct service (i.e. not via an ACSP) to see how quick and easy it is to do. It took less than 3 minutes and was quite straightforward:

• We did an internet search for “Companies House ID”, clicked on the Companies House page result, and followed the instructions. 
• We had to create a gov.uk One login username and password, which was straightforward.  There’s a lot of use of QR codes and your phone to verify, which was great. 
• There’s the option to authenticate using any authenticator app (which we had).
• Once we created the gov.uk account then the ID process was very easy; again using QR codes and your phone.
• You’re able to do it through the gov.uk app (which is easy to download).  It’s also possible to do it on your computer or you could have done it in person at a Post Office.
• We used the app: take a photo of the photo page of the passport, scan the NFC chip in the passport using our phon and then take a selfie.  All quick and easy to do.
• You then go back to the main application process (on your phone or computer – they are both connected) and provide your residential address.  Some background checks were run (which they said would take up to 30 seconds it took about five) and that’s it.  All done.

 

One interesting thing to note is that the UID was generated immediately and appeared on screen as part of the confirmation process.  We have not received any email with that code which we thought would happen. Fortunately we took a note of the UID when it appeared and we suggest that you tell clients who are verifying themselves to do the same as it does not appear to be sent by email as well.