NI Community sector escalates campaign as Ministers in Belfast and London urged to halt 64% funding cut
5 February, 2026
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (the Act) has introduced new changes for all companies in the UK. Some of the changes such as ID verification have recently been introduced and others will come in over the next few years.
1) ID verification for all directors
From 18 November 2025 it is now a requirement for all companies to comply with the new identity verification process at Companies House. Identity verification is required for both new and existing directors. When companies are filing their confirmation statements with Companies House they will now have to include the required ID verification code for each director. Please don’t wait until the confirmation statement deadline to start working on this. For more detail, please see New ID verification requirements for company directors | NICVA
2) Changes to Registers you must maintain
From 18 November 2025, companies are no longer required to keep a register of directors, a register of directors’ residential addresses or a register of people with significant control but this information must still be registered with Companies House and kept up to date. Companies are no longer required to keep a register of secretaries but they still are required to keep a register of members and other records.
For more information please see our Running a Charitable Company resource.
3) Filing fees increased
Companies House has increased many of its fees on 1 February 2026, for example the price for incorporating has risen from £71 to £124 for paper and from £50 to £100 for digital. The fee for filing the confirmation statement has risen from £62 to £110 for paper and from £34 to £50 for digital. To change a company’s name it will cost £85 which was previously £20 for digital and £30 for paper. An application to remove personal details will cost £34.
For a full list of fees please see Changes to Companies House fees – Changes to UK company law
4) Suppression of personal information on the company register
Since the early part of 2025, individuals have been able to apply to suppress the following information from historical documents on the public register at Companies House:
- registered office address where it’s their home address
- residential addresses in most instances when shown elsewhere on the register
- day of birth for documents registered before 10 October 2015 (only the month and year of birth have been publicly displayed since 10 October 2015)
- signatures
- business occupation
Companies House has stated that it intends to introduce further measures allowing individuals at personal risk of harm or violence as a result of their personal information being on the company register.
5) Filing accounts by software
The Act created new requirements for the filing of accounts and it was initially stated that all accounts would have to be filed at Companies House using commercial software. These changes will not be introduced in April 2027 as originally planned. Following stakeholder concerns, these reforms are still under review but it is understood that Companies will receive at least 21 months’ notice to prepare once a final decision on the reforms has been announced.
For more information and other changes to accounts filing see Changes to accounts – Changes to UK company law.
