Companies House’s long overdue crackdown on individuals that have failed to verify their identities has begun, with a flurry of warning letters (equivalent to almost one-fifth of all companies registered), but strong enforcement must follow to remove the UK’s corporate registry from kleptocrats’ and fraudsters’ toolkits.
Companies House has sent close to a million non-compliance letters to businesses that have failed new proof of identity standards, providing a glimpse into the state of disarray of the UK’s corporate registry.
From November 2025 to May 2026, Companies House sent 983,000 non-compliance letters to businesses whose directors and controlling shareholders had failed to comply with new identification verification requirements, according to statistics obtained by Spotlight on Corruption via a Freedom of Information Act request. There were 5.5 million companies on the register as of March 2026.
The registry said that as of May 2026 there were 183,000 controlling shareholders of UK companies in default of the identification requirements.
The figures lay bare the clean up operation facing Companies House, which has until recently been powerless to verify the information submitted to it. This impotence has resulted in the registry holding a confused place in the anti-financial crime world, being both essential (it was searched 16 billion times in 2025) and a joke, featuring directors such as Jesus Christ and Darth Vader.
The comical directors’ names reveal a darker truth about Companies House: that the failure to verify information on the registry – chiefly the identities of company directors and shareholders – played a role in enabling the UK to become a haven for kleptocrats to exchange their ill-gotten gains for London properties and for fraudsters to conceal their identities.
The warning letters are Companies House’s first shot across the bow as it sits in a purgatorial state between receiving powers to demand identity verification in November 2025 – under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECTA) – and being able to pursue decisive punishments from November 2026.
The identity verification system has a staggered roll out, which includes a generous 12 month transitional period for many individuals to comply. Currently, the requirements apply to a section of Companies House’s inhabitants: directors and controlling shareholders of new companies and those from existing businesses which will submit certain filings prior to November 2026.
The programme will apply to all existing company directors and controlling shareholders once the transition period has ended. However, gaps will remain: the government is yet to provide a timeline for the inclusion of limited partnerships, corporate directors of companies, corporate members of limited liability partnerships (LLPs), and officers of corporate controlling shareholders.
The non-compliance letters are a necessary first step, but they will prove meaningless without strong enforcement. Companies House must follow through on these warnings and pursue swift enforcement of all bad actors. This will send a message – one that is sorely needed and long overdue – that criminals cannot use the UK’s architecture to commit, cover up or launder the proceeds of financial crime.
Companies House will be able to pursue a raft of punishments, including disqualifications, fines (only up to £2,000 in the most egregious cases) and criminal prosecution. The level of penalty will be assessed on a scale that takes into account the severity of the offence and whether the party is a repeat offender.
Companies House is currently able to begin enforcement casework, and reported last week that it has referred some cases to the Insolvency Service, which can shut down fake or illegal businesses. These referrals have resulted in the Insolvency Service commencing 19 investigations into potentially illicit activities.
The registry has already taken steps towards using newly minted ECTA powers to punish fraud. Matt Pennell, Head of Intelligence at Companies House, said in May that since March 2024 – when it was empowered to tackle ID theft – the registry has removed 145,000 registered office addresses, 115,000 addresses of company officers, and 73,000 incorporation documents suspected of being used without consent.
The introduction of the new regime has already had a measurable impact with 3.81 million personal ID codes issued, as of March 2026. However, it stands to reason that the majority of those registered on Companies House are honest corporate citizens – the challenge will come with rooting out and punishing the smaller number of bad actors.
The integrity of the UK’s corporate registry is expected to be a key focus of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in its 2027 mutual evaluation of the UK. In its last assessment, in 2018, FATF highlighted the absence of verified information on the Companies House register as an area for improvement.
Companies House is a cornerstone of anti-financial crime compliance. Its transformation from a vast library of possibly accurate information to a wholly legitimate database is essential for the fight against financial crime. This will only come through strong enforcement and the government swiftly plugging all gaps in the verification programme.
