Why ACSP Identity Verification Prices Vary — And What Our Fee Covers

Companies House does not set, cap or recommend what an Authorised Corporate Service Provider may charge to verify a director's identity. Published fees across the market currently range from under £20 to over £150 per person, and every firm quoting within that range may be entirely compliant. The difference between a £20 quote and a £150 quote is almost never the identity check itself. It is the scope of work wrapped around that check, and who carries the responsibility if something turns out to be wrong.

Our fee is £125 for a UK-resident director and £175 for a director resident outside the UK. Both are all-inclusive, with no VAT and nothing added later. We are not the cheapest option available, we have never tried to be, and this article sets out plainly what the fee buys so you can decide whether that scope is what you want. If you would rather see the figures in context first, they are on the service and pricing page.

Every firm is entitled to price to its own business model

It is worth saying this clearly at the outset, because comparison discussions often turn adversarial and they do not need to. Professional firms set their fees according to their own cost base, their service model, the volume they process and the level of support they choose to provide. A high-volume provider running an automated document check at scale has a genuinely different cost structure from a supervised accountancy practice managing each case individually. Both are legitimate ways to run a business, and both can be fully compliant.

So we make no criticism of firms that charge less than we do. What we would encourage is comparing like with like. A fee is only meaningful alongside the scope of work it covers, whether VAT is added, and what happens if the first attempt does not succeed. Those three variables explain most of the spread in the market, and they are all things you can simply ask about before you commit.

What the law requires of every ACSP

Understanding the baseline helps, because it shows what any fee has to fund. Becoming an authorised agent is not a matter of registering a website. Companies House states that to register as an ACSP a firm "must be supervised for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) purposes" (Companies House ACSP guidance). Applicants must supply their supervisory body names and AML membership numbers, and Companies House confirms those details directly with the supervisory body — if they do not match, the application is rejected (authorised agent registration guidance).

Once registered, the verification work itself is prescribed. Companies House sets out six steps that represent "the minimum checks you must do", and states that a firm "must complete every step to verify someone's identity to the required standard" (Companies House identity verification standard). In outline, those steps are:

• Collect the person's full name and former names, date of birth, home address, address history for the last 12 months, and email address.
• Obtain acceptable identity evidence from the permitted document groups.
• Check the evidence is genuine — inspect for tampering and damage, and contact the issuing authority or relevant embassy where there is any concern. Anyone checking documents manually must be trained in detecting false documents and follow Home Office best practice.
• Confirm the identity is real and belongs to the person claiming it, including a facial match against the document photograph and, where identity verification technology is used, matching cryptographic features.
• Keep records of the checks.
• Decide whether the firm is genuinely satisfied the person is who they claim to be.

Two obligations from that list are easy to overlook and materially affect what a service costs to run properly. The first is retention: Companies House requires the firm to keep all evidence and information used "for 7 years from the date you complete their identity verification" — and records of failed attempts must be kept for seven years too. The second is accountability: the firm must then tell Companies House whose identity it verified, which documents it relied on, and "confirm you have completed checks to verify their identity to the required standard".

The check is not the whole obligation

This is the part of the guidance that most directly explains why fees differ, and it deserves quoting properly. A firm is allowed to use commercial identity verification technology to do the checking — we use TrustID for the digital route. But Companies House is explicit that outsourcing the technology does not outsource the duty. The firm must:

• "be satisfied that the provider or platform completes all of the required steps to meet the standard — if they only complete some, you'll need to do the other steps yourself"
• "be able to explain and evidence why you have concluded that the steps they have taken are appropriate"

In other words, an automated check can satisfy part of the standard, but the authorised agent remains answerable for the whole of it. And the consequence of getting that wrong sits with the firm, not the client: "If your identity checks do not meet the required standard, we could suspend or stop your business from acting as an authorised agent."

That single sentence is the honest answer to why our fee is what it is. Every case we submit is signed off against our own registration. We are the ones who have to be able to explain and evidence the decision, hold the file for seven years, and answer for it if Companies House asks. A fee that reflects that responsibility will not be the lowest number in the market, and we think it should not be.

What a verification fee may or may not include

The table below sets out the components that make up an end-to-end verification engagement, and confirms which of them are inside our fixed fee. We have deliberately not guessed at what any other provider includes — that is a question to put to them directly.

Our commitment: we see it through to the code

The clearest way we can express our position on price is this. If a check does not complete, if a document is not accepted, or if a submission is rejected, we work the case again at no extra cost until your personal code is issued. We do not raise a second invoice for the same outcome. Where the digital route is not suitable for your documents, we will move you to a manual identity review at one of our offices, and that is covered by the same fee.

We take that view because we think it is the only honest way to sell a fixed fee for a regulated outcome. A quote that only covers a first attempt is not really a fixed fee for the result; it is a fixed fee for one try. Our engagement runs to the point where Companies House issues your code and we confirm the file is complete.

Where the cost actually sits if it goes wrong

Weighing fees against each other is reasonable, but it is worth holding the numbers next to the downside. Companies House can impose fixed financial penalties for non-compliance, set by the seriousness of the offence and whether it has happened before (Companies House approach to financial penalties):

Penalties can also be charged at a daily rate, or as a combination of a fixed and daily penalty. Companies House may issue further penalties alongside the original one if a warning notice is not complied with, may pursue unpaid penalties through a debt recovery agency or the court after 28 days, and "may consider prosecution" where the same serious or very serious offence is committed three times in five years.

There is also a procedural trap that has nothing to do with price. Obtaining a personal code is step one; filing the verification statement that supplies that code is step two. Companies House guidance is explicit that completing only the first step does not satisfy the requirement (Companies House non-compliance guidance). If a service delivers you a code and stops there, the legal job is not finished. We file the statement as authorised agent as part of the fee, precisely so that gap does not open up.

Six questions worth asking any provider

We would rather you chose us on an informed comparison than on a headline number, so here is the checklist we would use ourselves. Ask any provider — including us:

• Are you registered with Companies House as an ACSP, and which UK AML supervisory body supervises you?
• Does your fee include filing the Identity Verification Statement, or only carrying out the identity check?
• What happens, and what does it cost, if the first check fails or the submission is rejected?
• Is the quoted fee inclusive of VAT?
• Who will be professionally accountable for my file, are they named, and is professional indemnity cover held?
• What is the alternative route if I do not hold a biometric passport?

Our answers are set out above and on the ACSP service page: we are a registered ACSP supervised by the Association of Accounting Technicians for AML purposes and registered with the ICO; filing is included; re-runs are free; there is no VAT; the file sits with a named qualified principal covered by professional indemnity insurance; and if a biometric passport is not available you can attend a manual review in Bedford or London–Stratford.

For accountants, formation agents and corporate clients

The same reasoning applies at volume, with one addition. When you are verifying a board rather than an individual, the cost of a rejected or incomplete file is multiplied across every appointment, and the administrative burden of chasing partial completions usually exceeds any per-person saving. Our bulk and white-label verification service is built around managed batches with a single point of contact and consistent documentation, so the file quality is uniform across the group.

We are not the cheapest, and that is deliberate

Choosing a provider on lowest price is a perfectly rational decision for a simple, low-risk transaction. Identity verification under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act is a statutory compliance step with a seven-year evidential tail and penalties attached to getting it wrong, which is a different sort of purchase. We have priced our service to be delivered properly once, by a supervised firm that stands behind the outcome, rather than to be the lowest figure on a comparison page.

If the free government route suits your circumstances, use it — GOV.UK One Login is free and we say so on every page where the question arises. If you want a supervised firm to carry the process, the review and the filing, with a fixed all-inclusive fee and no charge for putting things right, that is what we sell. Start an application when you are ready, or read the step-by-step guide if you would like to see the whole process before you decide.

Key takeaways

• Companies House does not set or cap ACSP fees; every firm prices to its own business model and a lower fee is not evidence of lower compliance.
• Every ACSP must be supervised by a UK AML supervisory body and must complete all six steps of the Companies House identity verification standard.
• Verification evidence, including failed attempts, must be retained for seven years.
• Using an automated identity platform does not transfer the duty: the authorised agent must still be able to explain and evidence the decision, and can be suspended if the standard is not met.
• Our £125 and £175 fees are all-inclusive with no VAT, and cover the check, the 29-point review, the authorised filing, and re-running the case at no extra cost until your code is issued.
• Compare scope, VAT treatment and failure policy rather than headline price — and ask every provider the same six questions.