Companies House identity verification in Cardiff

Cardiff has 53,910 live companies registered to its post town, and the CF postcode area holds 82,823 (Companies House Free Company Data Product, snapshot 2026-08-01). Cardiff is also the location of the main Companies House office for England and Wales, whose register held 5,114,182 companies at 31 March 2026 (Companies register activities 2025–26).

The gap between the Cardiff post town (53,910) and the CF postcode area (82,823) is one of the widest of any UK city, which reflects how much of the south Wales company population sits in the valleys and coastal towns around the capital rather than in it. Swansea records 14,030 live companies and Newport 12,324 (Companies House bulk data). Across the Severn, Bristol adds 58,701.

Postcode areas covering Cardiff

• CF — Cardiff and south Wales: 82,823 live companies

Neighbouring post towns we also serve: Newport (12,324), Swansea (14,030), Bristol (58,701). All figures from the Companies House Free Company Data Product, snapshot 1 August 2026.

Being registered in Cardiff has no bearing on how verification works, and it is worth stating that clearly because the city's association with Companies House leads people to expect a shortcut. There is none. Every director of a Cardiff-registered company chooses between GOV.UK One Login, free and direct, and an ACSP acting on their behalf (GOV.UK). The Post Office route is also available to UK residents after the confirmation email, and takes about 15 days (GOV.UK). Welsh company profiles skew towards owner-managed trading companies, a substantial public and third-sector supply chain, and a large population of small property companies, all of which produce single-director, single-PSC structures with two overlapping deadlines.

Our appointment locations are Bedford and London–Stratford, so a Cardiff director who wants to be seen is offered a scheduled video appointment rather than a journey across England. Most people here take the digital route, which is done on a phone in about ten minutes. The fee is £125 for a UK-resident applicant, with no VAT.

Both routes meet the same Companies House identity verification standard and produce the same personal code. There is also a free Post Office route for UK residents, available after you receive the confirmation email, which takes about 15 days. If your confirmation statement is close, that timing is the thing to weigh up.

Everyone in scope is in scope in Cardiff on exactly the same terms as anywhere else in the UK. There is no local variation, no local extension and no local exemption.

GOV.UK lists the people who must verify as a director, the equivalent of a director, which includes members, general partners and managing officers, a director of an overseas company registered in the UK, a person with significant control, and anyone registering as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider. People who file on behalf of a company, limited partnerships, corporate directors, corporate LLP members and officers of corporate PSCs will be required to verify at a later date.

Identity verification became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025. Companies House is explicit that this date is not a deadline in itself; it marks the start of a 12-month transition period that ends in November 2026, by the end of which Companies House expects to have verified 6 to 7 million individuals (Annual Report and Accounts 2025–26). Your own deadline sits inside that window and depends on your role:

• Existing directors: by the company's next confirmation statement date.
• New directors: before appointment, and at incorporation for a new company.
• Directors of overseas companies registered in the UK: by the anniversary of the UK establishment's registration.
• A PSC who is also a director: within the 14-day period starting the day after the confirmation statement date.
• A PSC who is not a director: within the first 14 days of their birth month.

Once you have verified, Companies House issues an 11 character personal code. It is personal to you and not to your company, and if you are a director of multiple companies you only need to verify once and then use the same code for every appointment.

The consequences of not verifying are national and they are not administrative niceties. They apply to a Cardiff director in the same way as to any other.

Companies House states that it is unlawful for a director to act as a director without completing identity verification, and that the offence arises under section 167M of the Companies Act. Three enforcement routes are available: criminal prosecution, referral to the Insolvency Service, and financial penalties. Prosecution may lead to criminal conviction, director disqualification and fines, and non-compliance can be annotated on the public register for anyone to see.

There is also an immediate, practical consequence that arrives long before any enforcement action. All directors need to verify before the company's next confirmation statement is filed, otherwise the filing will be rejected. The campaign guidance puts it more bluntly still: without verification you will not be able to make any filings for your company or start a new company. For most people that rejected filing, not the prospect of prosecution, is what makes this urgent.

Tax and Accounting Hub Ltd is a Companies House Authorised Corporate Service Provider, company number 08408126, supervised by the Association of Accounting Technicians for anti-money-laundering purposes and registered with the ICO. GOV.UK describes an ACSP as an agent, such as an accountant or solicitor, who files on behalf of others, and requires every ACSP to be supervised by a UK anti-money-laundering supervisory body. The official public list of ACSPs is published by Companies House and was last updated on 20 August 2026.

• You complete a short application, sign the engagement letter on screen and pay by card.
• You verify your identity: either a digital check on your own phone, which takes around ten minutes, or a scheduled appointment where two original documents are examined.
• We review the result against our compliance checklist and file it with Companies House as your authorised agent.
• Companies House emails you your own 11-character personal code, which you then give to every company where you hold an appointment.

Our fee for a UK-resident director, PSC or LLP member is £125, all inclusive. There is no VAT, no per-document charge and nothing added later. You can read the full process on our step-by-step guide, or start now on the application page.

• All UK locations we cover
• Our full Authorised Corporate Service Provider service
• How it works, step by step
• Apply now
• Verifying several directors at once
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