Companies House identity verification in Glasgow
75,227 live companies are registered to a Glasgow address, and every one of their directors and people with significant control must now verify their identity with Companies House. We are a registered Authorised Corporate Service Provider and we do that for you, remotely or by appointment, for a flat £125.
How big the Glasgow verification market actually is
Glasgow has 75,227 live companies registered to its post town, making it the largest company centre in Scotland and the fourth largest in the UK (Companies House Free Company Data Product, snapshot 2026-08-01). For context, the whole Scottish register held 275,310 companies at 31 March 2026 (Companies register activities 2025–26), so more than a quarter of Scotland's companies carry a Glasgow registered office.
The G postcode area holds 83,490 live companies, and the two other Scottish centres on this site, Edinburgh (60,520) and Aberdeen (14,494), together with Dundee (10,625), fill out the national picture (Companies House bulk data). Unlike Manchester and Birmingham, the geo-modified search for Companies House identity verification in Glasgow returns no Google autocomplete completions at all, which is itself informative: Glasgow directors are searching the generic national phrasings, so the useful thing a page like this can do is answer the national question precisely rather than compete on a local phrase nobody types.
Postcode areas covering Glasgow
- G — Glasgow and the west of Scotland: 83,490 live companies
Neighbouring post towns we also serve: Edinburgh (60,520), Aberdeen (14,494), Dundee (10,625). All figures from the Companies House Free Company Data Product, snapshot 1 August 2026.
Typical Glasgow companies, and what that means for verification
Company law, and therefore identity verification, is reserved and identical across Great Britain and Northern Ireland. A Scottish company is registered at Companies House in Edinburgh but under the same Companies Act as an English one, so the 18 November 2025 requirement, the transition ending in November 2026 and the confirmation statement trigger all apply unchanged (GOV.UK). The Glasgow profile skews towards owner-managed trading companies and a substantial professional-services population, and Scotland also has a high density of limited partnerships and LLPs. Members of an LLP are explicitly within scope of the verification duty (Changes to UK company law), which is a point Scottish partnerships routinely miss.
Do Glasgow directors need an appointment?
Travelling from Glasgow to Bedford or London–Stratford for a ten-minute identity check would be disproportionate, and we would not suggest it. For Scottish applicants the digital route is the default and the two-document route is run as a scheduled video appointment. Neither option costs more than the other: £125 for a UK-resident applicant, all inclusive, with no VAT.
Digital identity check
One accepted document, photographed on your own phone, plus a live selfie. Around ten minutes, no travel, no appointment. This is what most Glasgow applicants use.
Two-document check
Two original documents examined by us, either at our Bedford or London–Stratford office or on a scheduled video appointment. Used where the digital route does not suit your documents.
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.
Who must verify, and by when
Everyone in scope is in scope in Glasgow 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.
What happens if the deadline passes
The consequences of not verifying are national and they are not administrative niceties. They apply to a Glasgow 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.
How we verify you, and what it costs
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.
Glasgow verification questions
The questions we are asked most often by directors and PSCs of Glasgow companies.
Do Scottish companies have to verify identity too?
Yes. Identity verification is a Companies Act requirement that applies to companies registered anywhere in the UK. Scotland's register held 275,310 companies at 31 March 2026 and every director of those companies is in scope.
How many companies are registered in Glasgow?
There are 75,227 live companies registered to the Glasgow post town, and 83,490 across the G postcode area, on the Companies House snapshot of 1 August 2026. That is the largest concentration in Scotland.
Is there an in-person option in Glasgow?
Not an office visit. We hold appointments in Bedford and London–Stratford, so Glasgow applicants who need the two-document route are offered a scheduled video appointment instead.
I am a member of a Scottish LLP rather than a company director. Do I need a code?
Yes. Members of a limited liability partnership are explicitly listed among those who must verify, and the equivalent of a director includes members, general partners and managing officers.
Does a Scottish company use a different personal code?
No. There is one 11-character personal code per person, not per company and not per jurisdiction, and it covers every appointment you hold.
Related pages
Ready to verify a Glasgow director?
Most applications take about ten minutes to complete online. Bedford and London–Stratford appointments are available if you would rather be seen.
Start your application