Companies House identity verification in Leeds
54,768 live companies are registered to a Leeds 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 Leeds verification market actually is
Leeds has 54,768 live companies registered to its post town and the LS postcode area holds 67,296 (Companies House Free Company Data Product, snapshot 2026-08-01). It anchors the largest company cluster in Yorkshire, ahead of Sheffield (37,698), Bradford (24,705), York (17,630), Huddersfield (14,695), Hull (13,963), Wakefield (9,661) and Halifax (8,188).
Taken together the LS and BD postcode areas hold 107,499 live companies, which puts west Yorkshire on a par with the Manchester post town as a director population (Companies House bulk data). No Google autocomplete corpus exists for a Leeds-modified verification query, so the search demand here is national. What is local is the practical question of how a Leeds director gets verified without travelling.
Postcode areas covering Leeds
- LS — Leeds and west Yorkshire: 67,296 live companies
- BD — Bradford district: 40,203 live companies
Neighbouring post towns we also serve: Bradford (24,705), Sheffield (37,698), Huddersfield (14,695), Wakefield (9,661), Halifax (8,188), York (17,630). All figures from the Companies House Free Company Data Product, snapshot 1 August 2026.
Typical Leeds companies, and what that means for verification
Leeds combines a professional and financial-services core with a very large surrounding population of owner-managed trading companies across west Yorkshire. Two verification patterns follow. Professional firms in the city are frequently ACSPs themselves, or are weighing registration against outsourcing; Companies House puts registered ACSPs at over 10,000 (Companies House blog) against 783,000 verifications completed through ACSPs to 31 March 2026 (Annual Report 2025–26). The smaller trading companies around them typically have one or two directors who are also the PSCs, and who need the deadline rules explained once, clearly, rather than a portal.
Do Leeds directors need an appointment?
We hold appointments in Bedford and London–Stratford, and we do not maintain a Leeds office. For a Leeds applicant the digital route is almost always the right answer: about ten minutes, on your own phone, no travel. Where two original documents must be examined, we run a scheduled video appointment. The fee is £125 for a UK-resident applicant.
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 Leeds 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 Leeds 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 Leeds 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.
Leeds verification questions
The questions we are asked most often by directors and PSCs of Leeds companies.
How many companies are registered in Leeds?
There are 54,768 live companies registered to the Leeds post town and 67,296 across the LS postcode area, on the Companies House snapshot of 1 August 2026.
Do you have an office in Leeds?
No. Our appointment locations are Bedford and London–Stratford, and Leeds applicants who need the two-document route use a scheduled video appointment instead of travelling.
I am an accountant in Leeds. Can you verify my clients under my brand?
Yes. That is what our bulk and white-label page covers. Over 10,000 firms have registered as ACSPs themselves, but many prefer to outsource the verification and filing rather than take on the supervision obligations.
My company is in Bradford, Wakefield or Huddersfield. Same process?
Yes, and the same fee. Those post towns hold 24,705, 9,661 and 14,695 live companies respectively, and the standard is national.
What happens if a Leeds director simply does not verify?
It is unlawful to act as a director without completing identity verification, the offence sits under section 167M of the Companies Act, and enforcement can mean prosecution, referral to the Insolvency Service or a financial penalty.
Related pages
Ready to verify a Leeds 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