What is a Companies House personal code?

Short answer: a Companies House personal code is an 11-character code issued to you once you have verified your identity. It belongs to you as an individual — not to your company — and you use the same code for the rest of your career, across every company where you are a director or a person with significant control.

Think of it as proof that Companies House knows who you are. Verification is the check; the personal code is the receipt.

How you receive it

It depends how you verified.

If you verified through GOV.UK One Login: if you completed verification after 8 July 2026, the code was emailed to you. You can also find it at any time by signing in to your Companies House account and going to Manage account.

If you verified through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider: Companies House sends the code to the email address the ACSP gave them for you. This is where most problems happen — if the agent typed your email address wrongly, or used a shared inbox, the code goes somewhere you never see.

If it hasn't arrived: check your spam folder first, then go back to whoever verified you and ask them to confirm the email address they submitted.

What it is used for

You must provide your personal code if you are, or are about to become:

• a director (or equivalent)
• a person with significant control (PSC)
• in future, someone filing on behalf of a company

Practically, that means it gets requested at three moments: when you incorporate a company, when you are appointed to one, and when your company files its confirmation statement.

One code, reused every time. You do not get a new one per company.

Who you can share it with

GOV.UK is clear on this:

"You must keep your code safe, although you can share it with people if they file on your behalf. For example, if you use an agent, such as an accountant."

So giving it to your accountant so they can file your confirmation statement is normal and expected. Publishing it, putting it in a public document, or handing it to someone who has cold-called you is not.

A useful mental model: treat it like your National Insurance number. Not a state secret, not a password — but not something you scatter around either.

What if it's compromised?

Companies House can replace it:

"We can change your personal code if you think it's been shared or compromised. We will send you the new code by email and cancel your previous code."

Contact Companies House to request it. The old code stops working, so make sure anyone who legitimately files for you gets the new one.

The part that causes real delays

In our work as an authorised agent, the verification itself is rarely the bottleneck — it often takes minutes. The delay is almost always the gap between a client completing verification and the code reaching the person who needs it to file.

A director verifies, the code lands in an inbox they check once a week, and the incorporation or confirmation statement sits waiting. We have seen that gap run to several days on filings that were otherwise ready to go.

If someone is filing on your behalf, the single most useful thing you can do is forward that email the moment it arrives.

Quick answers

Is the personal code the same as my authentication code? No. Your company's authentication code is a 6-character code tied to the company, used to file online. Your personal code is 11 characters and tied to you. Different things, different purposes — and confusing them is common.

Do I need a separate code for each company? No. One code, used everywhere you hold a role.

Does it expire? It is not time-limited in the way a password is, but it can be cancelled and reissued if compromised.

I've verified but not received a code — am I verified? Yes, verification and delivery are separate. Chase the code; don't verify again.