ACSP Identity Checks

Since the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 came into force, anyone who sets up, runs, owns, or controls a UK company must prove they are who they say they are.

What is an ACSP, and where do we fit in?

Companies House now requires identity verification covering company directors, People with Significant Control (PSCs), and LLP members. An Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) — a Companies House authorised agent — is a business approved to carry out this verification on behalf of directors, PSCs and LLP members, and to file the result. To become an ACSP, a company must be supervised by a recognised UK Anti-Money Laundering body.

Mobunti isn't the ACSP in this relationship — you are. We provide access to an identity verification system, built specifically to meet the Companies House ACSP standard, carrying out the actual check and handing you back everything you need to submit to Companies House and obtain a personal code for your client.

What the check involves

Companies House sets a fixed, prescriptive standard — there's no sliding scale based on perceived risk. Every check follows the same core process:

• ✓Photo ID from an approved document, most commonly a passport or driving licence.
• ✓Optional biometric verification — a facial scan matched against the photo ID or biometric chip, for higher assurance.
• ✓Address verification, confirming the individual's residential address against independent data sources.
• ✓PEP & sanctions — confirming the person is not on the Politically Exposed Persons list or any sanctions lists.

Once complete, you log into your ACSP portal with Companies House, confirm the details and that the check has been carried out, and Companies House issues the personal code directly — a single identifier reusable across every company and role your client holds, so they only verify once.

Why running the check yourself matters more than it looks

Here's the part that's easy to overlook: as a regulated business, you already have a Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) obligation to carry out Customer Due Diligence on your own clients — independently of anything Companies House requires.

If a client simply turns up with a personal code they obtained themselves, you have a code, but nothing to show you did any identity work — no paperwork, no evidence trail, nothing that satisfies your own MLR file if you're ever asked.

Why we built this pay-as-you-go, not bulk-only

All of our services are pay as you go — we don't believe in forcing people into contracts. We've partnered with Trust ID, who have built a dedicated identity verification process for ACSP checks, designed precisely to meet what Companies House requires.

The catch is how it's normally sold: going to Trust ID directly typically means buying a few hundred checks at once — fine for a high-volume operation, but a poor fit for most ACSPs who need this occasionally. Mobunti gives you access to that same system at pay-as-you-go pricing, starting from one. No minimum order, no unused balance on an invoice.

This suits:

• Smaller accountancy and bookkeeping practices acting as ACSPs occasionally, not as a core service line.
• Solicitors and company formation agents who need verification as part of a wider client engagement.
• Company secretarial teams managing director and PSC filings without becoming a high-volume buyer.
• One-off situations — a new PSC mid-year, an overseas director, or a single appointment outside the standard window.

Who we work with

Identity verification involves sensitive personal data handled on behalf of someone else's client. That means who we provide the service to matters as much as how we provide it. We are registered with the ICO and treat that as a baseline — so we apply two firm restrictions:

How it fits into your process