ACSP Registration Service Now LIVE
Organisations and professionals who provide verification services are now, after last minute delays at Companies House, able to register with the authorised corporate service provider (ACSP) registration service.
Individuals wishing to undertake the checks themselves, without using an ACSP, are able to do so from 8 April.
What’s the background?
CH has been gradually rolling out a more robust framework for identity verification to facilitate a regime better able to fight the growing threat of corporate crime. CH’s powers in this sphere have increased significantly since the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) was implemented. ID verification is a vital element of the ECCTA.
Under the ECCTA, every company director - both new and existing – must comply with new identity verification requirements using four alternative routes (persons with significant control (PSCs) must also comply). One of those routes is using an ACSP.
ACPSs are third party providers, ranging from individual accountants and lawyers to professional services firms and company formation agents who file information with CH for companies. Registered ACPSs must be UK-based; registered as a company at CH; and be supervised by a UK AML supervisory body to authorise them to undertake ID verification services.
Requiring ACPSs formally to register is intended to provide assurance that the ID checks they carry out provide the same level of assurance as identity verification conducted directly through CH. CH also has power to carry out checks on ACSPs (it estimates up to 50,000 businesses could apply to register as ACSPs within its first year).
A senior person within the ACPD, such as a director, will be required to complete the registration process. New guidance on Being an Authorised Corporate Service Provider was published in February and can be found here.
The other (non-ACPS) routes directors can use are via the gov.uk app or gov.uk, or at a post office (after prebooking a face-to-face verification appointment via gov.uk).
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