Shareflo Finds 33,675 UK Companies Behind on Filings as Director ID Checks Take Effect

New research from Shareflo, a UK company compliance platform, has identified 33,675 active UK companies that were not late on their filings a year earlier but now have overdue confirmation statements and no visible verification record for at least one director. The finding, reported by Finance Magnates, lands as mandatory director identity verification continues its rollout, though the research explicitly does not establish that the new rules caused the delays.

Contents

01

What the Research Found

1.1

The Verification Timeline

1.2

Why It Matters for Banks and Brokers

What the Research Found

Shareflo analysed more than three million active, non-dormant private companies. It initially flagged 52,397 businesses that were materially overdue on 1 September, had not been similarly late a year earlier, and had at least one individual director. By 19 September, 13,401 of those companies had submitted the missing filing, and another 5,321 had directors whose identities appeared to have been verified through roles at other companies. The remaining 33,675 form the group highlighted in the research.

The largest increase occurred among companies between one and 12 months late, where overdue filings rose 138.5% over the year. Short delays increased only modestly, while the number of businesses with longstanding filing problems changed little. A confirmation statement is an annual filing UK companies must submit to Companies House, the country's corporate registry, to confirm their registered details are accurate.

The Verification Timeline

Mandatory director identity verification began on 18 November 2025. Under the regime, new directors must verify their identity before appointment, while existing directors must provide their personal codes when their companies file their next annual confirmation statements during a 12-month transition period. The timing creates a possible connection with the verification rollout, but the data do not establish that the new requirement caused the filing delays.

The research does not prove that the companies are avoiding the checks. Instead, Shareflo frames the pattern as information that compliance teams can consider when assessing corporate customers. The source does not state how many of the 33,675 companies were later verified, nor does it provide a breakdown by sector, size or region.

Why It Matters for Banks and Brokers

Banks, brokers and payment firms are required to identify their corporate customers, understand who owns or controls them, and monitor whether that information remains consistent over time. This process is known as know your business, or KYB, a counterpart to the individual-focused KYC (know your customer) checks that forex readers may already recognise.

Companies House verification gives compliance teams another external data point to compare with information supplied during onboarding and subsequent reviews. According to the research, a change in filing behaviour might be a useful signal. A company that previously kept its records current but became overdue as identity checks took effect may leave the financial firm with an additional question to resolve.

Companies House warns that its public information is not comprehensive and that every filing cannot be closely examined. Director verification can expose inconsistencies or missing information, but financial firms must still resolve those questions through their own customer due diligence. The source provides no evidence on whether banks, brokers or payment firms have actually changed onboarding or monitoring practices in response to the pattern.

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