Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023

The long-awaited Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (the Act) received royal assent on 26 October 2023. The Act introduces wide-ranging reforms to combat economic crime and to prevent the abuse of corporate structures. 

The new legislation generally applies to all entities registered with Companies House (including private and public limited companies, LLPs, limited partnerships, community interest companies and overseas companies). It also imposes new responsibilities for:

• all new and existing company directors;
• people with significant control of a company (PSCs); and 
• anyone who files information at Companies House on behalf of a company.

Although many of the Act’s provisions are now in force, some central elements of the reforms, such as identity verification and the introduction of Authorised Corporate Service Providers, have been delayed whilst the necessary system changes were finalised at Companies House.

The Government has now published an outline transition plan setting out the intended timetable for implementation of some of these remaining key reforms, including:

• From 18 March 2025 – firms regulated by anti-money laundering legislation will be able to register as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) and then carry out identity verification for individuals.
• From 8 April 2025 – individuals will be able to voluntarily verify their identity.
• By autumn 2025 – Identity verification will be a compulsory part of incorporations and will be compulsory for the appointment of new directors and PSCs post-incorporation. The 12 months transition period for existing directors and PSCs to verify their identity will also begin at the same time.
• By spring 2026 – New filing restrictions will come into effect requiring a person filing a document at Companies House to either be registered as an ACSP or to have completed identity verification.

The transition plan does not yet include implementation dates for the prohibition on corporate directors, changes to company registers and filings, nor for the reforms in relation to accounts and audit exemptions.

Click on the links to the subpages to find out more about how the Act will affect companies and associated individuals.