Economic Crime Act

Position as of November 2025

Economic crime is considered to pose a serious threat to the UK’s national security, economy and its institutions as well as causing serious harm to society and individuals. The UK government is committed to tackling this issue and the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) 2023 is a key part of this strategy. The Act received Royal Assent on 26th October 2023. The first set of changes came into force on 4th March 2024. The most recent changes were introduced on 18th November 2025. Timetables are dependent on relevant systems upgrades at Companies House (CH) and on Parliamentary time.

The ECCTA is multifaceted and includes for example provisions related to cryptoassets and new intelligence gathering powers for law enforcement. However, for private companies the most significant reform will be to the role and powers of CH. The information provided below, relates to this aspect of the ECCTA.

There are 4 statutory objectives which CH must seek to promote under the ECCTA. These are:

Ensure that any person who is required to deliver a document to the Registrar does so and that the requirements for proper delivery are complied with.
Ensure that documents delivered to the Registrar are complete and accurate and that the register contains everything it ought to contain.
Minimise the risk of records kept by the Registrar creating a false or misleading impression to the public.
Minimise the extent to which companies and others carry out or facilitate unlawful activities.

To achieve these objectives, there are several key changes that are being, or have been already, introduced at CH. These include identity verification checks for new and existing directors, Persons of Significant Control (PSCs) and those delivering documents to CH, greater powers for CH to check and remove information, better financial information on the register, powers for CH to cross check data with other bodies and more protection of personal information. Changes have also been made to certain statutory registers, the company incorporation process and annual confirmation statements.

The ECCTA will need implementing secondary legislation before it is fully in force, for example, the restriction on the use of corporate directors has still not been given an implementation date. Many of the changes have also required significant development and upgrades to CH systems and procedures, most particularly the identity verification (IDV) regime. However, significant changes have now been implemented, including:

the requirement for all companies to register an email address with CH;
stronger checks on company names;
the new rules on registered office addresses;
the lawful purpose confirmation requirements;
CH's enhanced powers to query and check information, to remove inaccurate information and to share data with other government departments and law enforcement agencies;
mandatory IDV for individuals who are company directors, limited liability partnership (LLP) members, and registrable PSCs; and
the abolition of certain statutory registers and changes to the register of members.

The IDV regime is one of the most significant changes and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026; by which time all those delivering documents to Companies House and all existing directors, LLP members and PSCs should have verified their identity as part of transitional arrangements.

The pages below are designed to give an overview of the key changes to be introduced by the ECCTA.

The government has produced a series of useful factsheets, these can be accessed here. Companies House has also created a new central hub of information about the changes being made. This can be accessed here.

It is also worth noting that the Act introduces a new strict liability offence of failure to prevent fraud (limited to large companies) and amends the "identification doctrine" (where companies can be held criminally liable for the acts of their officers or employees if they represent the company's "directing mind and will" such that their actions can be attributed to the company concerned) to make it easier to prosecute companies for certain economic crimes.

Economic Crime Act

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