Companies House has confirmed a change to the way users access the Find and update company information service. The agency said the sign-in page will change in late August, with GOV.UK One Login becoming the main route into the service. For users who search company records or manage company information online, the immediate point is administrative rather than substantive. The access screen is changing first, while the service itself continues to operate through the same Companies House platform.
Under the new arrangement, all new users will need a GOV.UK One Login to access Companies House services. Existing users can continue signing in with their current Companies House account details for the time being, although Companies House said that option will appear further down the sign-in page. That makes this a phased migration rather than a single cutover. Current account holders retain a temporary fallback, but the policy direction is clear: GOV.UK One Login is becoming the default method for access.
Companies House has also been explicit about what this notice does not do. The change applies to sign-in only, and users are not being asked to verify their identity as part of this step. That distinction matters for business users and advisers who may already be tracking wider Companies House reform. In this instance, the immediate change is limited to credentials and account access, not to identity verification requirements.
According to GOV.UK guidance, a GOV.UK One Login allows access to a range of government services through one email address and password. Sign-in requires multi-factor authentication, either through an authenticator app or by SMS, and Companies House said the move will make accounts more secure. For users, that means an extra authentication step at sign-in. For public administration, it reflects a broader shift towards a common access standard across government digital services.
Companies House said it began moving online services to GOV.UK One Login in autumn 2024, and this latest change brings one of its most widely used public-facing services further into that programme. The notice therefore points to a managed transition, with old and new sign-in methods running in parallel for a period. The agency has also said that all users will eventually need to move to GOV.UK One Login, although no final deadline is set out in this notice. Companies House said users will receive advance notice before the existing sign-in route is removed.
The most important practical issue concerns shared accounts. GOV.UK One Login must be linked to one individual, using that person’s own email address and phone number, which means long-standing team logins will not fit the new access model. Companies House has warned that continuing to share an account after it has been linked to GOV.UK One Login can trigger security checks and lock users out. For firms, agents and internal company teams, that turns what might appear to be a routine sign-in update into a near-term access management issue.
The clearest response is for each person who needs access to create a separate Companies House account linked to their own GOV.UK One Login. Companies House has indicated that this is the safest way to avoid disruption once the new sign-in method becomes compulsory. In policy terms, the change is modest but significant. It does not alter the substance of the Find and update company information service, but it does change how access is controlled, how responsibility is tied to individual users and how organisations should organise internal access from this point onward.