Request a company authentication code

A replacement only comes by post and can take up to 10 working days. If a deadline is close, ask around first. Someone may already have the current code.

• Ask whoever files for the company online, such as your accountant or company secretary.
• Ask whoever handles post at the registered office, including any address or forwarding provider.
• Search company records for a Companies House letter about the code.

1. Check whether someone already has the current code, such as your accountant, company secretary or whoever opens post at the registered office.
2. Tell us the company and where Companies House should post the code: the registered office, or an active officer’s home address.
3. We check that you are authorised to ask for the code and that the chosen route is available, then make the request.
4. Companies House posts the code directly to that address. GOV.UK says it can take up to 10 working days, and if the company already has a code, Companies House sends a reminder of it.
5. When the letter arrives, use the code to file, for example a confirmation statement or a director change. SimpleFilings never receives, stores or forwards the code.

• The company number or exact company name.
• Where the code should be posted, and that someone can collect post there.
• For the home address route: which active officer should receive it, and their agreement.
• Confirmation that you are a director or are otherwise authorised to request the code.
• Approved request instructions and genuine authority evidence for our private review. For home delivery, include the selected individual officer's consent and confirmation that their existing Companies House home address is current. We check the full current official request questions before payment; a file upload alone does not establish eligibility.

GOV.UK says the code can take up to 10 working days to arrive. Build that time into any deadline. Companies House cannot speed up the post, email the code or tell it to you over the phone.

If nothing has arrived after 10 working days, check who opens post at the registered office and whether it was forwarded elsewhere. Then check the registered office on the public register is right. A code posted to an old address will not reach you.

Avoid ordering again while a letter may still be in the post. If you do end up with more than one letter, try the most recent code first. Tell your accountant or anyone else who files for the company when the code changes.

The standard route sends the code to the registered office shown on the register. If you can no longer get post there, you have two options.

• Ask for the code to go to an active officer’s home address instead. Companies House uses the home address it already holds for that officer. You cannot see or change that address during the request, so only use this route if the officer has told Companies House their current home address.
• The home address route is not available if the company has filed a document online in the last 30 days, is not based in the UK, is not a limited company or LLP, or is dissolved. We check these conditions before proceeding.
• Changing the registered office online also needs the authentication code. GOV.UK only allows the paper AD01 form in a few cases, such as a company defaulted to the Companies House address or in liquidation. So for most companies without a code, the home address route is the way forward.
• Do not use an address where you cannot collect post. The code lets anyone file changes to the company, so it should only go somewhere the company controls.
• If the address, officer, authority or eligibility is uncertain, choose review first and tell us only what you know. Corporate or protected officer cases need separate review. Do not guess or send us a password.

Overseas companies request their code through Find and update company information, rather than WebFiling. Companies House posts it to the UK establishment address, and that code can only be used to file package accounts. Choose review first so we can check the actual company, establishment and request route before payment.

These are three different things, and filings often need more than one.

• Company authentication code: 6 characters, letters and numbers. It belongs to the company, not a person, and authorises online filings for it. Companies House posts it to the company.
• Companies House personal code: it belongs to a person and is issued when they verify their identity with Companies House. Directors give it in the company’s next confirmation statement. A new authentication code does not replace it.
• WebFiling sign-in: the details a person uses to sign in to Companies House online services. Signing in does not show you the company’s code.
• Government Gateway: this is for HMRC, not Companies House. It cannot be used for Companies House online filing.

Companies House treats the code like a company officer’s signature, and GOV.UK compares it to a bank card PIN: anyone who knows it can change the company’s details online. Share it only with people you trust to file for the company, such as your accountant. If someone who should no longer file knows it, for example a former accountant or member of staff, a director can change it in Companies House WebFiling. Anyone else who files for the company then needs the new code, because the old one stops working.

See also: what to do about a lost company authentication code

• Receiving, storing or passing on the code. It goes straight from Companies House to the chosen address.
• Changing the registered office, an officer’s home address or other company details. These are separate filings.
• Mail forwarding or a registered office address service.
• Any promise about delivery times. Postage is handled by Companies House and Royal Mail.