Companies House sign-in changes and GOV.UK One Login
If you use the Find and update company information service, the first change you are likely to notice is not a new form or a new filing rule. It is the sign-in page. Companies House says that, in late August, GOV.UK One Login will become the main way to sign in. That might sound technical, but the practical question is simple: how do you get through the digital front door? This update is about that front door. It matters because it is the first thing users see, and because it starts to reshape how people access Companies House services.
Companies House says existing users can still sign in with their current account details for now. That option is not disappearing straight away, but it will sit further down the sign-in page. So if you already have a Companies House account, you do not need to panic or rebuild everything today. New users, though, will not get that choice. According to the GOV.UK notice, anyone setting up access for the first time will need a GOV.UK One Login. In other words, the change starts with new users first, while current users are being moved over more gradually.
What is not changing is just as important. Companies House is clear that this is a change to the sign-in process only. You are not being asked to verify your identity as part of this step. That distinction matters because government digital changes can easily blur together in people’s minds. A new sign-in method, a new security step and identity checks can sound like one big package. Here, they are not. Right now, this is about how you access the service, not about proving who you are.
GOV.UK One Login is designed to let you use a single email address and password across different government services. To sign in, you use your email address, your password and multi-factor authentication, usually through an authenticator app or a text message. Companies House says this should make access more secure. If you have not used GOV.UK One Login before, it helps to think of it as one government sign-in rather than lots of separate ones. For individual users, that can make things simpler over time, even if it adds an extra security step in the moment.
The part that needs the most attention is shared access. GOV.UK One Login is meant for one individual, linked to that person’s own email address and phone number. That means it does not fit neatly with teams who have been sharing one Companies House account between several people. Companies House is warning those users now for a reason. If a shared account is linked to GOV.UK One Login and then used by multiple people, security controls can be triggered and users can be locked out. The safer plan is for each person who needs access to create their own Companies House account and link it to their own GOV.UK One Login.
What this means for you depends on how your organisation works. If one person manages company information, the message is mostly to be aware of the new sign-in route and expect a gradual move. If several colleagues dip in and out of the same account, this is the moment to sort out who actually needs access and which email address and device each person will use. There is a wider lesson here as well. Companies House says it began moving online services to GOV.UK One Login in autumn 2024, and this latest change is another step in that direction. So the sensible response is not alarm but preparation: know what is changing, know what is not, and fix shared-account habits before the switch becomes compulsory for everyone.