How to Appoint a Director (AP01): A Step-by-Step Guide for UK Companies

Who can be appointed as a director

Before you appoint anyone, check they are eligible. Under section 154 of the Companies Act 2006, a private company must have at least one director, and a public company must have at least two. There is no upper limit, so you can appoint additional directors alongside those already in place. GOV.UK confirms the same minimum: your company must have at least one director.

The person you appoint must be a natural individual of the right age. Section 157 of the Companies Act 2006 states plainly that a person may not be appointed a director of a company unless they have attained the age of 16 years, and any appointment that breaks this rule is void. GOV.UK puts it simply: a director must be 16 or over. If you need to appoint a company as a director rather than an individual, that uses a different form (AP02), not AP01.

Directors do not have to live in the UK, although the company must always have a UK registered office address. Some people are barred from acting without permission. Anyone who has been disqualified from being a director, or who is an undischarged bankrupt, must obtain court permission before taking up the role. It is the company's responsibility to confirm the person is not disqualified or otherwise ineligible.

Information you need to appoint a director

Form AP01 asks for a defined set of details about the new director, and you should collect all of it before you start filing. Some information appears on the public register, and some is kept private by Companies House. Gathering everything up front avoids a stalled filing.

The publicly visible details on AP01 are the director's title, full forename(s), surname, any former name(s) used for business purposes in the last 20 years, country or state of residence, nationality, and month and year of birth. You also provide a service address, which is the correspondence address that appears on the public record. If it is the same as the company's registered office, you can simply state 'The company's registered office'.

Two pieces of information are collected but kept off the public record. The first is the director's full date of birth, including the day. The second is the director's usual residential address, which cannot be a PO Box, DX or Legal Post number. Directors at serious risk of violence or intimidation can apply separately for protection of their residential details under section 243 of the Companies Act 2006.

Identity verification and the personal code

The biggest recent change to appointing a director came into force on 18 November 2025 under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Identity verification is now a legal requirement for directors, people with significant control and certain others. According to GOV.UK, if you become a director you must provide your personal code as part of your appointment filing.

In practice this means the person you are appointing must verify their identity with Companies House before you notify the appointment. Verification produces a Companies House personal code, an 11 character code that is personal to the individual, not to the company. GOV.UK describes it as a unique identifier that connects a verified identity to Companies House's records. You can verify directly through GOV.UK One Login or through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider.

On the current AP01 form (version 9.0), section A4 asks you to confirm that the person appointed as a director has verified their identity in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, and to enter their personal code. Section 167G of the Companies Act 2006 now requires the appointment notice to include an identity verification statement where the new director is an individual. Without a verified identity and code, you cannot properly complete the appointment. Failing to meet identity verification requirements on time can be an offence, and may lead to prosecution and a fine or a financial penalty. This makes verification part of your record keeping and compliance controls, not an afterthought.

How to appoint a director using form AP01

Once eligibility and identity verification are sorted, the appointment itself follows a clear sequence. The board (or the members, depending on your articles of association) decides to make the appointment, the individual consents to act, and the company files form AP01. Most companies file online through the Companies House service, which is faster and cheaper than a paper form. GOV.UK's AP01 page links directly to 'File online: AP01 appointment of a director'.

Consent to act is a formal part of the process. Section 5 of the AP01 form requires the company to confirm that the person named has consented to act as a director of the company. You should record this consent internally, for example in the board minutes, before you file. The form is authenticated by an existing director, the company secretary, or another authorised person, and no physical signature is needed when filing online.

Work through the steps below in order. The one deadline to keep in view throughout is that Companies House must be notified within 14 days, which is covered in the next section.

The 14 day deadline and why it matters

Every appointment carries a firm notification deadline. Section 167G of the Companies Act 2006 states that a notice of a change in directors must be given within the period of 14 days beginning with the day on which the person becomes a director. The same 14 day rule applies when a director ceases to hold office. The notice must specify the date on which the person became a director.

The clock starts on the date of appointment, not the date you get round to filing, so build the deadline into your process. GOV.UK guidance also notes that where a personal code is required, you have a 14 day period during which you must provide it. Missing the window is not a minor administrative slip. Late or missing filings can lead to enforcement action or penalties against the company and its officers.

Keeping the register accurate and up to date is a continuing responsibility, and appointments are only one part of it. A control framework that tracks statutory deadlines, board decisions and identity verification status helps a growing company stay on the right side of Companies House. You can see how a structured approach fits together in the Nasara Connect control toolkit.

A director's duties: what the role really means

Appointing someone to the board is not just a filing exercise. From the moment they accept, a director takes on legal duties. GOV.UK reminds directors that they are legally responsible for running the company and making sure company accounts and reports are properly prepared, and that you may be fined, prosecuted or disqualified from being a company director if you do not meet your responsibilities.

Underpinning these responsibilities are the seven general duties codified in Chapter 2 of Part 10 of the Companies Act 2006, sections 171 to 177. They apply to every director, executive or non-executive, and are set out in the table below. The best known is the section 172 duty to promote the success of the company, which requires a director to act in good faith in the way most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole, having regard to matters such as long term consequences, employees, business relationships, the community and environment, the company's reputation, and fairness between members.

It is worth making sure a prospective director understands these duties before they consent to act, because they cannot be sidestepped by delegating day to day work to an accountant or manager. Anyone building out a board should treat the appointment as the start of an ongoing governance relationship, not a one off form.

Conclusion

Appointing a director is a well defined process, but it now has more moving parts than it did before November 2025. Confirm the person is 16 or over and not barred from acting, make sure they have verified their identity and hold a Companies House personal code, gather the required details, record their consent, and file form AP01. Do all of that within 14 days of the appointment date and you will keep the company compliant and the public register accurate.

The appointment itself is only the beginning of the director's responsibilities, so it pays to treat governance as an ongoing discipline rather than a series of one off filings. If you are still setting up your company or want to keep board changes, deadlines and statutory records organised in one place, get started with Nasara Connect to build the right foundations from day one.

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