What’s new at Companies House?
New law
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 is being implemented in phases to give Companies House (CH) and businesses time to adjust. The 4 March implementation focuses on CH’s powers to clean up the Register and clamp down on shady companies.
The need for reform was highlighted recently, when hundreds of false filings of Form MR04 (satisfaction of charge) were discovered. While the account responsible was shut down and the charges in question remain valid, the ease with which the filings were made is concerning. Tip. Use the free “Follow” service (click here ) to monitor your company’s entries and report anything suspicious.
Register reliability
CH’s enhanced powers to query, annotate and remove information that appears to be misleading, inconsistent or inappropriate will improve the quality of the information on the Register. Tip. Keep a close eye on communications from CH - you’ll need to respond promptly to any queries, or you may face a fine, prosecution, or annotation of your company’s information.
Hard copy filings. CH has also made some administrative changes (click here ) to paper filings: (1) hard copy documents can now only be sent to Cardiff; and (2) documents can be authenticated with a printed name or a signature.
Registered addresses
Office. A company’s registered office address must now be one at which receipt of a document can be acknowledged and can be expected to come to the attention of a person acting for the company. Therefore, a PO Box (or other unmanned address) is no longer acceptable. Tip. CH can change any PO Box registered offices to the “default address”, i.e. CH’s address. The company must then nominate an appropriate address within 28 days, or face being struck off under new regulations.
Email. Companies also need to register an email address. This applies to new incorporations as of 4 March; existing companies must include an email address on their next confirmation statement.
Purpose
It may seem obvious, but companies cannot be incorporated for an unlawful purpose. To emphasise this point and perhaps provide an extra hook for prosecution, companies are now obliged to include a statement of lawful purpose in their incorporation applications. Confirmation statements with a confirmation date of 5 March or later have to confirm the lawfulness of the company’s activities.
Names. CH can now refuse to register names with a criminal purpose, that contain computer code or suggest a link with a foreign government or similar body. CH can direct a company to change a name that breaches these (or pre-existing) requirements. Non-compliant names cannot be reregistered or used as business names, either by the company directed to make the change or by any other company (closing a loophole that did not prohibit such reuse). Tip. Do your company’s registered office address and name comply with the new requirements? If not, change them. Tip. Is your confirmation statement (click here ) due soon? Make sure you use the new version if the confirmation date is 5 March 2024 or later. Tip. This is a good time to update your CH file if necessary, ahead of the rise in fees on 1 May.
Create your profile to unlock this advice and many more.