Guidance

Your details on Companies House paper documents

Updated 4 March 2024

1. Submitting paper documents

Write the full company name and name ending (for example Ltd, Limited, PLC) with the company number.

We will return your document if you do not include the right company number, or if you use a company name with an abbreviation that’s not allowed.

We’ll also return your document if the company name has spelling errors or variations.

We’ll accept documents missing the word “THE” from a company name, but only if it’s found at the beginning of the name.

2. Acceptable abbreviations

For public companies	For LLPs	For private limited companies	For community interest companies (private limited)	For community interest companies (public limited)
Public Limited Company	Limited Liability Partnership	Limited	Community Interest Company	Community Interest Public Limited Company
PLC	LLP	Ltd	CIC	Community Interest PLC
P.L.C.	L.L.P.	Ltd.	C.I.C.	Community Interest P.L.C.
Cwmni Cyfyngedig Cyhoeddus	Partneriaeth Atebolrwydd Cyfyngedig	Cyfyngedig	Cwmni Buddiant Cymunedol	Cwmni Buddiant Cymunedol Cyhoeddus Cyfyngedig
CCC	PAC	CYF	CBC	Cwmni Buddiant Cymunedol CCC
C.C.C.	P.A.C.	CYF.	C.B.C.	Cwmni Buddiant Cymunedol C.C.C.

3. Authentication

You must authorise the form. We’ll accept a signature or printed name of the person authenticating the form which is:

• digitally generated
• typed directly into the form
• scanned onto the form
• hand-written in black ink

3.1 Changes to signature authentication

From 4 March 2024, Companies House is changing the method of authentication for paper filings.

In most circumstances, the Companies Act 2006 gives the Registrar of Companies the power to specify the means of authentication in respect of any authorised person filing forms on behalf of a company.

Previously, the registrar’s rules specified the signature as the means of authentication for forms filed on paper. The government understands a signature is an item of personal data that can be forged and used for fraud and identity theft, and is committed to reducing the amount of personal data on the public register. 

For most paper forms received at Companies House from 4 March 2024, we’ll accept the signature or the printed name of the person authenticating the form on behalf of the company.

For most forms, any means of authentication entered on the form (signature or printed name) will appear on the public register.

We’re currently updating our paper forms for new measures under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) which received royal assent in October 2023. As part of this rolling programme, the forms will be updated to notify the changes to authentication.

Exemptions to using a printed name from 4 March 2024

We’ll still require a signed balance sheet on accounts delivered on paper.

In some cases, current legislation specifies a requirement for certain filings to be signed. These are:

• any filing under sections 8A, 8D and 9 of the Limited Partnerships Act 1907 
• any filing under regulations 11(1)(a), 12(1)(a) and 14(2) of The Community Interest Company Regulations 2005 
• a director’s statement of solvency as required by  section 644 of the Companies Act 2006 and regulation 2(c)  of The Companies (Reduction of Share Capital) Order 2008

This signature requirement will be removed under future secondary regulations. We’ll let you know when authentication for these filings will change to allow a printed name.

See the registrar’s rules for full details of acceptable methods of authentication for each form.