6. Companies House
Companies House
This section contains content published after 1 January 2020. Articles published before this date can be found on the National Archives here
Companies House is currently looking at ways to digitally enable filing of insolvency forms. In order to help develop the service to best suit customer needs, Companies House would be grateful if insolvency practitioners can complete a short user research survey which can be accessed via: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RNCT9NX
Any feedback received will help Companies House shape the development of the digital service.
Please note this proposed digital service is separate to the recently introduced ‘Upload a document’ service which allows forms to be uploaded digitally as a PDF that were previously completed on paper and posted.
Companies House thanks insolvency practitioners for their continued support.
Companies House would like to know what you think about the Insolvency Filing Service and have developed the following survey that will give us an understanding of how the paper and upload service are working for you:
https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/insolvfiling/
The survey is completely anonymous and should take less than 2 minutes to complete. At the end of the survey, you will also be asked if you would be willing to take part in future surveys and research that Companies House may want to carry out in the future. This would be very helpful when Companies House is developing new digital services for Insolvency filings.
Thank you in advance for completing the survey.
Any enquiries regarding this article should be directed towards email: Pblake@companieshouse.gov.uk
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill is currently making its way through Parliament. This Bill builds on the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022, which introduced the new Register of Overseas Entities on 1 August 2022.
The Bill will introduce large-scale changes to Companies House and will fundamentally change its role and purpose.
The measures in the Bill include:
- introducing identity verification for all new and existing registered company directors, people with significant control, and those who file on behalf of companies,
- broadening the registrar’s powers so that they can become a more active gatekeeper over company creation and a custodian of more reliable data,
- improving the financial information on the register so that the register is more reliable and accurate, reflects the latest advancements in digital technology, and enables better business decisions,
- providing Companies House with more effective investigation and enforcement powers, and introducing better cross-checking of data with other public and private sector bodies,
- enhancing the protection of personal information provided to Companies House to protect individuals from fraud and other harms.
In advance of the Bill passing into law (which is hoped for in spring 2023) Companies House is publishing a series of blog posts to explore the Bill in detail and to give notice about the changes that customers and stakeholders can expect.
Two blog posts have been published so far:
Companies House is also encouraging customers and stakeholders to sign up for its newsletters to hear all the latest updates. You can visit news updates subscription page, and/or email stakeholderengagement@companieshouse.gov.uk if you’d like to sign up for Companies House stakeholder newsletter.
When the Bill is enacted, Companies House will publish a central hub of enabling customers and stakeholders to find the latest information relevant to them in order to take the necessary action.
Companies House will share the link to the campaign site in its newsletters and on its social channels once it is live. You are asked to keep up to date with those channels over the coming months.
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill received royal assent in October 2023 and introduced 4 new objectives for the registrars:
- to ensure that anyone who is required to deliver a document to the registrar does so (and that the requirements for proper delivery are complied with),
- to ensure information contained in the register is accurate and that the register contains everything it ought to contain,
- to ensure that records kept by the registrar do not create a false or misleading impression to members of the public,
- to prevent companies and others from carrying out unlawful activities or facilitating others to carry out unlawful activities.
From Monday 4 March 2024, Companies House started to use the new and enhanced powers to improve the quality and reliability of its data and tackle misuse of the companies register.
Changes introduced include:
- new rules for registered office addresses (all companies must have an appropriate address at all times - they will not be able to use a PO Box as their registered office address),
- a requirement for all companies to supply a registered email address,
- a requirement for subscribers to confirm they are forming a company for a lawful purpose when they incorporate, and for a company to confirm its intended future activities will be lawful on its confirmation statement,
- stronger checks on company names,
- greater powers to query information and request supporting evidence,
- greater powers to tackle and remove factually inaccurate information,
- the ability to share data with other government departments and law enforcement agencies.
New criminal offences and civil penalties will complement the measures introduced.
Updated forms
Companies House forms have been updated to reflect these changes and you should replace any existing forms that you have with the new versions. To avoid rejection, care should be taken to make sure the new forms are correctly completed:
- It is important to make sure you are using the correct postcode and county/region in a company’s registered office address on the AD01 form.
- There is a new tick box on the AD01 form under the ‘appropriate registered office address’ section to confirm that the new registered office address is an appropriate address. You must tick this box before submitting the form.
- A copy of the Declaration of Solvency is required on the LIQ01 form and not the original. A new LIQ01 is available on GOV.UK for your use.
Some fees are increasing from 1 May 2024
Companies House fees are set on a cost recovery basis. This means that the fees must cover the cost of the services Companies House delivers. Some of the fees will increase on 1 May 2024:
https://changestoukcompanylaw.campaign.gov.uk/changes-to-companies-house-fees/.
The work that has begun is the first step into the future of Companies House. A future where Companies House can be confident of the accuracy of the information on its registers, where it can question and investigate the information provided, and where it works with law enforcement agencies to counter economic crime.
Future changes will include the introduction of identity verification for all new and existing registered company directors, people with significant control, and those who file on behalf of companies – including Insolvency Practitioners.
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023) introduces several provisions aimed at tackling economic crime, improving corporate transparency, and strengthening the powers of Registrar of Companies.
One specific area of reform relates to the Registrar’s power to disclose information to public authorities to assist with the discharge of their public functions. ECCTA also introduced a power to make regulations establishing further information disclosure gateways for the Registrar.
The Information Sharing (Disclosure by the Registrar) Regulations 2024 came into force on 20 December 2024. The regulations introduce new powers for the Registrar to disclose non-public information to insolvency practitioners and official receivers for certain specified functions which are not considered to be of a public nature. This will also apply to Northern Irish and Scottish equivalents.
The Information Sharing (Disclosure by the Registrar) Regulations 2024
Insolvency Practitioners are required to complete a designated request form to obtain information.
If you have a request or any queries, you should email Law Enforcement Liaison leliaison@companieshouse.gov.uk.
The Registrar will only disclose information once satisfied that the request is proportionate and necessary for assisting the specified person in the course of their duties.
The Registrar will not supply any publicly available documents. Statutory documents can be freely downloaded from https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house
Protecting Employee and Consumer Creditor Information
Companies House is required to make UK company insolvency information publicly available on the register. However, this obligation must be balanced against the need to protect certain categories of information.
Where a statement of affairs is produced in insolvency proceedings; including administration, administrative receivership and liquidation, it must be filed with the registrar. Once filed, the document becomes publicly available to view.
Under the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 and the Insolvency (Scotland) (Company Voluntary Arrangements and Administration) Rules 2018, details of employees, former employee creditors and consumer creditors must be removed from the statement of affairs before it is filed. This information must be set out in a separate schedule and redacted prior to submission.
Insolvency practitioners should ensure that all such information is removed before filing to meet the requirements for proper delivery. Failure to do so may result in the filing being rejected by Companies House, requiring the document to be re-filed.
While this article focuses on the requirements for filing statements of affairs at Companies House, as set out in Dear IP issue 82, insolvency practitioners are reminded that creditor address information is personal data and should be handled appropriately in all contexts. This includes taking care when sharing, storing or disclosing such information outside of statutory filing requirements, and ensuring that only information that is necessary and proportionate for the purpose is used.