Companies House changes – Dates for your diary

The provisions of the ECCTA relating to Companies House are being introduced in phases as some changes require secondary legislation.

Under the measures implemented to date, Companies House has been given powers to:

• Remove incorrect or fraudulent information from the register.
• Reject fraudulent or misleading company names.
• Introduce a new definition of an appropriate registered office address.
• Change inappropriate registered office addresses to a default address, giving the company 28 days to provide an appropriate address or face the striking-off process.
• More easily share information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies.
• Require companies to provide a registered email address for filing matters.
• Reject documents notifying the appointment of a disqualified director as a new director of an existing company.
• Require companies to confirm that they are being formed for a lawful purpose and that their intended future activities will be lawful.
• Increase fees for incorporation and other filings to fund investigation of and enforcement against those misusing the register.
• Issue fines of up to £2,000 for individual offences.

Key Dates

Although the timetable is being kept under review, we have prepared a list of key dates for your diary of what is scheduled to change over the coming months.

Autumn 2024

Companies House will be able to issue financial penalties for relevant offences under the ECCTA and the Companies Act 2006.

Winter 2024/Early 2025

Expedited strike-off

An expedited striking-off process will be introduced where the Registrar has concluded that a company has been formed for a false basis.

A false basis means that a material detail of any information in the application, or statement made to the Registrar in respect of an application, is misleading, false or deceptive.

The expedited strike-off process will take 28 days, rather than the current two months.

Annotating the register

The Registrar will be able to annotate the register, for example to correct misleading or confusing information, in a wider range of circumstances.

These include where a disqualified director has yet to have their appointment terminated on the register and where Companies House has issued a statutory notice to require more information from an individual but the matter remains unresolved.

Spring 2025

ACSPs

To carry out identity checks on their clients and submit information, trust and company service providers (e.g. company formation agents) and professional service providers such as accountants and solicitors must register to become authorised corporate service providers (ASCPs).

They will need to be supervised by a relevant anti-money laundering supervisory body, for example the Financial Conduct Authority, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants or the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Voluntary verification

Companies House will allow individuals to voluntarily verify their identity and permit applications from people seeking to prevent disclosure of their residential addresses in certain circumstances, for example where there is a risk of harm.

Stay up to date

We will be issuing a further update on the next set of changes in spring 2025 to enable you to prepare for the continued implementation of this significant piece of company legislation. In the meantime, please see our previous articles for further information on the ECCTA below:

• Introduction to proposed Companies House reforms
• Identity verification reform
• Proposed civil and criminal sanctions for breach of the Companies Act
• Proposed introduction of discrepancy reporting requirements for all businesses
• Expanding the role of the Registrar
• The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 receives Royal Assent
• Measures in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act come into force