COVID-19: Changes to Companies House filing deadlines

As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, some companies are experiencing difficulties with meeting their legal responsibilities to ensure that their Companies House filings are up to date.

On 16 April, the Government announced that it had acknowledged these difficulties and, although there was no formal extension of time limits for filing requirements, consequences for late filing of documents at Companies House were relaxed.

Now the Government has gone one step further and on 26 June 2020 the Companies etc. (Filing Requirements) (Temporary Modifications) Regulations 2020 were published, with the intention of easing the pressure on companies struggling in the current pandemic.

These changes, which affect public and private companies, limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships, will extend certain deadlines that fall between 27 June 2020 and 5 April 2021.

The key changes are as follows:

• The 14-day deadline for annual confirmation statements after the end of the confirmation period has been increased to 42 days.

• The 3-month deadline for accounts and reports filing has been increased to 12 months for private companies and 9 months for public companies.

• The 21-day deadline for registering a charge has been increased to 31 days.

• The 14-day deadline for submitting notices covering events such as a change of director or PSC has been increased to 42 days.

These changes will no doubt be welcomed by businesses across the country who are struggling to meet filing deadlines in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.