Changes to company filing requirements confirmation statements and the central register

The following changes to company filing requirements came into effect on 30 June 2016.

Confirmation statement – instead of an annual return, all companies must now file a confirmation statement at least once a year, initially within 14 days of the company’s return date. Unlike an annual return, a confirmation statement does not include details of the company’s directors, secretary or registered office; and the company’s principal business activities, statement of capital and shareholder information are included only if these have changed since last filed. In filing a confirmation statement, the company confirms that all required information has been delivered to the registrar of companies. It may sometimes be convenient to file a confirmation statement early, if the company’s filings are up to date; the company will then not have to file another confirmation statement for a year. A confirmation statement is made on Companies House form CS01, and the annual fee is £13 for an online filing and £40 for a paper filing.

Information from PSC register – a company’s first confirmation statement should include information from its PSC register, listing people with significant control over the company. Companies due to file a confirmation statement shortly should therefore ensure their PSC register is up to date. See our earlier article on the PSC regime.

Statement of capital – the statement of capital to be used in a confirmation statement and other Companies House forms, such as a return of allotment of shares, has been simplified. It now includes a single aggregate figure for the amount unpaid on all shares in issue, rather than separate figures for the amount paid (or unpaid) on each share.

Central register – a company may, if it so chooses, keep any or all of its register of members, register of directors, register of directors’ residential addresses, register of secretaries and PSC register on the central register at Companies House, as an alternative to keeping those registers at its registered office. Changes to a register kept centrally will become public as they occur, and certain information (including the full date of birth of directors and people with significant control, and shareholders’ addresses) will become publicly accessible via the Companies House website. The company must ask its members for their consent, and people with significant control have the right to object, before those registers are kept on the central register.