Companies House’s role is changing from 4th March 2024. From this date and over a period of years, there will be various changes taking place for limited companies and their directors underpinned legally with changes to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act.

As a result, Companies House will be empowered to tackle economic crime and support economic growth in the UK so the UK continues to be the safest and best place to do business. Their role will move from a passive to a proactive role from 4th March 2024.

As a limited company director, it is important that you understand what is changing and are prepared.

The purpose of this blog is to detail the first of these changes coming into force now and the changes coming down the road.

**New rules for registered office addresses**

From the 4th March 2024, you can no longer use PO Box addresses as your registered office address on the Companies House register.
You can still use your agent's or accountant’s address for your registered office.
If you currently have a PO Box as your registered office address, you need to change this now and by 4th March 2024. Companies House will have the power thereafter to strike off or close the company if they write to you and ask you to change your address and you do not respond within 28 days of their letter.
Your registered office address should be ‘appropriate’; in other words, any address you use should be expected to come to the attention of a person not a PO Box, either the director, shareholder or a person acting on behalf of the company, like your accountant.

**Registered email addresses are now required**

From the 4th March, anyone setting up a new company or completing a confirmation statement will be prompted to provide an email address.
This email address won’t appear on the public register of company, and is used solely for the purpose of companies house communicating with the person or persons in charge of the company.
You can use more than one email address, such as the business owner(s) and your accountant’s.
This change, along with the other changes noted in this blog, are a legal requirement, and not optional.
You can add your registered email address(es) when you login to webfiling for companies house. A new facility will be available from the launch date once you log-in.

**Shareholders: Confirming Lawful Purpose**

Any new companies or for the filing of your next confirmation statement will require you to confirm, as a shareholder, that you all activities in the company are operating within the law, or with a ‘lawful’ purpose.
Companies House will be empowered from the 4th March to question and advise prosecution if they believe any shareholder or company is not acting lawfully.

**Active review of the Companies House register and information accuracy**

From this point onwards, there will be active checks taking place on the information provided on the Companies House register.
If Companies House queries or has concerns on any company, annotations will appear on your company’s entry on the register, highlighting for the public to take heed and notice to offer protection and transparency.
Companies House will give you an opportunity to address their concerns and to remove the annotations, and it is a legal requirement for you to respond to any queries you receive from them.
Failure to work with Companies House on their queries could mean a financial penalty, permanent annotations on your entry on the register and/or prosecution.

Changes to Fees

As a result of enhanced powers and activity within Companies House from 4th March, their fees for various services are increasing. The fees will cover the cost of their new powers and related activities and they do not exist as an orgainsation to make profit, but rather work with the UK government to ensure good governance and protect the UK economy from financial crime and provide transparency to the public.

You can see a full list of fee increases here, and main changes highlighted below:

The main change will be an increase to annual Confirmation Statements increasing to £34 from £13 per year.

Planned changes coming in the near future

Introducion of compulsory ID checks for directors and shareholders
Streamlining accounts filing for small and micro entities
Transitioning filing of compliance reporting digitally via software and phasing out of paper submissions

Next steps

It is important that you check how the planned changes impact you and you fully understand your responsibilities.

This is the first phase of a large rollout of changes planned by the UK government via Companies House over the coming years. These changes impact new and existing companies, their shareholders, directors, persons with significant control, and anyone who files accounts on behalf of the company.