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Category: Companies House

Latest news and press releases from Companies House

Companies House begins phased roll out of new powers to tackle fraud

Posted on by Steve O'neill

The first measures under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCT Act) came into force on Monday 4 March 2024.

Changes introduced today include:

  • greater powers to query information and request supporting evidence
  • stronger checks on company names
  • 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’re 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
  • 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 today.

First changes to UK company law expected on 4 March

Posted on by Steve O'neill

First changes to UK company law expected on 4 March

Companies House is aiming to introduce the first set of measures under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act on 4 March 2024.

They are aiming to introduce the first set of changes brought in by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act on 4 March. The introduction of these changes needs secondary legislation so this date is still dependent on parliamentary timetables. It will not be earlier than 4 March. Continue reading “First changes to UK company law expected on 4 March”

Same Day Incorporations

Posted on by Steve O'neill

Same Day Incorporations

Companies House Update: Same day services are being re-instated for incorporations and name changes as of Thursday 22nd April. Note that the cut-off time will be 11am, and all same day submissions received after 11am will be processed on the following working day.

The same day option is available by ticking the same day option at the beginning of your order.

End of the Memorandum of Association

Posted on by Steve O'neill

End of the Memorandum of Association

We are excited about what 2021 has in store for eFiling, our company incorporation software and we will share more information over the coming months. Their current attention focuses on the next Companies House update. As of April 2021, Companies House will no longer accept a Memorandum of Association which means an end to the Memorandum and Articles document within eFiling as we know it today.

The software suppler has been working closely with Companies House to ensure another smooth transition and we will share more details regarding this update, and the migration of the Memorandum and Articles document, in February. This does mean that those who upload their own documents or use their own default for incorporation those documents will have to be amended after this date for future submissions.

Companies House Gateway Rejections

Posted on by Steve O'neill

We would like to provide an update on the current state of the Companies House gateway.

Companies House’s systems are currently becoming intermittently unresponsive for prolonged periods of time. This is leading to many submissions being returned with a variant on one of the following errors:

  • Companies House Error: No data received from ngsrv
  • Companies House Error: Not a “HTTPS” request
  • Transmission Failure (Failed to send data request.)

Unfortunately, as these are all responses directly from Companies House’s systems on seemingly valid submissions. This is also causing services that rely on Companies House, such as the name check functionality, to become slow and unreliable.

Our programme providers have been speaking with Companies House since Monday in relation to these errors in hopes that a solution could be found, presently Companies House are unable to provide a timescale as to when these errors will be resolved.

For the time being, we will continue to resubmit these rejections as some submissions are being picked up by their system during the small windows where the gateway is functioning correctly. We are also temporarily returning all company names as available to prevent customers being turned away prior to starting an order, this will result in some orders being raised with company names that are unavailable, however, the alternative is that customers could see lengthy delays before being able to start an order.

Companies House Down Time

Posted on by Steve O'neill

Companies House have advised they will not be processing submissions from 12 noon, Friday the 7th of September until Monday the 10th of September. Same day submissions must be submitted by 12 noon on the 7th of September.

We will still be holding all submissions in this time frame in review and will submit once the service has restarted on Monday, Experience tells us some orders can be lost at Companies House during these periods of maintenance.

PSC register risks

Posted on by Steve O'neill

Failure to report on PSC register risks criminal prosecution

Since 26 June 2017 Companies House has been contacting, usually by formal letter, those individuals and companies who have not complied with the PSC Regulations.

Now harsher action is to be taken as it is a criminal offence not to comply with the new transparency of ownership rules.

This next phase to ensure that individuals and companies comply with the new regulations this means Companies House will pass on details of potential criminality to the Insolvency Service’s Criminal Enforcement Team, to investigate offences under Part 21A of the Companies Act on behalf of the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and issue criminal proceedings where appropriate.

The requirements to keep a PSC register are set out in Part 21A of the Companies Act 2006.

A person with significant control (PSC) is someone who owns or controls a company, and is also known as ‘beneficial owners’. Most PSCs are likely to be people who hold more than 25% of shares in the company, more than 25% of voting rights in the company and have the right to appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors.
The Register of People with Significant Control Regulations 2016 (PSC) was introduced in April 2016. It requires all UK companies (including charitable companies and subsidiaries of exempted companies) and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and certain Scottish partnerships to keep a PSC register, and people who control companies or other relevant entities will be subject to a disclosure requirement.

Around 98.5% of companies have complied with PSC regulations, Companies House confirmed. There are still around 50,000 companies flouting the rules.

People with Significant Control (Amendment) Regulations 2017

Posted on by Steve O'neill

People with Significant Control (Amendment) Regulations 2017

The Government enacted the legislation necessary to implement changes required by the Fourth Money Laundering Directive to the UK regime for the disclosure of people with significant control (PSCs). Two sets of amending regulations were made at the last minute, both of which came into force on 26 June 2017.

  • the Information about People with Significant Control (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/693); and
  • the Scottish Partnerships (Register of People with Significant Control) Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/694).

Both sets of regulations were laid before Parliament on 23 June, just three days before they came into force. Continue reading “People with Significant Control (Amendment) Regulations 2017”

Changes to PSC registers Transitional Arrangements

Posted on by Steve O'neill

Changes to PSC registers Transitional Arrangements  

Under the transitional arrangements set out in the Schedule to the 2017 Regulations, the obligation in s. 790VA to notify changes to Companies House applies to a change to a company’s PSC register made before, on or after 26 June 2016 unless the company has already notified the change in a confirmation statement. Any change to the PSC register made before 26 June 2017 that is notifiable under this rule, must be notified to Companies House before the end of the period of 14 days beginning with 26 June 2017. Continue reading “Changes to PSC registers Transitional Arrangements”

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