Changes to UK Company Law

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act received royal assent on 26 October 2023.

The act gives Companies House the power to play a more significant role in tackling economic crime and supporting economic growth. Over time, the measures will lead to improved transparency and more accurate and trusted information on our registers.

There’ll be new responsibilities for:

• all new and existing company directors
• people with significant control of a company (PSCs)
• anyone who files on behalf of a company

Find out what’s changing for you and your company, so you can take action at the right time.

Changes to UK Company Law at a glance

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act will introduce a number of changes over the next few years. This page summarises everything you need to know about the new measures.

Improving the quality of data on our registers

Greater powers for Companies House to query information, stronger checks on company names, new rules for registered office addresses, and new lawful purpose statements.

Identity verification

Anyone setting up, running, owning or controlling a company in the UK will need to verify their identity.

Changes to accounts

Transitioning towards filing accounts by software only, and changes to small company accounts filing options.  

Confirmation statement changes

New requirements to provide a registered email address and to confirm that the future activities of the company will be lawful.  

Changes to Companies House fees

Increasing fees to take new future expenditure into account, as well as making sure costs are recovered from existing expenditure. 

Protecting your information

Individuals will be able to apply to suppress personal information from historical documents, and apply to have personal information protected from public view because of risk of harm.  

Changes to limited partnerships

Limited partnerships will need to file their information through authorised agents, and they’ll need to file more information with Companies House.

Investigation, enforcement and data sharing

More effective investigation and enforcement powers for Companies House, and new powers to share data with law enforcement agencies and other government departments.  

Find out who is affected by the changes.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

source: https://www.gov.uk