The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023

Improving the accuracy and quality of data on Companies House

This is the first of a number of articles in relation to The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA).

ECCTA received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. 

One of the key aims of ECCTA is to improve the accuracy and quality of the data on our registers, to help tackle economic crime and drive confidence in the UK economy.

Companies House’s objectives are: 

• to ensure that anyone who is required to deliver a document to Companies House does so (and that the requirements for proper delivery are complied with);

• to ensure information contained in the register is accurate and that the register contains everything it ought to contain;

• to ensure that records kept by Companies House do not create a false or misleading impression to members of the public;

• to prevent companies and others from carrying out unlawful activities or facilitating the carrying out by others of unlawful activities.

What are the changes?

1. Registered office changes:

From 4 March 2024, all companies must have an ‘appropriate address’ as their registered office.  This means that a document addressed to the company, and delivered there by hand or by post, would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company and which is capable of being recorded by the obtaining of an acknowledgement of delivery.

You will not be able to use a PO Box as your registered office address in the future.  The Government will take action against companies that do not have an appropriate registered office address .

If Companies House believes that a company’s registered office is not appropriate, it will change it to a default address, held at Companies House.  If a company’s registered office is moved to the default address, it must provide an appropriate address within 28 days, or Companies House can start the process to strike the company off the register. 

2. Statement of lawful purpose:

From 4 March 2024, Companies House will impose a new requirement when you register or ‘incorporate’ a company.  The subscribers to the company will need to confirm they’re forming the company for a lawful purpose. 

A company will also need to confirm its intended future activities are lawful, on their annual confirmation statement.

3. Companies House increased powers:

From 4 March 2024, Companies House will have greater powers to query and challenge information that appears to be incorrect or inconsistent with information it holds.  It will also be able to remove information more quickly, if that information is inaccurate, incomplete, false or fraudulent. 

There will be stronger checks on company names which may give a false or misleading impression to the public.  This will help improve the accuracy and quality of the data Companies House holds and help to tackle the misuse of company names. 

Enforcement and sanctions

There will be serious consequences if a company does not respond to a formal request from Companies House for more information. This could include:

• a financial penalty
• an annotation on the company’s record
• prosecution

Confirmation Statement Changes

Provision of a registered email address: Every company, including dormant and non-trading companies, must file a confirmation statement at least once every year. It confirms the information held at Companies House is up to date.

From 4 March 2024, all new companies will need to give a registered email address when they incorporate. Existing companies will need to give a registered email address when they file their next confirmation statement, with a statement date from 5 March 2024 onwards. 

Companies House will use this email address to communicate with the company – it will not be available to the public. 

Statement to confirm the company is lawful: All companies will need to confirm that the intended future activities of the company will be lawful every year on the confirmation statement. You will not be able to file a confirmation statement without this statement.

This will apply to all confirmation statements with a statement date from 5 March 2024 onwards.