Companies House has begun its phased rollout of new powers in order to tackle economic crime. The first set of changes introduced on the 4 March 2024 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 and 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 are 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 deal with and remove factually inaccurate information
  • The ability to share data with other government departments and law enforcement agencies together with new criminal offences and civil penalties to enforce these measures.

These will impact new and current directors, people with significant control and anyone who makes filings on behalf of a company.

If you need advice on these updates, please contact me at s.li@teacherstern.com or +44 (0) 20 7611 2362.