What information must a company send to Companies House?

A great deal of information must be registered by a company at Companies House. It is all available to the public and the requirement to supply such information is perceived as being the price of being granted the privilege of corporate personality and limited liability. The information must be sent to Companies House on first registration of the company and during its lifetime. This page covers:

On first registration
When a company is first registered it must send to Companies House the following:

  1. Articles of association (unless these are the Model Articles without amendment, which is unusual)
  2. Form IN01. This contains:
    Full company name
    Company type (e.g. private company limited by shares, etc.)
    Situation of registered office (e.g. England and Wales)
    The company's articles, which may be one of the sets of Model Articles or amended Model Articles or specially drafted articles
    Whether the articles contain any restrictions (i.e. provisions that cannot be altered by special resolution)
    Details of the company secretary (if any). (If a corporate secretary is appointed, details of registration)
    Details of directors (name, any former name, date of birth, nationality, occupation, both a service address and usual residential address). If there are any corporate directors, their registration details.
    Statement of capital, showing details of the class, nominal amount, number allotted, amount paid up (including any premium), aggregate issued share capital, rights attached to the shares.
    Details of the shares to be issued on allotment and the identities of the shareholders
  3. Memorandum of association containing names of subscribers

Changes to the company's details
If the company does any of a long list of things, the right form must be sent to Companies House. Common examples are:

The above are just examples. From 1.10.2009 many new forms were introduced. There are many more forms than previously and most are more complex than their predecessors. A full list of forms is available on the Companies House website, with a download facility. Some forms, but not all, can be filed electronically using the Companies House Webfiling service.

If the company makes any alteration to its articles a copy of the whole document as altered must be registered.

Directors' addresses

From 1st. October 2009, directors' details provided to Companies House and to be entered on the company's own register of directors will include both a 'service address' and usual residential address. In most circumstances the service address is the only one to be kept available to the public at Companies House and in the company's statutory registers. For more details click here.

Annual Return
Each year (generally with reference to the anniversary of the company's date of registration) the company must make an annual return. This is done either electronically (with a fee of £15) or by completing and signing a paper form (fee £30). The annual return states much of the information currently on file at Companies House (registered office, directors, shareholders, industry classification). It serves two purposes: (1) it prompts the company to bring any information which has changed up to date; (2) it makes searching the file at Companies House easier. It is only necessary for most purposes to go back to the last annual return and note any changes registered since that date.

Annual accounts
All limited companies have to file annual accounts. The bigger companies have to file full accounts comprising a balance sheet, profit and loss account, directors' report and auditors report. Small and medium sized companies can send 'modified accounts', containing less detail.

Statutory registers
Apart from the disclosure requirements at Companies House, all companies must maintain a set of statutory registers which are also public documents and may be inspected by any member of the public.

Getting information about companies
The information registered by a company at Companies House is on the public record and available to anyone who wants to see it. Some of the information is free from Companies House, but most requires payment of a fee. You can also buy reports on companies from Incorporation Services Limited, based on either the Companies House information or a commercial database.

Free information from Companies House
Buying information from Companies House
Incorporation Services Limited Companies House report
Incorporation Services Limited commercial database report

Free information from the Companies House website
This provides the following basic information on all UK registered companies (and LLPs):
Company name
Registered office address
Date of Incorporation
Country of Origin
Company Type (private, public, etc.)
Nature of Business (by SIC code)
Accounting Reference Date
Last accounts date
Next accounts due date
Last Annual Return date
Next Annual Return due date
Last members list
Any previous company names (with date of change):

Buying information from Companies House
It is also possible to see a list of the documents registered against each company and buy copies of any of the documents shown.

ISL Companies House report
This is a report compiled from the information at Companies House. There are different reports available, but the most popular are the standard company search with accounts (£30.00 plus VAT) or without accounts (£25.00 plus VAT). These will provide details of the company, including its directors, shareholders, etc., which is a more accessible presentation of the information than that available from Companies House itself, which can supply one or more documents, but will not extract the information and present it as a cohesive whole.
There are also more specialised reports, such as one for conveyancing purposes (used by solicitors where the vendor of the property is a company) and bankruptcy petition reports.

ISL Commercial database report
Incorporation Services Limited can provide information from a commercial database on all registered companies and some sole trader/partnership businesses from a comprehensive commercial database to which we subscribe. This will contain the Companies House information plus, in many cases, information from other sources, such as press reports, county court judgments, etc. The cost is £25.00 plus VAT.

When you require information about a registered company contact Incorporation Services Limited . If the information is available, we can supply it. If it is available on-line, we can fax or email it to you, giving the quickest possible service. We have the most efficient company search system available to get the information to you as quickly as possible.

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