Who can be a director?

Generally speaking, any individual can hold the position of Director, subject to the exceptions set out below:

Disqualifications
Subject to any provision in the company's articles, any person can be a director unless they have been disqualified from so acting under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 or by being an undischarged bankrupt.

Note also that a director or shadow director of a company which has gone into insolvent liquidation is prohibited for five years from being a director or shadow director, or being involved in the formation or running of a company which has the same, or a very similar, name to the liquidated company: Insolvency Act 1986, sec216.

Age limits
There is no maximum age limit, however sec157 CA2006 imposes a minimum age of 16 years. Sec159 CA 2006 states that the directorship ceases where a company has an under-age director on the implementation date (1st October 2008) and the necessary changes must be made.

Nationality
There are no statutory limitations as to nationality or residence, etc. It would be possible to include these in a company's articles, but this is very unusual.

Shareholding
The articles may impose a share qualification, but this is unusual in modern companies' articles. If a company has such a provision in its articles, the shares must be acquired within two months of appointment.

Corporate directors (abolished from April 2016)
At common law a company may be appointed as a director of another company. Since the 1st October 2008 all companies must have at least one natural person as a director, sec155 CA 2006. Corporate directors were abolished by the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, a provision expected to come into effect in April 2016.

Company Law Solutions can advise on all aspects of appointment of Directors.