This Saturday (10th October) the Companies House Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act will come into force.
The Act amends the information that a business is legally required to give to Companies House, as well as the amount of time it takes to close defunct businesses. The amendments will affect every UK company.
The Act is intended to:
- Reduce red tape whilst increasing the quality of information on the public register
- Enhance transparency and ensure that the UK is recognised as a fair place to do business
The changes are as follows:
Date of Birth
The day element of a company directors’ date of birth will no longer be available from Companies House due to the partial suppression of date of birth on the public register. This means that if a directors’ date of birth is 01/06/1950, it will be shown only as 06/1950.
Accelerated Strike-Off Times
Companies House will be able to strike a defunct business off of the company register not less than two months from the publication of the first Gazette notice. This change is intended to increase the speed of the process whilst still allowing any creditors time to register an objection.
Digital Consent to Act
The Act will phase out the need for paper documents, replacing current paperwork with digital versions. At present newly appointed directors and secretaries need to sign a form saying that they have chosen to take up their role and that they accept their legal responsibilities. However now they will no longer need to sign anything as it is implied that they have accepted and agreed to their responsibilities.
Companies House will still contact new directors and secretaries to make them aware of their official appointment and their statutory duties.
