First changes to UK company law expected on 4 March

First changes to UK company law expected on 4 March

Companies House is aiming to introduce the first set of measures under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act on 4 March 2024.

They are aiming to introduce the first set of changes brought in by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act on 4 March. The introduction of these changes needs secondary legislation so this date is still dependent on parliamentary timetables. It will not be earlier than 4 March. Continue reading “First changes to UK company law expected on 4 March”

Same Day Incorporations

Same Day Incorporations

Companies House Update: Same day services are being re-instated for incorporations and name changes as of Thursday 22nd April. Note that the cut-off time will be 11am, and all same day submissions received after 11am will be processed on the following working day.

The same day option is available by ticking the same day option at the beginning of your order.

End of the Memorandum of Association

End of the Memorandum of Association

We are excited about what 2021 has in store for eFiling, our company incorporation software and we will share more information over the coming months. Their current attention focuses on the next Companies House update. As of April 2021, Companies House will no longer accept a Memorandum of Association which means an end to the Memorandum and Articles document within eFiling as we know it today.

The software suppler has been working closely with Companies House to ensure another smooth transition and we will share more details regarding this update, and the migration of the Memorandum and Articles document, in February. This does mean that those who upload their own documents or use their own default for incorporation those documents will have to be amended after this date for future submissions.

Coronavirus Update

Good Morning,

Coronavirus Update

Given the developing COVID-19 situation and following the advice from Government to work from home where possible and avoid unnecessary travel and social contact, I would like to reassure you and confirm that whether we are in our office or working from home we are able to continue to offer a full service.

We will be available both by phone and email between 9am to 5pm, our company formations and Smart Search AML verification software are online and will continue to function 24 hours a day.

We are of course for company incorporations and filings, in the hands of Companies House for the time to process the actual form, once they have processed the form our email confirmation with PDF copies will be sent to you as normal. For the physical despatch of hard copy documents, we are looking at print sessions at the office once or twice a week if possible.

For mail forwarding for our Registered office service most Companies House documents are received from them by email on a daily basis so we can continue to forward by email as normal. HMRC documents are always received in hard copy by post so we will as with the hard copy despatch try to turn these around at the office again once or twice a week.

We would like to wish you all good health for you and your staff during these difficult times and assure you we will be available to support your business as normal as possible during the coming months.

Best wishes

Steve O’Neill

Companies House Down Time

Companies House have advised they will not be processing submissions from 12 noon, Friday the 7th of September until Monday the 10th of September. Same day submissions must be submitted by 12 noon on the 7th of September.

We will still be holding all submissions in this time frame in review and will submit once the service has restarted on Monday, Experience tells us some orders can be lost at Companies House during these periods of maintenance.

Changes to PSC Information Filing Requirements

From 26 June details of PSC Information will no longer be updated on the confirmation statement (CS01). Instead, companies will need to inform Companies House on forms PSC01 to PSC09 whenever changes occur. Companies will have a 14-day window in which to update their internal registers and a further 14 days to send the new information to Companies House. Therefore, a maximum filing time of 28 days from the date of the event. Continue reading “Changes to PSC Information Filing Requirements”

Companies House Planned Maintenance

This is to let you know about planned maintenance that will be occurring at Companies House covering the Easter Break between Thursday, 13 April and Tuesday, 18 April.  This will affect most aspects of their online services

Most of their online services will be unavailable from 11:59pm on Thursday 13 April to 7am on Tuesday 18 April.

The essential system maintenance to the online services will affect:

  • WebFiling
  • XML gateway
  • WebCHeck
  • Companies House Direct

This means you won’t be able to file any information online during this period. We will hold all orders in our review files until the system is confirmed to be back up and running on the Tuesday

You should check Companies House Service (CHS) to see if your accounts are due during the planned maintenance. You may need to file earlier than planned.

PSC requirements – What you must do

PEOPLE WITH SIGNIFICANT CONTROL (PSC)

From April 2016

You need to start keeping a record of the people who control your company. There are criminal penalties if you don’t do this.

For most companies these will be individuals who:

  • Hold more than 25% of the company’s shares
  • Hold more than 25% of the company’s voting rights
  • Have the right to appoint or remove the majority of directors

If an individual does not meet the above conditions, check to see if you have anyone who:

  • Has the right to, or actually exercises, significant influence or control over the company

It could also be individual who:

  • Has the right to, or actually exercises, significant influence or control over a trust or company that meets one of the above conditions

There is some more information on how to identify your PSCs:
This is the statutory guidance issued by BIS Continue reading “PSC requirements – What you must do”

Date of Implementation of Persons of Significant Control Registers (PSC)

Companies House had a target date of 6 April 2016 for the launch of these public registers (PSC), to achieve this they have been busily rewriting the coding which many would have noticed the slowing down in the times it takes to process various forms. We had become used to the 3 to 4 hour average which has now become closer to the 24 hour target time Companies House set themselves.

Due the volume of work to be undertaken and the various pieces of secondary legislation having to be passed through Parliament the implementation date has been put back to 1 July 2016.

Our programme providers who are still awaiting some of the schematics for the rewriting of our software Are confident that our software will be running and recording information into our registers which are PSC compliant before the official implementation date.