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Earlier this month the first tranche of changes came into force as part of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA).

While representing a significant shake-up, these changes needed secondary legislation and process updates at Companies House before taking effect, so we’re only now seeing them trickle into force.

Alongside providing the Registrar of Companies with new and enhanced powers there are a raft of new functions that companies will need to be alive to.

What’s changed and what does it mean for you?

• Registered office addresses – must at all times be an appropriate address; not a PO Box.
• Statement of Lawful Purpose – you’ll need to confirm the company’s intended future activities are lawful, on their annual confirmation statement (and on incorporation of new Companies).
• Registered Email Address - there’ll be a new requirement for all companies to give a registered email address to Companies House, though it will not be published on the public register.
• Registrar’s Powers - the registrar will have greater powers to query and challenge information that appears to be incorrect or inconsistent with information they hold. They may annotate the register to note any inconsistencies and will aim to clean up the register.
• Enforcement and Sanctions - there’ll be serious consequences if a company does not respond to a formal request from Companies House for more information.

Registered Email Address:

Our Company Secretarial retainer clients will have received communications from us around the provision of a Registered Email Address (REA) for Companies House. 

All companies must have a REA logged with Companies House so that Companies House can correspond electronically with them. A REA will be an “appropriate email address” if, in the ordinary course of events, emails sent to it by the Registrar would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company.

New companies will need to specify a REA on incorporation and existing companies will need to provide one as part of their next annual confirmation statement (due for filing from 5 March 2024).

Companies, including academy trusts, should bear in mind that Companies House may use the REA to raise urgent / important queries, so any email provided should be secure, maintained and constantly monitored.

Keep an eye out for further articles on the ECCTA changes and the impact for your company or academy trust.

We’ll be hosting a webinar at 10-11am on 09 May 2024 for those of you involved in company secretarial processes or assisting in corporate governance for academy trusts. The webinar will be free to attend and we’ll be covering these changes along with other corporate governance and compliance topics.

Find out more