Company Procedure Update

In the last few In Counsel updates we have repeatedly raised the changes to company law brought about by the new register of people with significant control (PSC Register) which came into force on 6 April 2016. However, the PSC Register regime is not the only change to the Companies Act 2006 brought about by the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015. This note summarises two salient points.

Confirmation statements

With effect from 30 June 2016, the annual return has been replaced by a confirmation statement.

In a manner not dissimilar to the statement of capital brought about in 2006, a company can file a confirmation statement at any time and must do so within 14 days (previously 28 days) after the end of each review period. So, a worked example:

2016 annual return made up to - 31 March 2016

2016 annual return had to be filed by - 28 April 2016

2017 confirmation statement must be made up by - 31 March 2016

2017 confirmation statement must be filed by - 14 April 2017

A confirmation statement must, in any case, be filed within twelve months of the last statement. If, therefore, a company undertakes a number of corporate actions and decides to file a new confirmation statement on, for instance, 31 October 2016, the next confirmation statement will become due to be made up to 31 October 2017 and filed by 14 November 2017.

Remember that changes of address or name of directors need to be notified in any event; the law has not changed in that regard.

Note that the new confirmation statement form, especially when filing it for the first time, is a fairly long document and needs to include accurate PSC Register information, among other things. .

Striking off of companies

The Companies House strike off procedure has been accelerated. The process used to take a minimum of...