From the 6th April 2016, all companies are required by law to maintain a register of directors, shareholders and people with significant control, as well as to file a Confirmation Statement of this information to Companies House.
This is in addition to the need to ensure that the Annual Financial Statements of the company are filed at Companies House within nine months of the end of the accounting reference period.
Confirmation Statement
You must send a Confirmation Statement to Companies House once a year if you’re a director of a registered company.
Your confirmation statement is different from your company’s annual accounts and tax return, and usually won’t be done at the same time.
You can file your confirmation statement up to 14 days after the due date.
You can be fined up to £5,000 and your company struck off if you don’t send Companies House your annual return.
What Confirmation Statements include
- details of the directors and company secretary, if it has one
- details of people with significant control
- what your company does – including its standard industrial classification (SIC) codes
- the type of company it is, eg private or public
- the registered company address
- the ‘single alternative inspection location’ (SAIL) – the address where records are kept if not at the registered address
You will also need to include:
- a ‘statement of capital’ if your company has shares
- details of shareholders.
Once all of these details have been submitted to Companies House, the following Confirmation Statements only require you to confirm the details are correct, or notify Companies House if there are any changes.
People with Significant Control (PSCs)
In order for a person to qualify as a PSC, they must meet one or more of the following conditions:
- Directly/indirectly hold more than 25% of the shares.
- Directly/indirectly hold more than 25% of the voting rights.
- Directly/indirectly hold the right to appoint/remove a majority of directors.
- Otherwise have the right to exercise significant influence/control.
- If a trust/firm, which is not a legal entity, (assuming it were an individual such as a director etc.) satisfies any of the above 4 conditions.
The PSCs of the trust/firm must then be taken into account and entered into the register.
Companies formed before 2006 also have the requirement to appoint a Company Secretary, whilst after that date there is no legal obligation to appoint a company secretary.
The directors of most small companies do not necessarily understand the Company Secretarial requirement and see it as a role that should be carried out by their accountancy advisors.
At JacRox, we have the technology to ensure total compliance with the rules and regulations as set out in Company Law for our private company clients.
All you need to do is to ensure that we know the names and dates of birth of all directors and that we are kept up to date with any changes.
Similarly, we can keep track of all the shareholders and issue any documentation needed relating to any transactions in the shares issued by the company.
Once you have signed up for this service we ensure that, your documentation is kept up to date.
To speak to a member of the JacRox team call 0800 020 9542 or email hello@jacrox.co