Context
In this article, Louise Smyth, the Companies House Chief Executive and Registrar of Companies, reflects on the introduction of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, its impact on Companies House, some successes in 2023 and what is happening over the coming months.
Key points to note and next actions
In October 2023, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill gained royal assent and became an act. This marked a pivotal moment for Companies House. Looking ahead to 2024, this legislation introduces a series of positive changes that will strengthen Companies House powers.
As part of the act, the company registrars for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will have new objectives and new and enhanced powers. Some changes will be introduced from March 2024. These include:
- greater powers to query information;
- stronger checks on company names;
- new rules for registered office addresses which will mean all companies must have an appropriate address at all times (so companies will not be able to use a PO Box as their registered office address);
- a requirement for all companies to supply a registered e-mail address;
- a requirement for all companies to confirm they’re forming the company for a lawful purpose when they incorporate, and to confirm annually on their confirmation statements that their future activities will be lawful;
- annotations on the register to let users know about potential issues with the information that’s been supplied to Companies House;
- taking steps to clean up the register, using data matching to identify and remove inaccurate information; and
- sharing data with other government departments and law enforcement agencies.