Every company in the UK, including dormant and non-trading companies, must deliver a confirmation statement to Companies House at least once every year.
Introduced in 2016 as a replacement for the annual return, the annual confirmation statement is a confirmed snapshot of a company’s details as at the date of its last statement date.
This statement must be filed at Companies House at least once every 12 months and confirms that all the details of the company are accurate and up to date as at the statement date. This includes information not available to the public such as residential and correspondence addresses for directors and PSCs. The company and its directors make the following declaration when the confirmation statement is filed to confirm compliance with this requirement.
“I confirm that all information required to be delivered by the company pursuant to section 853A(1)(a) of the Companies Act 2006 in relation to the confirmation period ending on the confirmation date above either has been delivered or is being delivered with this statement.”
A confirmation statement must be filed even if there have not been any changes to the company during the review period.
There is more information on filing a confirmation statement on gov.uk website.
As the filing deadline is only 14 days from the statement date, it is important that the company’s registers are kept up to date with any changes as they occur and are filed promptly. Only changes to SIC codes, share capital and shareholdings can be made via the CS01 form itself and as registers of members are still required to be maintained separately, any transfer dates should be recorded correctly on the CS01.
Companies House are likely to issue financial penalties for late filings in the first instance, however, failure to respond to warnings or requests for information could result in civil or even criminal proceedings.
Though there is no legal requirement to do so, it is possible to file the confirmation statement early and this will reset the 12-month review period from that point.
As of 1 May 2024 the cost to file a confirmation statement is £34 if filed online, or £62 if printed and filed by post.
On 4 March 2024 Companies House was given new powers relating to confirmation statements under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) – more information can be found here. There is also guidance surrounding the new company statutory records requirements which can be found here.
There are various requirements that should be met prior to filing anything at Companies House to ensure compliancy with the law and the company’s constitution.
If you have any queries or concerns about the confirmation statement or statutory records, please get in touch with our Company Secretarial team.
