Companies House has published updated provisional implementation dates for some of the company transparency and filing provisions of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.
October 2015
Date of birth – suppression of the day element of directors’ date of birth on the public register will be introduced.
Accelerated strike-off – the time it takes to strike companies off the register will be reduced.
Consent to act as a director or secretary – the current “consent to act” procedure will be replaced. As part of this, Companies House will write to all newly appointed directors to make them aware that their appointment has been filed on the public register and to explain their statutory general duties.
December 2015
Director disputes – a simpler way to get falsely appointed directors’ details removed from the register will be introduced.
Registered office disputes – a new process to provide a remedy where a company is using an address for its registered office but never had authorisation will be introduced.
April 2016
PSC register – companies will be required to create and maintain a register of people with significant control.
June 2016
PSC register – companies will be required to file this information at Companies House.
Confirmation statement – the obligation to file a confirmation statement will replace the annual return.
Company registers – private companies will be able to opt to keep certain information on the public register only, instead of statutory registers.
Directors misconduct – the disqualified directors regime will be updated and strengthened.
Statement of capital – the statement of capital will be simplified and references made consistent throughout the Act.
October 2016
Corporate directors – the prohibition on appointing corporate directors will be introduced with some limited exceptions. Any company with an existing corporate director will need to take action, to either explain how they meet the conditions for an exception or give notice to the registrar that the person has ceased to be a director.
Late 2016 / early 2017
Additional information – companies will be able to supply certain categories of optional information to the registrar.
