Clifford Chance

Fundamental Companies House reforms in the pipeline

7 October 2020

Reforms to Companies House are in the pipeline, which will fundamentally change the role of Companies House, some of its processes and systems and the way individuals and companies interact with it.  The most significant proposals are: (i) compulsory identity verification for all directors, persons with significant control (PSCs) and those filing information on behalf of a company, for example, company secretaries; (ii) the requirement for identity verification before a person can be legally appointed as a director; and (iii) Companies House having greater power to query information before it is placed on the public register.

Many of the reforms will require legislation to implement, however, the Government intends to publish a comprehensive set of proposals that will set out in detail how it thinks these reforms should be implemented.  Subject to the views received, it will then proceed to legislate where necessary when Parliamentary time allows.  Accordingly, some of the detail for the more complex proposals is yet to be seen. 

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