On 4th March 2024, the first of the changes to Company Law from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act will come into effect. It’s important that all Directors of Limited Companies are aware of these changes and the impact they will have.

1 Registered Email Address

The first change is for all companies to provide a registered email address. All new incorporations after this date will need to provide a registered email address that Companies House can use to communicate with the company. Companies that are already registered will need to include their preferred email address when they submit their first confirmation statement after 4th March 2024.

Companies House have stated that this email address will NOT be shown on the public record.

If we submit your confirmation statement, we’ll ask you to confirm your preferred email address when we check with you for any changes in the preceding 12 months.

2 Lawful Purpose Statement

From the same date, all companies must confirm that the future activities of the company will be lawful. This must be confirmed on each confirmation statement from 4th March 2024. Without this statement, the confirmation statement cannot be filed. 

Again, if we submit your confirmation statement, we’ll ask you to confirm to us that this is the case before we submit the statement on your behalf. We will retain this confirmation on file.

You can see more details around the changes detailed above in a recent blog by Companies House here, and see various questions raised by previous readers.

Future changes…

By the end of 2024 it’s likely that identity verification checks will be needed on all directors and persons of significant control when forming new companies. Existing companies will be likely to have a limited period of time during which they will need to verify the identities of directors and persons of significant control.

Everyone who forms a company after this point must either verify their identity as they go through the process, or the company must be formed through a registered agent, who will perform the checks on the Director’s behalf.

We will of course keep you posted on the timing and process for this further change.

These won’t be the only changes coming as part of the continued implementation of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act. We’ll keep you up to date on the nature of the change and any related deadline as they’re announced but, as ever, if you have any questions before then, please get in touch.