What is Companies House?

If you are an individual who is associated with the business and now you have decided to make your limited company. The first thing you will be required to do is to get the process of registration started with the company’s house. Reading as a beginner, you might be wondering what is companies house and what are the key functions it performs for your business. Companies house refers to an agency that is functional by the government and the key role is to maintain a record of all the companies to ensure the transparency factor alive in the industry.

Before you decide to get your company registered in the UK with companies house, there are a few things that are imperative to understand. In this guide, we have gathered all the basic facts for you to explore before getting associated with the UK industry as a business owner. This includes a basic introduction of the companies house, what is the role of companies house, how to get your business registered at the companies house, and what is the important documentation to complete the process.

 

What is Companies House?

Companies House is a body that functions under the government in the UK. The main role of the companies house is to sort out important information for the limited companies and limited liability partnerships for the purpose of transparency. This makes all the limited companies and the partnerships in the UK submit important documentation like basic business details, accounts, and annual returns to the companies house. Such details and documentation of the companies are then recorded and provided for the public record as well. This allows the public to reach out to the basic details of the companies when they search for them online.

In this era, the registration documentation is still the same as it was in the previous old times. The companies house has kept the similarity intact till the date. The registration of the companies is still functional according to the Companies Act of 1985, 1989, and 2006. There are millions of companies that are registered with companies house. In the case a new company is developed or goes inactive, the records at the companies house get updated according to the new information received. This makes the role of companies house vital for the business industry in the UK.

How Does Companies House Function?

The services of companies house are primarily seen in three important aspects. However, the main role includes the following listed key factors:

• It keeps the important information of multiple companies for a public record which is easily accessible with online tools.
• The incorporation and dissolving companies have to inform companies house and it updates the information accordingly.
• Ensure the information of companies is stored according to the requirements of the company legislation.

Moreover, the register of the companies house is only allowed to record a limited business type. The type of businesses that companies house will deal with for the record are limited companies, limited liability partnerships,  limited liabilities, public limited companies, and private limited companies only. Other businesses that are not a part of the mentioned categories will be handled in a different way by the government.

How to Get Your Business Registered With the Companies House?

The businesses that aim to get the companies registered in Wales or England will reach out to the companies house office for the process. On the other hand, the Scottish and Northern companies will have to do the registration process to their area relevant companies house office. The office of companies house based in central London can be reached by post as well. You should expect to receive an official certificate of incorporation as a confirmation of the registration. This will be proof of your company registration and you should keep the date of incorporation and company number saved with you.

Moreover, the simplest way to register is still the online process. For the online process, the basic information that is required is given in the following:

• Your birth town
• Maiden name of your mother
• Your contact number
• National insurance number
• your passport number

All you need to do is pay a few pounds and develop a Government Gateway user ID. There will of course be a password to your new company ID. If you find the by-post method more convenient, you will have to fill the form IN01. This is available on the government website.

Important Paperwork with Companies House for the Businesses

After you have planned to initiate your business plans, you should be aware of a few forms that you will be required to fill out at the beginning.  Form IN01 is used for the first registration however, you have to gather information about further paperwork required to complete the process. Confirmation statements and annual accounts are a few such examples of further documentation.

The Bottom Line

Now that you have gathered a fair amount of information about what is companies house, we can bring the discussion towards wrapping up. We can say that the role of the companies house is vital to keep the information transparent and updated for the public record. This ensures access to your basic business information to the public through search tools. Therefore, it is important to inform companies house when you plan to incorporate or dissolve your company. So that the most recent status of your business is available online. We hope these few minutes of reading will help you to know the key role of companies house for the industry.

 

Disclaimer: The information about what is companies house provided in this blog including text and graphics is general in nature. It does not intend to disregard any of the professional advice.