Company House

Company House is a large Executive Agency that is part of the Department of Trade. Their aim is to satisfy customer needs and regulatory obligations with quality services, efficiently and economically. They also aim to make Company House one of the best public sector organisations for the public to deal with.

As part of the Department of Trade, Company House work closely with them in the drafting of new companies legislation and proposals by ensuring that they work operationally.

They have three main offices, these are:

• Headquarters in Cardiff,
• An office in London,
• Company House also has a Registrar for Scotland in Edinburgh.

The Role of Company House

Company House perform two main roles:

• Company House incorporate, re-register and strike-off companies.
• They will then provide this company information to the public.

Company House - The Information Registrar

Many companies choose to take on a limited liability status as it reduces the personal risk of the founders of the company. The limited liability status provides the company with an incentive to trade and commerce. In return for this, they must file certain information about themselves into Company House.

Company House provide and register the documents that companies are required to file with them. These documents are called Companies House Documents and there are many different types. There are those that deal with incorporation and appointment of directors and secretaries right through to bankruptcy and insolvency.

Companies are required to file other documents with Company House at regular intervals; these include Annual Accounts and Annual Returns. Company House require all documents to be received within a certain time period. There are penalties against the company if documents are received late.

Company House also exist to enforce companies' compliance with statutory requirements.

Company House - The Information Provider

Company House will then provide the company information in a variety of different formats to the public, from raw financial data to scanned document images. Their customers range from individual searchers to large credit information companies.

As a result, records of 1.7 million live companies and 2.6 million dissolved companies are held within the database of Company House.

In this way, Company House has a vision to excel as a registration authority and a source of public information, all for the benefit for the UK economy.

Source - www.companieshouse.gov.uk