With effect from 4 March 2024, every UK company (and incorporated partnership) must provide an “appropriate” registered email address to Companies House. When setting up a new company, you will give this information during the incorporation process. Existing companies, however, must provide email address details in the next confirmation statement.
In this post, we explain the new requirements, including the meaning of an appropriate registered email address, how to provide this information to Companies House, and what to do if you need to change this email address in the future.
What is a registered email address?
The requirement to provide a registered email address was introduced in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Existing legislation, including the Companies Act 2006, has been updated accordingly to include the necessary amendments.
Section 88 of the Companies Act 2006 defines a company’s (or LLP’s) duty to maintain a registered email address as follows:
- A company must ensure that its registered email address is at all times an appropriate email address.
- An email address is an “appropriate email address” if, in the ordinary course of events, emails sent to it by the registrar would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company.
This simply means that any email address you provide must be valid and routinely accessed by a director or company secretary (or an LLP member).
For limited partnerships, you can find the applicable amendments in the Limited Partnerships Act 1907, section 88. On the duty to maintain a registered email address, it states that it is the responsibility of the LP’s general partners.
Failure to comply with this new requirement is an offence and can result in serious consequences for both the company and its officers.
How will Companies House use the email address?
Companies House will not disclose the details of your company’s registered email address on the public record. They will only use it to send relevant communications to the company, for example, important news, compliance updates, filing reminders, and late filing penalty notices. Essentially, you’ll receive the same type of correspondence that Companies House also sends by letter to your registered office address.
Providing an email address to Companies House
If you incorporated your company before 4 March 2024, you must provide a registered email address to Companies House in the next confirmation statement that you file with a confirmation date of 5 March 2024 or later.
When filing online, the form will ask you to enter the email address if it’s your first time providing one. However, if you file a confirmation statement by post, you will need to complete the following paper forms:
New companies must provide a registered email address when they incorporate. When forming a company online, you will enter the email address on the online registration form. For postal incorporations, you will provide this information in section A10 of ‘Form IN01 – paper application to register a company’.
- 13 changes to UK company law – from 4 March 2024
- The confirmation statement explained
- Our Confirmation Statement Service - never miss another filing deadline
There is no need to enter the registered email address in any future statements. You will only provide it once. There’s a separate process if you need to change the email address at a later date, which we explain below.
How to update a registered email address
You can change an existing email address online through the ‘update a registered email address‘ service at Companies House. Simply sign in to (or register for) your Companies House online account, and then:
- enter your company registration number
- provide your Companies House authentication code
- add the new email address
- confirm that it’s an ‘appropriate’ email address, as defined in the Companies Act 2006, section 88A
This should only take a few minutes if you have all of the necessary information on hand. You’ll receive confirmation from Companies House when the change has been made.
Get in touch
We hope you’ve found this company compliance update useful. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions. You can also contact our London-based team directly if you need help to set up a company, or would like to find out more about our services.
Explore our other posts on the 1st Formations Blog for more company news, guidance, and insights.
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