Companies House’s fees to rocket from 1st of May 2024

UK Registrar of Companies’ (Companies House’) price increase to affect all UK (existing and still-to-be-registered) business

Introduction of the new Companies Law - the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCT Act) 2023 - that granted the Registrar of Companies (Companies House) more powers to combat fraud and economic crime meant the Companies House would require to make changes to core business procedures and hire more staff to make sure they have the man power to follow through with the intended changes in a way that it doesn’t disturb the normal operations of the registrar and doesn’t cause unnecessary delays in processing of the information and documents.

The first increase their fees for the first time since 2016, coming into effect on May 1st, 2024. This decision has been met with mixed reactions, with some understanding the need for increased revenue and others concerned about the impact on businesses.

Why the Increase?

Companies House is a self-funded government agency, and their fees haven't kept at pace with the rising operating costs. They are not allowed to make profit, but the increase will allow them to recover the expenses associated with:

New powers introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCT Act) – legislation that aims to combat economic crime and improve corporate transparency in the United Kingdom.

Maintaining and improving high quality of their digital services - Companies House is constantly working to improve their online platform to offer best quality Web Incorporation and WebFiling Services for new company registrations and annual compliance filings for existing businesses.

What's Increasing?

The fee hikes will affect most of the services offered by Companies House from registration of a new business, to annual compliance filings, conversion (re-registration) of legal form or type of legal entity to simple change of a company name or voluntary dissolutions.

Let’s have a look at the current prices and proposed changes.

Incorporation of a new company.

From May 1, 2024, government filing fee payable to the Companies House for a new entity registration (Limited Companies or Limited Liability Partnerships) through the software or digital channels has been set to increase to £50.00 for electronic registration (standard processing time), £78.00 for electronic same-day guaranteed registration and to £71.00 postal registration through submission of a paper application form IN01.

Change of a company name.

Filing change of a Company name fees will increase to £20.00, £83.00 and £30.00 if submitted digitally for standard service, digitally for fast track (same day) service or paper filing respectively.

Submitting Annual Confirmation Statement (formerly Annual Return).

Filing fee for the submission of the annual confirmation statement for a Limited Company or annual confirmation statement for an LLP is set to rise to rise to £34.00 if submitted through the Companies House WebFiling Service or Electronic Software Provider and to £62.00 if Confirmation Statement forms (CS01, LL CS01, SLP CS01) sent to them by post. The same increase will affect Annual Confirmation Statements filed at the Restoration of a Company dissolved via Administrative Dissolution for non-compliance with annual filing requirements.

Re-registering a company.

Anyone considering not to register a new business entity, but to re-register their existing limited company, for example to to re-register a company from Limited to Unlimited or from Private Limited to Public Limited and vice-a-versa should be aware of the upcoming increase in the fees for Re-Registration with government filing fee going up to £71.00

Overseas entity registration.

If you are an overseas entrepreneur looking to set up an establishment of your foreign entity in the UK, you also need to be aware of the upcoming increase in the government filing fees for the registration of UK Establishment of an Overseas Entity (formerly Branch) from £20.00 to £71.00.

Administrative Restorations.

Companies House filing fee for the Administrative Restoration is set for the biggest increase (nearly 5 times over the current rate), so if you are one of those, unfortunate, business owners who have accidentally overlooked the important filing deadlines for your business and have found your company struck off and dissolved for non-compliance with annual filing requirements, you may want to to apply for Administrative Restoration of your dissolved company sooner, rather than later, because as of the 1st of May 2024, the restoration fee payable to the Companies House will rocket from £100.00 to £468.00!

The fee increase has been met with mixed reactions. While some understand the need for additional funding, others are concerned about the potential burden it may place on businesses, especially startups.

This fee increase will most definitely affect businesses of all sizes, but it may be felt more acutely by smaller companies with limited resources. Some argue it may deter new business formation, while others see it as a necessary cost for a more robust system.

Companies House argues that the increased fees are necessary to ensure they can deliver a more accurate and informative service, ultimately benefiting businesses through a more robust corporate environment.

It’s always good to be aware of the potential fee changes and factor them into your budget, so we hope this information is helpful and will assist you to plan your business expenditure for the coming financial year.

If you're considering registering a new business, it might be wise to apply for a company registration before the May 1st, 2024 to avoid increase of the fees and save some hard earned £££ to invest into the growth of your business.