Set up your guarantee organisation with the details considered from the start

Tell Coddan about the organisation you want to establish and the arrangements it needs. We help prepare and register a private company limited by guarantee, bringing together your purposes, participants, membership, voting, articles and required approvals before the incorporation application is submitted.

Our detailed Word order form gives you space to explain those arrangements together. It can be particularly useful where several people contribute instructions, you have existing rules or prepared documents, or particular membership and decision-making arrangements need attention. You can describe what you want in ordinary words; our team helps identify the appropriate preparation.

Defined detailed preparation: £250 + VAT, additional to your selected CLG formation package. This covers the professional preparation described below. Using the offline form does not itself create an additional charge: suitable straightforward instructions can remain within the selected published package.

Download the CLG Formation Order Form (Word) Use the detailed form to explain your proposed organisation and requested work.

Compare published CLG formation packages Choose an appropriate published service and open its online order form.

Your personal manager helps with formation questions, information and next steps by email and telephone during working hours. This normal assistance comes with every formation order.

Formation through Coddan: what we bring together

Explain the organisation you want to establish

Start with what the organisation will do, who it will serve and who will be involved. Tell us whether you are creating a new club, association, community or membership body, or establishing a company alongside an existing organisation. Include any activities, rules or arrangements you want us to consider.

The form brings together the proposed name, registration jurisdiction, activities, directors, initial guarantor-members, addresses and relevant control information. It also identifies the customer giving instructions, any representative, the payer and the person authorised to approve the work. These may be different people.

You do not need to decide which technical service name fits your circumstances. Describe the arrangements and mark anything undecided for discussion. If an accountant, solicitor or another adviser has already prepared documents, identify the documents and their versions so we can consider the formation work alongside them.

Tell us about intended charitable, CIC, right-to-manage or particular property arrangements before choosing an ordinary CLG formation service. We can explain the appropriate specialist route. Incorporating a new CLG does not itself transfer an existing organisation’s activities, assets or contracts; identify any proposed transfer separately.

Put membership, voting and articles into a workable formation instruction

A CLG has guarantor-members rather than shareholders. Membership, voting and director-appointment rights need to reflect the proposed organisation. The detailed form asks who can join or leave, whether there are membership classes, how votes work and who can appoint or remove directors. It also provides space for particular vetoes, quorum requirements and arrangements for income or assets.

Tell us what you intend, including where the founders have not yet agreed. Coddan considers the information and helps identify suitable provisions and any further work. The founders and other authorised participants decide and approve the arrangements; you are not expected to draft complete articles before asking us for help.

The form also records each initial member’s proposed guarantee. That commitment is distinct from voting rights or a payment for formation. Explain differences between participants and any control arrangements; membership alone does not automatically make every guarantor a person with significant control.

Choose the articles preparation that fits

• Suitable established Coddan provisions: a practical starting point where they fit the proposed organisation.
• Your purposes in Coddan’s articles: explain what the organisation will do so the relevant wording can be prepared.
• Articles already prepared: identify the author, version and date and arrange their supply for the agreed handling.
• Particular membership or board rules: describe the intended arrangements so we can confirm the necessary preparation and price.

The prescribed memorandum records the initial members’ agreement to form the company. The articles contain its rules. A CLG structure does not automatically create charitable status or a CIC asset lock.

Read about CLG purposes and articles.

Professional preparation, checking and approval

The customer identifies who is authorised to instruct and approve the work. Each participant supplies or confirms their relevant information, and individuals take part in their own identity checks. Paying or coordinating the instruction does not replace another person’s authority or consent.

Coddan’s formation team prepares and submits the agreed incorporation application. Coddan CPM Limited’s Companies House ACSP registration relates to the authorised identity-verification work, while HMRC supervision concerns its anti-money-laundering obligations as a Trust or Company Service Provider. Customer checks and Companies House verification are separate.

Check the official ACSP list and HMRC’s supervision-checking route. Search for Coddan CPM Limited; the HMRC search details are Coddan Cpm Ltd, reference XGML00000129022.

Give detailed instructions and agree how we will handle them

Complete and return the form appropriately

Ask your Coddan contact, or email info@coddan.co.uk, for return instructions. Return the non-confidential sections by the agreed method. Do not email the entire completed document: the whole confidential Section 9, including copies, requires a separately agreed return arrangement. Keep it out of ordinary email attachments and shared committee copies.

Do not put identity-document copies, Companies House personal codes, passwords or payment-card details in the form or its attachments. Follow the separate instructions supplied for confidential information and individual checks.

The form identifies the selected work, charges and approvals and includes an instruction subject to Coddan’s acceptance and referenced terms. Downloading the form, returning information, acceptance of an instruction and incorporation are different stages. A written service agreement is available to set out the accepted work, responsibilities and charges.

Preparation comes before Companies House processing

The time needed to clarify arrangements, prepare documents and obtain approvals depends on the instructions and outstanding decisions. Your manager explains the sequence for the accepted work.

In our experience over 20 years, a ready standard electronic application is often registered within 1–3 working hours after Coddan submits it to Companies House, with the required information, checks and approvals complete. Companies House workflow and the structure affect processing; applications seeking to omit “Ltd”, for example, can take longer. This incorporation estimate does not measure completion or review of the detailed form.

Choose the instruction method and formation service that suit you

Coddan’s online form already accepts purposes, participant information, articles choices, selected services and further instructions. If your requirements fit that route, you can order online. The downloadable form adds dedicated prompts for fuller organisational arrangements, supporting versions and approvals; it is not simply a printed copy of checkout.

Compare the published CLG formation packages for their documents, address arrangements and support. Choose the package that fits the formation and confirm any separate detailed preparation with Coddan. A higher-priced formation package does not automatically include particular drafting.

Compare published CLG formation packages Each package action opens its corresponding order form.

From incorporation to your organisation’s working arrangements

Companies House registers the company and issues its certificate of incorporation. Retain the certificate, prescribed memorandum and approved articles supplied under your selected formation service. Ask about initial minutes, membership records and guarantor documents where included or separately instructed, and choose electronic, professionally prepared printed or combined materials for the organisation’s needs.

After incorporation, put the company’s initial decisions and register of members in place, keep financial records and agree who handles correspondence and approvals. These practical arrangements follow the company’s articles and accepted instructions. Bank, funder, charity and tax matters follow their own requirements; the certificate alone does not settle them.

You can return to Coddan for separately agreed documents, records, changes or annual work. Keep an existing accountant or adviser where that arrangement already works, and tell us which task you want Coddan to handle.

Questions before you send detailed instructions

Can I send information before all the founders have agreed?

Yes. Identify the points still undecided so Coddan can clarify the preparation required. The authorised participants must settle and approve the relevant arrangements before submission. Mark uncertain answers rather than guessing.

Can our accountant or solicitor remain involved?

Yes. Identify who is preparing documents or handling another task, and provide the relevant versions and authority to communicate. We can confirm Coddan’s formation work without duplicating the work already instructed elsewhere.

We have already started an application. Should we place another order?

Tell Coddan what has already been ordered or submitted, with the provider, reference and current status. We can establish the appropriate next step before a competing incorporation instruction is created. If the company already exists, ask for the particular amendment, address, record or filing service it needs instead.

What if the required identity verification is already complete?

Tell your manager about accepted verification. A fresh check is not required simply because you are forming another company. Proposed individual directors need their Companies House personal codes for incorporation; PSC role actions remain separate. Being only a guarantor-member does not itself require Companies House verification.

The free official verification route remains available, alongside separately selected Coddan assistance. With Coddan, the individual completes supported Credas checks, our team reviews the evidence and submits ACSP confirmation when satisfied, and Companies House issues the personal code. AML customer checks remain separate. Use the instructed secure process for evidence and codes.

See CLG director and PSC verification guidance.

Ready to explain the organisation you want to establish?

Download the detailed form, describe the arrangements and ask Coddan for return instructions. We help clarify the preparation and confirm the work before progressing the accepted formation instruction.

Download the CLG Formation Order Form (Word)

Ask Coddan before ordering An enquiry creates no obligation to order. Keep confidential information out of ordinary enquiry email.

Compare published CLG formation packages