Start with the facts the recipient needs

A request for a “company certificate”, “status certificate” or “certificate of good standing” does not always identify the official product or the wording the recipient expects. The first task is to establish what the recipient is trying to verify.

Before an order is placed, establish as much as possible about:

• the company name and company number;
• the person, organisation or authority that will receive the document;
• the purpose for which the evidence is required;
• the destination country or territory, where relevant;
• the exact company facts or status wording requested;
• whether the recipient has asked for an incorporation or change-of-name certificate;
• whether it has used the expressions “summary statement” or “good standing”;
• whether an official signature, paper certificate or another feature has been specified; and
• whether the recipient has supplied written instructions, sample wording or a checklist.

You do not need to translate an informal request into Companies House terminology before contacting Coddan. Send the recipient's wording as it was given. If a point is unknown, say “Not known”. The professional task is to identify the official evidence that fits the stated purpose.

Facts Companies House can currently include

Current Companies House guidance states that additional certified facts may be requested on a company certificate. Subject to the product, the company record and current procedure, these are:

• directors' names and available details such as date of birth or nationality;
• secretaries' names;
• the registered office address;
• the company's objects; and
• a summary statement, where the company is eligible.

Availability should be checked for the particular company before the certificate is described or ordered. A fact appearing somewhere on the register is not automatically available for inclusion in this certificate product.

Facts that are not included through this certificate procedure

Current Companies House guidance states that certificates cannot be ordered with information about:

• persons with significant control;
• shareholders;
• shareholdings; or
• the statement of capital.

If the recipient needs one of those matters evidenced, the correct source and document must be identified separately. That may be a relevant public filing, the company's internal records, a privately prepared certificate or another form of evidence. This service does not imply that Companies House certifies a private or internal fact merely because related information exists elsewhere.

Current official terminology

The summary statement and requests for “good standing”

“Certificate of good standing” remains familiar commercial language, particularly in international transactions. Companies House now uses the term summary statement for the relevant optional certified wording on a company certificate.

The current wording states that the company has been in continuous, unbroken existence since incorporation and that no action is currently being taken to strike it off the register. It does not certify every aspect of the company's legal, financial, tax, regulatory or operational position, and it should not be represented as a general guarantee of solvency or compliance.

Companies House currently issues a summary statement only if the company is up to date with its filings and is:

• a private limited company with at least one director who is a natural person; or
• a public limited company with a secretary and at least two directors, at least one of whom is a natural person.

Eligibility must be checked against the company's present record. If the company is not eligible, the next step is to identify the filing, status, correction or restoration issue. A different label should not be used to disguise the absence of the official wording the recipient requested.

Incorporation and change-of-name evidence

A recipient may ask for the certificate issued on incorporation, evidence of a later company name change, or a broader company certificate containing selected certified facts. These requests should be distinguished before an order is placed.

Check the company record before ordering

A company certificate reports available official facts from the Companies House record. It does not correct, update or validate that record. Before an order is placed, the company and the requested facts should be checked for documentary readiness.

From recipient request to official certificate

How the company-certificate service works

1. 1Identify the company and evidential purpose. We confirm the company name and number, who will receive the document and what the certificate must establish.
2. 2Establish the requested facts or status wording. We use the recipient's instructions to identify the facts, summary statement, incorporation evidence or name-change evidence being requested. “Not known” can be recorded where the instruction is incomplete.
3. 3Distinguish the correct product. We determine whether the request concerns a company certificate, a certified copy of a filing, an incorporation or name-change certificate, a certificate of incumbency or another form of evidence.
4. 4Check eligibility and documentary readiness. We consider the company's status, filing position, register information, product availability and whether an underlying compliance, correction, records or restoration issue must be addressed first.
5. 5Place the Companies House order. Coddan orders the selected company certificate or available summary statement directly from Companies House. Companies House controls the official product, permitted facts, wording, certification, processing and issue.
6. 6Check the issued certificate and follow the justified next route. The certificate is checked against the instruction and delivered through the confirmed arrangement or directed to separately justified notarisation, apostille, translation, embassy or consular processing.

You provide the facts and available recipient instructions. Coddan identifies and orders the appropriate Companies House product within the agreed scope. Companies House performs the official act, and the receiving authority decides whether the resulting certificate satisfies its requirement.

When the certificate will be used abroad

A Companies House company certificate may be the final document the recipient needs, or it may be one stage of a longer international route. International use alone does not establish that the certificate requires notarisation, an apostille, embassy or consular legalisation, or translation.

The recipient's current instructions should establish whether it requires:

• the Companies House certificate without further treatment;
• a certificate bearing an original signature of a British public official;
• a separate notarial act;
• an apostille issued by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office;
• embassy or consular legalisation;
• a certified translation; or
• a confirmed sequence involving more than one stage.

Current Companies House guidance states that a document or certificate intended for FCDO legalisation must bear the original signature of a British public official. Where legalisation is anticipated, that requirement should be established before the Companies House order is placed.

An apostille authenticates the relevant signature, seal, stamp or capacity within its proper scope. It does not expand the facts certified by Companies House, correct the register, prove a private company fact or guarantee acceptance by the recipient.

When compliance, correction or restoration work must come first

A company certificate is official evidence drawn from the public record. It does not correct the public register, reconstruct the company's internal records, validate a corporate decision or restore a dissolved company.

Who is responsible for each stage

• Coddan identifies the appropriate certificate product within the agreed scope, checks the apparent availability of requested facts, orders the selected certificate directly from Companies House and may coordinate a separately justified onward route.
• Companies House maintains the public register, determines eligibility and product availability, decides which facts can be included, and controls official wording, certification, processing and issue.
• An appointed notary controls any later notarial act. Coddan provides notarial services through its in-house and associated notaries, but Coddan is not the individual notary performing the act.
• The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office determines apostille eligibility and issues any apostille. Coddan prepares and coordinates the appropriate apostille route where required.
• A certified translator prepares and certifies any translation arranged by Coddan. Translation does not expand or correct the facts certified by Companies House.
• An embassy or consulate controls its official requirements, act and decision. Coddan prepares and coordinates that route where current requirements establish that it is necessary.
• A postal or courier provider controls carriage under its own service terms.
• The receiving authority decides whether the certificate and any onward treatment satisfy its requirement.

No party in the chain should be described as controlling another institution's professional or official decision. Certificate availability, processing, delivery and final acceptance cannot be guaranteed.

Connected company work revealed by the certificate request

A request for certified company facts can reveal a separate corporate issue. These connections should be used only where that issue affects whether suitable evidence can be obtained or relied upon.

• If the organisation has not yet been incorporated, use the appropriate company or company-limited-by-guarantee formation service before requesting status evidence.
• If the company name must first be changed, use the company name-change service before requesting evidence of the new name.
• If the registered office or location of records is incorrect, use registered office and SAIL services before relying on new status evidence.
• Current director and person-with-significant-control identity-verification obligations remain distinct from obtaining a certificate. PSC information cannot currently be added to the company certificate.
• If the company is preparing to close rather than prove its continuing status, that separate decision must be handled through the appropriate dissolution or strike-off service.

Where another matter must be completed first, we identify the appropriate service or professional responsible for that work. The company-certificate service does not itself perform formation, compliance, identity verification, records, governance, correction, restoration or dissolution work.