A Guide to Companies House
The following guide
is designed to help you understand the role of Companies House.
Main
Functions
The
Registrar of Companies
History
of Companies House
Registering
a limited company at Companies House
Main
Functions
The main functions of Companies House are to:
- incorporate and dissolve
limited companies;
- examine and store company
information delivered under the Companies Act and related legislation;
and
- make this information
available to the public.
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The
Registrar of Companies
There are two registries
for the UK . For companies registered in England and Wales Companies
House in Cardiff deal with the administration. For companies
registered in Scotland Companies House in Edinburgh deal with
the administration.
There is also an Information
Centre in London , it is not possible to register companies
at this location.
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History of Companies House
The United Kingdom has enjoyed a system of company registration
since 1844. Today, company registration matters are dealt with
in law, by the Companies Act 1985 and the updating legislation
contained in the Companies Act 1989.
All limited companies in the UK are registered at Companies
House, an Executive Agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.
There are more than 1.8 million limited companies registered
in Great Britain , and more than 300,000 new companies are incorporated
each year.
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Registering a limited company at Companies House
There are two options
available for registering a limited company. You can ether use
an Agent or deal with companies House directly your self. The
latter option is rarely used these days due to the complexity,
timescale's and cost involved.
It is actually cheaper
to use a Company Formation Agent such as Simple Formations.
The cost of making a paper application to Companies House is
approximately as follows:
- Government fee, £20
- Purchase suitable Memorandum and Articles of Association, £20 to £40
- Solicitors signature on Form 12, £5 to £20
- Purchase Statutory Books (Combined Registers) and Share Certificates, £20 to £40
In the event a paper
application is rejected by Companies House the solicitor will
need to re-swear form 12 and therefore duplicate their fee.
Simple Formations have invested the time and money in electronic
systems which greatly simplify the process and include numerous
fail safes to avoid failed applications. Post incorporation we
also provide all the legally required documentation, with our
prices starting from just £34.95 all inclusive, it makes good
business sense to use Simple Formations.
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