A company can now have just one director.
Companies Act 2006
Limited companies in the UK are governed by the Companies Act which has existed in various forms for over 150 years. Every so often the government updates and modernises such legislation and in the case of the Companies Act the entire act was rewritten and is now called the Companies Act 2006.
How does this affect one off clients registering one limited company
How this affects our Agents and regular users
Implementation
The Companies Act 2006 received royal ascent on 08 November 2006. With legislative changes of this size parliament decided the act would be phased in over time with a final full implementation on 01 October 2009.
There have been several key dates form implementation of the Act with the most notable events being -
01 October 2008
All new companies must now have one natural person appointed as a director.
Prior to this it was possible to have another company act as the sole corporate director but this is no longer possible. Companies in existence prior to this date were given time to make the changes depending on when registered but all companies had to comply by 01 October 2010.
01 October 2009
The Companies Act is implemented in full.
One of the largest legislative reforms in recent history is now in force and comprehensively outlines UK company law.
How this affects business owners registering one company
The affects on someone registering a limited company for themselves are minimal as our software is regularly amended to collect the necessary data from you when you apply to register the company with us. As a one time user of our system you are less likely to be familiar with the old or new Companies Acts so your company will simply be registered by us as required by the legislation.
Companies registered prior to 01 October 2009 were registered with the previous Companies Act 1985 Memorandum and Articles of Association. New companies registered from 01 October 2009 onwards typically adopt model articles as detailed by the new act. For existing companies (registered under the 1985 act), where any parts of their Articles conflict with the new act, the Companies Act 2006 legislation shall apply. Occasionally some companies choose to change their constitutional documents to adopt the Companies Act 2006 model articles. If you wish to update your Articles to the 2006 act then we will be happy to assist you.
How this affects our Agents and regular users
If you are an accountant or reseller of our company formation services we recommend you familiarise yourself with the Companies Act 2006. There are some key differences to the data provided when you register a new company that you will need to obtain from your client. All Companies House forms also changed including the form names.
The memorandum and articles of association have changed considerably from the old act. We will supply the latest model articles and documents in our system as usual.
How do Simple Formations help you
One of the most important elements to our service is the maintenance of our formation system. We have to ensure it adheres to the Companies Act 2006. We regularly update our site to ensure we meet any legislative changes.
Most of the changes we make are not visible to the customer. Occasionally we may have to adjust the way we collect data or present information but most customers will not see any real difference.
We try to provide as much information online as possible. You will find helpful online hints when registering a new company with us. A lot of time is spent writing content for this website to provide our customers with free information.
More Information
You can find lots of information on on our FAQ pages and in the knowledge base. The team at Simple Formations are pleased to answer your questions so do not hesitate to contact us if you need more help.
Go to our Online Company Formation page.
