Can I change my company number?

When a company is registered a unique number is issued to the company by Companies House. These numbers are issued sequentially and increase as more companies are added to the register.

All UK registered companies have a company number. This number is unique to the company and remains constant during the life of the company. Whilst shareholders, directors and even the business name may change over the years the company number will always remain the same.

This enables customers, suppliers, banks and other organisations to easily identify the company. With so many companies changing their name and structure and many businesses operating with similar business names maintaining one constant numbers avoids errors.

Unfortunately we have seen a few rare circumstances when people have asked about changing the company. In one example a religious organisation was issued with a company number that contained 666. They were not prepared to operate a company with this number so they chose to create a second company. The first company was dissolved using the strike off process.

Another client asked if we could include a lucky number within the full company number. This is not possible. We have no control over the company number that is issued at the time of incorporation. All companies are processed in order of submission by Companies House.

It is unlikely that you will want to change your company number. If for some reason you do not like your company number there is only one solution. You will have to dissolve the company and hope that a second registered company has a more favourable company number.

Most company owners do not memorise their company number. It should be included on all stationery, electronic communications and other legal documents for clarity but it should not affect your day to day business activities.