Companies house are doing what?

I’m sure you’ll be able to relate to my typical routine when I enter the office – it’s the usual juggle between holding too many bags, precariously draped on to one shoulder or the other, signing in with any spare finger you have and then having a wadge of Companies House reminders handed over to you by your reliant business support team, balanced on top of your lever arch files, which are only just secured under your chin.

To your desk you go (hoping that some kind soul will help along the way), where you then go through a massive pile of reminders. Yes, submitted, tick, tick, tick and done! Undoubtedly, many letters remain unopened yet occasionally there’s the odd reminder which acts as a safety belt. It’s no surprise then, Companies House have decided to part ways with sending paper reminders, which may seem quite antiquated, but invaluable.

So, from the 9^th November 2020, Companies House announced they’d no longer be sending paper reminders relating to the filing of accounts or confirmation statements by post.

With this recent news, and the needs of business owners in mind, we reviewed our current processes for clients and saw it as a good opportunity to:

• Talk to them about this change, particularly if we don’t look after all filing requirements for them and they’re prompted by paper notifications received from Companies House;
• Review our own internal processes and procedures, ensuring reminders are set up for filing deadlines on our systems; and
• Sign up for email reminders to ensure filings wouldn’t slip through the cracks.

For a large percentage of clients, having this ‘safety belt’ of reminders is vital, as it ensures all deadlines are met, as compliance isn’t necessarily all business owners’ forte, and it’s therefore easy to forget crucial deadlines.

Our company secretarial annual compliance service acts as just this – a safety belt, we remember all the important filing deadlines so you don’t have to. Not only that, but our services also extend to ensuring our clients are compliant with their statutory obligations including the filing of confirmation statements and the maintenance of statutory registers (don’t get me started on that one!).

With this in mind, can we help your business by providing compliance services? Like me, in the mornings, the paper reminders are one less thing for me to carry. Offloading this responsibility to us, will lighten your load for the day, making it more bearable and productive for you. The consequences of missing a deadline could result in frustrating and costly consequences.