Confirmation statement

At least once every year, every UK company and LLP must file a confirmation statement (Companies House form CS01). It is not a financial document; it is a check that the core information on the register — registered office, directors, shareholders, people with significant control, SIC codes — is correct as at a given date. If nothing has changed, the company simply confirms that; if something has, it updates it.

The confirmation statement replaced the old “annual return” in 2016. Filing it is a legal obligation independent of filing accounts, and missing it is a common reason companies are flagged and, eventually, struck off. A run of on-time confirmation statements is a small but real signal that a company is being administered properly.

Because SIC codes are refreshed at the confirmation statement, it is also the point at which a company’s declared activities are most likely to be brought up to date.

Example

A company incorporated in March files its first confirmation statement within a year of that date, confirming its directors and PSCs, and continues to do so annually.

On Company Shark

Filing history — including confirmation statements — appears on each company profile, and their regularity feeds into how we read a company’s overall standing.

Related

• Companies House
• Company status
• Person with significant control (PSC)