Starting from 4 March 2024, every UK company (and incorporated partnership) must provide an “appropriate” registered email address to Companies House. When setting up a new company, you will provide this information during the incorporation process. Existing companies must include their email address details in their next confirmation statement.

In this post, we explain the new requirements, including what constitutes an appropriate registered email address, how to submit this information to Companies House, and what steps to take if you need to change the email address in the future.

What is a registered email address?

The requirement to provide a registered email address was introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which has amended existing legislation, including the Companies Act 2006.

Section 88 of the Companies Act 2006 defines a company’s (or LLP’s) duty to maintain a registered email address as follows:

• A company must ensure that its registered email address is always an appropriate email address.
• An email address is considered “appropriate” if, in the ordinary course of events, emails sent to it by the registrar would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company.

This means that any email address you provide must be valid and regularly monitored by a director, company secretary, or LLP member.

For limited partnerships, the applicable amendments are outlined in section 88 of the Limited Partnerships Act 1907. It specifies that the responsibility for maintaining a registered email address lies with the general partners of the LP.

Non-compliance with this new requirement is considered an offence and can lead to serious consequences for both the company and its officers.

How will Companies House use the email address?

Companies House will not publish your company’s registered email address on the public record. It will be used solely for sending relevant communications, such as important news, compliance updates, filing reminders, and late filing penalty notices. Essentially, you will receive the same types of correspondence by email that Companies House also sends by letter to your registered office address.

Providing an email address to Companies House

If you incorporated your company before 4 March 2024, you must provide a registered email address to Companies House in the next confirmation statement you file with a confirmation date of 5 March 2024 or later.

When filing online, the form will prompt you to enter the email address if it’s your first time providing one. If you file a confirmation statement by post, you will need to complete the following paper forms:

• Confirmation statement form CS01 (new version)
• CS01 Part 5: registered email address

New companies must provide a registered email address during incorporation. If forming a company online, you will enter the email address on the online registration form. For postal incorporations, provide this information in section A10 of ‘Form IN01 – paper application to register a company’.

13 Changes to UK Company Law – Effective from 4 March 2024

• [The Confirmation Statement Explained]
• [Our Confirmation Statement Service – Never Miss Another Filing Deadline]

You will only need to provide the registered email address once. There is a separate process for updating the email address, which we explain below.

How to update a registered email address

You can update an existing email address online using the ‘Update a Registered Email Address’ service at Companies House. To do this, sign in to (or register for) your Companies House online account and follow these steps:

1. Enter your company registration number.
2. Provide your Companies House authentication code.
3. Enter the new email address.
4. Confirm that the new email address is an ‘appropriate’ email address, as defined in section 88A of the Companies Act 2006.

This process should only take a few minutes if you have all the necessary information ready. You will receive confirmation from Companies House once the change has been processed.