Companies House Fines
Companies House will start issuing fines of maximum £2,000 for repeat offenders for failures to comply with registration rules as part of a sweeping crackdown on abuse of the register
The new powers are a key plank of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which introduced tough new laws to fight corruption, money laundering and fraud.
The penalties will start at £250 for the first offence by companies of a minor nature, rising to £2,000 for repeat offenders, which repeatedly ignore the registration rules.
More serious offences could result in civil action, director disqualification or potentially even criminal prosecution.
Companies House will work to investigate and prosecute offences in partnership with the Insolvency Service and other enforcement partners. If convicted, a director could end up with a criminal record.
Martin Swain, director of intelligence and law enforcement liaison at Companies House, said: ‘The introduction of these new penalties marks another significant step forward for Companies House and our transformation.
‘Where our guidance and support are not enough to encourage users to comply with the law or discourage misuse of our registers, we won’t hesitate to use these new powers available to us.
‘We’ll take a consistent and proportionate approach to these new powers to firmly, but fairly, enforce the law. This will improve the quality of the data on our registers and help us play greater role in identifying, disrupting and preventing economic crime.’
Financial penalty amounts
| First offence | Second offence | Third offence | Fourth or more offence | |
| Minor offence | £250 | £500 | £750 | £1,000 |
| Serious offence | £500 | £750 | £1,000 | £1,500 |
| Very serious offence | £750 | £1,000 | £1,500 | £2,000 |
Depending on the offence, penalties can be:
- fixed penalty – a set amount based on the offence, previous behaviour and other factors;
- daily rate penalty – a daily penalty for each day that the offence continues;
- combination of a fixed penalty and daily rate penalty.
New powers for Companies House include much tougher oversight of the register of companies. This includes the following measures:
Ensure that anyone who is required to deliver a document to the registrar does so (and that the requirements for proper delivery are complied with);
Ensure information contained in the register is accurate and all information required is disclosed;
Records kept by the registrar must not create a false or misleading impression to members of the public; and
Prevent companies and others from carrying out unlawful activities, or facilitating others to carry out unlawful activities.
Companies will not receive a financial penalty if they take the required action within 28 days beginning the day after the date of the penalty warning notice.
Other measures in the ECCT Act, such as identity verification and accounts reform, will be introduced over a longer period.