What is a confirmation statement and how do you file one? A guide for accountants

A confirmation statement is the annual filing that every active and dormant UK limited company and LLP must submit to Companies House to confirm that its registered information is accurate and up to date. It covers a specific set of information: the company’s registered office, directors and their details, the people with significant control (PSCs), share capital and shareholder information, the SIC code (nature of business), and confirmation of whether the company is trading or dormant.

The confirmation statement isn’t a financial document. It doesn’t contain accounts or trading information, it’s a data accuracy check. Companies House using it to confirm that the public register reflects the company’s actual state at a point in time. For accountants managing client portfolios, that distinction matters. It’s a separate obligation from accounts filing, running on its own timeline, and with its own consequences if missed.

Who needs to file a confirmation statement and when?

Every UK limited company and LLP (active, dormant, or trading) must file a confirmation statement at least once every 12 months. The 12-month review period starts either from the date of incorporation or from the date of the previous confirmation statement. The deadline for filing is 14 days after the end of the review period.

For accountants, the practical implication is that every limited company client has a confirmation statement deadline that runs independently of their accounting year-end, and may fall at any point in the calendar year. A practice with 150 limited company clients could have confirmation statement deadlines spread across every month of the year, each with its own 14-day filing window.

Online filing costs £50 and must be completed through Companies House WebFiling or through compatible software. Paper filing via form CS01 costs £110. The online route is the standard for practices filing on behalf of clients.

What information does a confirmation statement need to cover?

A confirmation statement confirms the following information is accurate as at the confirmation date:

• Registered office address

• Directors and secretaries: Names, addresses, appointment and resignation dates

• People with significant control (PSCs): Anyone holding more than 25% of shares or voting rights, or exercising significant influence or control

• Share capital: Classes of shares, number of shares, and nominal value

• Shareholders: Names and the shares they hold (for companies that haven’t opted out of keeping a shareholder register at Companies House)

• SIC code: The company’s principal business activity

• Trading status: Whether the company is trading or dormant

If any of this information has changed since the last confirmation statement, the change must be notified to Companies House separately, before or at the time of filing the confirmation statement. The confirmation statement itself simply confirms that the register is accurate as of the confirmation date, it doesn’t update the information.

What are the consequences of filing late?

Filing a confirmation statement late doesn’t automatically trigger a financial penalty in the way that late accounts do. However, the consequences are real and worth understanding.

First, a company that fails to file its confirmation statement risks being struck off the register. Companies House issues a reminder and then a warning, and if the statement isn’t filed within the specified period, the company can be dissolved, which has serious consequences for directors and shareholders.

Second, under powers granted by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, Companies House now has the authority to issue financial penalties for non-compliance, including late confirmation statements. The scale of these penalties is being established progressively, but the direction of travel is clear: Companies House is moving towards a stricter enforcement model, and confirmation statement compliance will increasingly carry a financial consequence for non-compliance.

Identity verification: The new 2025 requirement for directors

From November 2025, all company directors and people with significant control must verify their identity with Companies House before they can be listed or remain on the register, under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. This applies to new appointments from that date, with a 12-month transition period for existing appointments.

The practical impact on confirmation statement filing: Companies House will not accept a confirmation statement that includes a director or PSC who hasn’t completed identity verification. That means practices need to confirm, before filing, that all relevant individuals have their verification complete and have provided their personal verification code. For portfolios with multiple directors or complex shareholder structures, this is a meaningful additional step to track.

Managing confirmation statements at scale across a client portfolio

The confirmation statement is one of the most routine statutory obligations in the limited company compliance calendar, and one of the most commonly overlooked at scale. For an individual company, it’s a straightforward annual task. For a practice managing 100 or 150 limited company clients, it’s 100 or 150 individual deadlines per year, each running on its own timeline, each requiring a review of the current register position, a check of any outstanding director or PSC changes, and a confirmation of identity verification status.

The practices that manage this well have two things in place: a system that tracks each company’s confirmation statement due date and alerts the practice ahead of the 14-day filing window, and a direct connection to Companies House that allows filing status, director changes, and PSC updates to be managed in one place rather than through the Companies House portal individually.

How does Inform Direct by Bright automate the confirmation statement process?

Inform Direct by Bright is designed specifically for accountants managing Companies House compliance across a client portfolio. The platform tracks confirmation statement due dates for every client company, alerts the practice ahead of each deadline, and allows filing directly with Companies House from within the platform. No separate portal login, no manual tracking spreadsheet.

Inform Direct also manages the broader statutory maintenance that sits alongside confirmation statements: director appointments and resignations, PSC changes, share transfers and allotments, and registered office changes. When a company’s details change, the relevant filing can be made directly from the platform, ensuring the register stays current and the confirmation statement, when it falls due, is a straightforward confirmation rather than a catch-up exercise.

For more on how Inform Direct integrates with the broader Bright practice platform, and how client onboarding connects to the ongoing statutory maintenance workflow, see our AML compliance and client due diligence guide for accounting practices.

How does Inform Direct by Bright compare to alternatives for confirmation statement management?

The main alternatives for Companies House statutory management in the UK market are IRIS Company Secretarial and manual management through the Companies House WebFiling portal. IRIS Company Secretarial is a well-established platform with strong functionality for larger practices managing complex company structures. Companies House WebFiling is the free option but requires manual tracking of deadlines and individual logins per company.

Inform Direct by Bright is designed specifically for accounting practices managing the full statutory maintenance of their client portfolio, with pricing and workflow built around the bureau model rather than the in-house corporate secretarial model.

Inform Direct by Bright gives accounting practices a connected platform for managing confirmation statements, director changes, and PSC updates across the entire limited company portfolio. Book a demo to see how the statutory compliance workflow operates.

This content may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools. Content is reviewed by a member of the Bright team before publication. Guidance on legislation can be obtained from your industry body.