Understanding duties under the Companies Act 2006
As a company director, you have statutory responsibilities under the Companies Act 2006. These responsibilities apply whether or not a Company Secretary has been formally appointed.
Some of these responsibilities include:
• Filing the Confirmation Statement with Companies House
• Keeping statutory registers up to date, including registers of members, directors, secretaries and people with significant control
• Maintaining the public register at Companies House
• Filing director appointments, resignations and changes of particulars
• Calling general meetings where required
Failure to meet these obligations may result in action by Companies House, including striking off the company from the register, fines for the company and potential personal liability for directors such as fines, prosecution or disqualification from acting as a director. Therefore one of the benefits of appointing a company secretary is reducing the risk of non-compliance as we support directors in meeting these obligations accurately and on a timely basis.
Maintaining accurate statutory registers on a timely basis is a legal requirement, not an administrative preference.
Where registers are incomplete or inaccurate:
• Significant time and cost can be incurred tracing historic omissions
• Corrective documentation may need to be issued
• The Company or its directors may be exposed
Under Section 116 of the Companies Act 2006, individuals may request inspection of the Register of Members.
The Company has five working days to comply with such a request.
Our dedicated systems allow registers to be produced efficiently and within statutory deadlines.