Gather information about a prospective company

To incorporate a private company limited by shares you will need the following information about the proposed company.

Company name, address and location

  1. Name of the proposed company.
    • Use the Companies House company name checker to find out if the name of the company has already been registered.
    • If the subscribers have chosen a name that is the same as or too like another company or LLP, Companies House won't accept the request for incorporation unless the other company or LLP belongs to the same group and gives its consent in writing.
    • If the name includes a sensitive word, you will need to obtain approval for using that word in writing.
  2. Registered address of the company.
  3. Registered email of the company.
  4. Location of the registered address: England and Wales, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Articles of Association and principal business

  1. Principal business activity or activities of the company. You need to select the standard industrial classification of economic activities (SIC code) that best describes the company's principal activity. You may choose up to four codes. 
  2. Articles of Association: will the proposed company use model articles, additional and/or amended articles, or bespoke articles? If using additional and/or amended articles or bespoke articles, make sure that you have a copy of these to upload to your company formation project.
  3. Restricted company articles: do the articles contain any provision for entrenchment?
  4. Confirmation from the subscribers that they wish to form the company for lawful purposes.

Directors

  1. Directors who are individuals will need to supply the following.
    • Title.
    • Forename(s) and surname.
    • Former name(s) used in business during the past 20 years.
    • Country of nationality.
    • Date of birth.
    • Job title.
    • Service address for company correspondence.
    • Usual residential address (including country of residence).
    • Disclosure of whether they are applying for, or have been granted, a section 243 exemption.
    • Their consent to act in this capacity. 
  2. Directors who not individuals will need to supply the following.
    • Entity type (Limited Liability Partnership, private company limited by guarantee, private company limited by shares, private unlimited company without share capital, private unlimited company with share capital, or Public Limited Company).
    • Name.
    • Address.
    • If the corporate officer is registered in the UK, the entity's registration number.
    • If the corporate officer is not registered in the UK, the entity's legal form, governing law, country of registration, and registration number.
    • Their consent to act in this capacity. 

Company secretary

  1. A company secretary who is an individual will need to supply the following.
    • Name.
    • Former name(s).
    • Service address for correspondence.
    • Usual residential address.
    • Disclosure of whether they are applying for or have been granted a section 243 exemption.
    • Consent to act in this capacity.
  2. A company secretary who is not an individual will need to supply the following.
    • Entity type.
    • Name.
    • Address.
    • If the corporate officer is registered in the UK: registration number.
    • If the corporate officer is not registered in the UK: legal form, governing law, country of registration, and registration number. 
    • Their consent to act in this capacity.

People with Significant Control

You can't use an online method to request incorporation of the company if it has a Person with Significant Control who has applied for or been granted protection under section 790ZG of the Companies Act. 

  1. For an individual who is a Person with Significant Control you will need the following.
    • Title.
    • Forename(s) and surname.
    • Date of birth.
    • Country of nationality.
    • Service address for correspondence.
    • Usual residential address (including country/state of residence).
    • Disclosure of whether they are applying for or have been granted a section 790ZF exemption.
    • Nature of control.
  2. A statement from subscribers that this individual who is a PSC has consented to their particulars being given in the application for incorporation.
  3. For Registrable Legal Entities, you will need the following.
    • Name.
    • Address.
    • Legal form.
    • Governing law.
    • If applicable, the country of registration and registration number.
    • Nature of control.
  4. For Other Registrable Persons, you will need the following.
    • Name.
    • Address.
    • Legal form.
    • Governing law.
    • Nature of control.

Shares 

  1. For a company with share capital, you will need the following for each share class.
    • Name.
    • Currency.
    • Number of shares issued.
    • Nominal value of each share.
    • Prescribed particulars.
  2. For each issue of a share class to a subscriber, you will need the following information.
    • Name of subscriber.
    • Subscriber's address for the public record (can be the registered office).
    • Subscriber's correspondence address for the company share register.
    • Name of share class.
    • Quantity of shares in this share class issued to the subscriber. 
    • If issued at a premium, the premium per share.
    • If paid or partly-paid, the date of payment.
    • Whether the subscriber has paid the full amount for the shares, or partly-paid, or not paid at all.
    • If payment includes a consideration other than cash, the amount of the nominal value paid per share and a description of the non-cash consideration.
    • Whether the shares are have are fully called, part-called, or not called at all by the company.
    • Any remarks or narrative about the shareholding that you want to record.
  3. For each subscriber who is an individual, the answers to three of the following security questions. 
    • What are the first three characters of your town of birth?
    • What are the last three digits of your telephone number?
    • What are the first three letters of your mother's maiden name?
    • What are the first three letters of your father's forename?
    • What are the last three characters of your National Insurance number?
    • What are the last three digits of your passport number? 

Statutory register and statement of compliance

  1. Confirmation from the subscribers as to whether they elect to keep the following on either the public register or the company's own register.
    • Company secretary’s register information.
    • Directors' register information.
    • Directors' usual residential addresses.
    • PSC register information.
  2. Confirmation from the subscribers whether they will give the statement of compliance or they want the agent to give the statement. 

Next step

Set up a prospective company as a client.

 


Contact us

Was this article helpful?