Please be aware that once an election has been made the director’s full date of birth will be available on the public register to anyone who wishes to see, or make a copy of those details. This is not the case for a company that has not elected, where a director’s day of birth is withheld from public inspection, and only the month and year are public.
5.1 How to choose to keep directors information on the public register at Companies House («election»)
You can elect whether to keep the company’s director information on the public register either: i) on incorporation, in which case the subscribers wishing to form the company must elect with the application to incorporate the company; or ii) an incorporated company can apply.
5.2 When the election takes effect
The election takes effect when it is registered by the registrar. An election remains in force until either a company ceases to be a private company or withdraws the election. During the period when an election is in force, an elected company does not have to keep a register of directors.
5.3 When an election is in force for the register of directors
The company must deliver information about its directors to the registrar to be made available on the public register at Companies House. The information to be delivered includes:
For a director that is a natural person:
name and any former name
a service address (which may be stated to be «the company’s registered office»)
the country or state or part of the United Kingdom where he or she is usual resident
nationality
business occupation (if any), and
full date of birth
For directors that are bodies corporate or firms, the register of directors will include:
its corporate or firm name
its registered or principal office
in the case of an EEA company, where it is registered and its registration number, otherwise, the legal form of the company or firm and the law by which it is governed and, if applicable, where registered and its registration number.
The company must also deliver directors’ information to the registrar in the following circumstances: i) new details whenever there is a change to a director’s information; and ii) when a person ceases to be a director of the company.
5.4 When a company decides it wants to start keeping its own register of directors («withdrawal»)
A company must give notice of withdrawal of the election to the registrar. The withdrawal takes effect on registration by the registrar. On withdrawal, the company will then need to maintain a register of directors from that point onwards and notify the registrar of changes to that register.
5.5 Directors’ information on withdrawing the election
On withdrawal of an election, a company must enter in its register of directors all the director information relating to matters that are current and that are required to be contained in the register. The company is not required to enter information relating to the period when an election was in force that is no longer current (e.g. the details of a person who has ceased to be a director during the election period).
5.6 Directors’ information on the public register after the withdrawal of the election
Directors’ details, including full date of birth, delivered to the registrar during the period of any election will still be available publicly even when the election has been withdrawn, as the information is treated as part of the public register and is maintained as required under the Companies Act 2006.