9.1 Delivering information to Companies House
For full details of all the ways of delivering documents to Companies House, electronically or on paper, please refer to the registrar’s rules which appear on our website .The safest and most secure way to deliver statutory information to Companies House is to use our online filing services. For more information and registration details please visit our website.
If you are delivering documents by post, courier, Document Exchange Service (DX) or Legal Post (in Scotland) and would like a receipt, Companies House will provide an acknowledgement if you enclose a copy of your covering letter with a pre-paid addressed return envelope. We will barcode your copy letter with the date of receipt and return it to you in the envelope provided.
Please note: an acknowledgement of receipt does not mean that a document has been accepted for registration at Companies House.
Please Note: Companies House does not accept any statutory documents by fax, PDF (except for electronically filed certified copies of charge instruments) or by email.
9.2 Fees
You do not have to pay a fee for many of the documents that you have to send to Companies House, but some do require a fee and we will not accept them for registration without it.
For further details please refer to our information on fees
9.3 Filing documents in other languages
As a general rule the law requires that you deliver documents to Companies House in English, however there are exceptions which are detailed below. Companies can deliver the following documents in languages other than English if the document is accompanied by a certified translation into English:
resolutions and agreements affecting a company’s constitution delivered under Chapter 3 of Part 3 of the Companies Act 2006
accounts of larger EEA (European Economic Area) groups, the group accounts and parent undertaking’s annual report
accounts of larger non-EEA groups, the group accounts and, where appropriate, the consolidated annual report
a charge instrument or copy charge instrument
valuation report required to be delivered to the registrar under section 94(2)(d) of the Companies Act 2006
articles of association; memorandum of association
court orders
In addition companies may also file voluntary certified translations of any document subject to the First Company Law Directive disclosure requirements.
These are:
constitutional documents such as the memorandum and articles of association
directors appointments, changes in particulars or terminations; accounts, reports and annual returns; notification of any change in a company’s registered office; winding up documents; share capital documents (public companies only); documents relating to mergers and divisions (public companies only); and documents relating to overseas companies
The voluntary translation must relate to a document delivered to Companies House on or after 1 January 2007. Voluntary translations can only be filed in an official language of the European Union and must be accompanied by Form VT01, which will link the translation to the original document.
There are different exceptions for Welsh companies (those complying with section 88 of the Companies Act 2006 who are entitled to draw up and deliver certain documents in Welsh without the need of an accompanying certified translation in English. A full list of the excepted documents can be found in our guidance entitled ‘Conducting business in Welsh (GP05)’
9.4 Forms and guidance
All statutory forms and guidance are available, free of charge from Companies House. The quickest way to get them is on our website or by telephoning 0303 1234 500.
You can also obtain forms from company law stationers, accountants, solicitors and company formation agents.