Your company formation checklist

Companies House should approve the formation of your new company within 24 hours.

Use the simple checklist below to help you get ready. Assemble the details you need to register a company and this may be your most straightforward company formation ever.

Before you can begin your company formation you must choose a company name. If you are forming a limited by shares company you will also need to choose whether to end the name with ‘Limited’ or ‘Ltd’. Once this is all decided you can check whether your chosen company name is available using our company name search tool.

The registered office address is the official address of the company. It is the address to which government bodies, including Companies House and HMRC,  send official correspondence and it is available for all to view on the public register.

A company’s registered office address must be situated in the same part of the UK in which the company is registered. For example, a company registered in England and Wales cannot have a registered office address in Scotland.

You must provide full address details including postcode.

For a variety of reasons, some companies choose to purchase a business address service, and this is just one of many optional add-ons that our company formation service provides.

A limited company must have at least one irredeemable (non-redeemable) share class – generally considered to be ordinary shares – and at least one of these irredeemable shares must be in issue at the time of incorporation. 

While many companies just have one class of ordinary share in issue, it is increasingly common for companies to have alphabet shares, i.e. ordinary A, ordinary B etc.

Inform Direct supports companies with multiple share classes, share classes that are fully paid, fully unpaid or partly paid and share class currencies denominated in £ sterling, euros or US dollars. 

You will need to provide details of the:

• Class description(s) – most companies are formed with ordinary shares.
• Nominal value of each share class – most companies are formed with share capital that has a nominal value of £1, but the nominal value can be set at as little as £0.000001 per share.
• Prescribed particulars  – these are the rights applying to each share class.

Your company must have at least one director who is an individual (not a corporate director) aged 16 or over.  For each individual director you will need to provide the following details:

• Full forename(s).
• Surname.
• Any other names used by the individual in the previous 20 years.
• Full service address including town, county and postcode (for the public record).
• Usual residential address (protected information which will not be displayed on the public record).
• Country of residence.
• Date of birth.
• Nationality.
• Business occupation – although you may enter “None” or “Retired” if this is appropriate.
• The number of shares, if any, the director is to have, and details of any consideration paid.
• Confirmation that the individual has consented to act as a director of the company. We’ve created a free template consent to act form that you can use for this purpose.

For each corporate director you will need to provide:

• Corporate name and company registration number.
• Registered/principal office address (including postcode).
• Where the company is registered.
• Whether or not the director is a company registered in the United Kingdom at Companies House.
• For a non-UK registered company, details of the legal form of the corporate body and the law by which it is governed.
• The name of the individual authorised to act for the corporate director.
• The number of shares, if any, the corporate director is to have, and details of any consideration paid.
• Confirmation that the corporate body has consented to act as a director of the company. We’ve created a free template consent to act form for corporate directors that you can use for this purpose.

You are not required to appoint a secretary, but if you do, for each individual (non-corporate) company secretary you will need to provide the following details:

• Full forename(s).
• Surname.
• Any other names used in the previous 20 years.
• Full service address including town, county and postcode.
• The number of shares, if any, the secretary is to have, and details of any consideration paid.
• Confirmation that the individual has consented to act as an officer of the company. We’ve created a free template consent to act form that you can use for this purpose.

If another company is to act as secretary you will need to provide the following details:

• Corporate name and company registration number.
• Registered/principal office address (including postcode).
• Where the company is registered.
• Whether or not the corporate secretary is a company registered in the United Kingdom at Companies House.
• For a non-UK registered company, details of the legal form of the corporate body and the law by which it is governed.
• The number of shares, if any, the corporate company secretary is to have, and details of any consideration paid.
• Confirmation that the corporate body has consented to act as an officer of the company. We’ve created a free template consent to act form for corporate officers that you can use for this purpose.

Subscribers are the initial shareholders of the company. That is, they are the shareholders named during the company formation process. (Individuals that become a shareholder once the company has already been formed – are known as shareholders but not subscribers.)

For each subscriber you will need to provide the following details:

• Full forename(s).
• Surname.
• Full correspondence address (for the public record).
• Details of 3 security items (see later).
• The number of shares (for each share class) the subscriber will have and details of any consideration paid.

PSCs are usually a director and/or subscriber, and so you will have already assembled most of the details you need to provide (such as name, address and shareholding details). In addition to these, you will also need to disclose:

• The PSC control reason(s) – this is the means by which the individual has control over the company. It is usually because the individual will hold more than 25% of the company’s shares and/or voting rights, or has the power to appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors.
• Confirmation that they have confirmed they are a PSC (if they are an individual).

If the company to be formed will have any Relevant Legal Entities (RLEs) or corporate PSCs, then you will also need to provide the following information for each:

• Full name.
• Registered number (if the RLE/PSC has one).
• Registered office address for the RLE, or if no registered office, it’s principal place of business.
• Country where the RLE/PSC is registered.

If the RLE/corporate PSC is a company registered in the United Kingdom you will also need to provide the following details:

• The legal form of the RLE/PSC.
• The law that the RLE/PSC is governed by.
• The register that the RLE/PSC is included on.
• The name of the individual authorised to act for the RLE/PSC.

In order to file documents electronically Companies House will require an electronic signature for each subscriber only.  This signature consists of answers to any 3 of the following security questions:

• Town of birth (first 3 letters required).
• Telephone number (last 3 digits required).
• National insurance number (last 3 digits required).
• Mother’s maiden name (first 3 letters required).
• Father’s first name (first 3 letters required).
• Passport number (last 3 digits required).

The information will not appear anywhere on the public record.

At this point you are probably exhausted at the prospect of providing so many details! However, it is worth remembering that directors will also often be subscribers and possibly a PSC in the newly formed company. If you are using Inform Direct to form your new company, you will first be asked to select all the roles that each individual will serve (i.e. director, secretary, subscriber, PSC) and then you will be asked to fill in the details required for that combination of roles. Inform Direct will never ask you to complete the same details more than once for an individual.

Ready to form a company?

If you’re ready to register your company then you can start the process now. The first step is to check that your company name is available.

A previous version of this article was originally published on 17 September 2013.