Companies House Fees Increasing From 1 May 2024 – Corporate Governance

In this article, we look at the reasoning behind the fee
increases and what they mean for charitable companies and social
enterprises.

Companies House fees are set to increase significantly from 1
May 2024. These changes will affect companies limited by guarantee
and companies limited by shares, including charitable companies and
community interest companies
(“CICs“).

The significant jump in fees is a big change to the ongoing
compliance costs payable by charitable companies and social
enterprises using governance structures with Companies House as the
registrar.

Why is Companies House increasing its fees?

Companies House has been asked to obtain more information and
undertake wider checks to help tackle fraud as a result of new
legislation in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act
2023. Changes are being introduced to Companies House processes
to comply with this new responsibility.

Companies House sets its fees on a “cost-recovery
basis” (i.e. the fee is calculated on the basis of the costs
of providing the service) and the increased fees are as a
consequence of this widened remit for Companies House.

Key Fee Changes

The most notable fee changes that will impact charitable
companies and social enterprises are:

• filing of annual Confirmation Statements online – £34
  (currently £13)




• incorporating a new company online – £50 (currently
  £12)




• filing a company name change online – £20 (currently
  £8)




• Applying for a voluntary company strike-off online – £33
  (currently £8)

In addition, the fee for incorporating a Community Interest
Company (“CIC“) online will increase to
£65 (currently £27).

Fees are higher still when making paper filings.

The full list of new charges for transactions can be found here.

Companies House fees have often been seen as a nominal cost of
running a charitable company or social enterprise, but charities
and social enterprises are already factoring in Companies House
fees when deciding on appropriate structures for their entity. For
example, the charity-only Charitable Incorporated Organisation
(“CIO“), for which the Charity
Commission acts as registrar, has no annual fees for filings,
whilst the Financial Conduct Authority’s fees for community
benefit societies, which are higher than current Companies House
fees, may be more comparable to Companies House fees going
forward.

It is unlikely that fees alone, at their current level, will
encourage companies to convert to alternative structures, but it is
important to consider all available structures and their ongoing
compliance costs when deciding upon the most appropriate structure
for a charity or social enterprise.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.