Economic Crime & Corporate Transparency Bill

Position as of August 2023

Economic crime is considered to pose a serious threat to the UK’s national security, economy and its institutions as well as causing serious harm to society and individuals. The UK government is committed to tackling this issue and the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency (ECCT) Bill is a key part of this strategy. The Bill has now been through most of its legislative stages and is therefore likely to receive Royal Assent in Autumn 2023.

The ECCT is multifaceted and includes for example provisions related to cryptoassets and new intelligence gathering powers for law enforcement. However, for companies the most significant reform will be to the role and powers of Companies House (CH). Once in force, the ECCT will need secondary legislation and there will be operational issues for CH in complying with the new legislation. The government will publish a timeline for the secondary legislation once the Bill has been enacted.

The new statutory objectives which CH must seek to promote are:

• Ensure that any person who is required to deliver a document to the Registrar does so and that the requirements for proper delivery are complied with.
• Ensure that documents delivered to the Registrar are complete and accurate.
• Minimise the risk of records kept by the Registrar creating a false or misleading impression to the public.
• Minimise the extent to which companies and others carry out or facilitate unlawful activities.

To achieve these objectives, there will be several key changes introduced at CH. These will include identity verification checks for new and existing directors, PSCs and those delivering documents to CH, greater powers for CH to check and remove information, better financial information on the register, powers for CH to cross check data with other bodies and more protection of personal information. There are also changes being made to the statutory registers, company incorporation process and annual confirmation statement as well as a new company email address requirement and a restriction on the use of corporate directors.

The pages below give an overview of the key changes, particularly the ID verification regime.

The government has produced a series of useful factsheets on the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill. These can be accessed here.

It is also worth noting that it is proposed that the Bill will introduce a new strict liability offence of failure to prevent fraud. At the time of writing, it is unclear if this will affect only large companies or all companies regardless of size. 

• Changing Role of Companies House
• Overview of Identity Verification Regime
• Changes to Company Accounts
• Maintaining a Company Email Address
• Appropriate Registered Office Address
• Integrity of Company Names
• Transparency Requirements of Company Formation
• Maintenance of Company Registers