Formerly a compulsory appointment, the role of the company secretary was made optional in 2008, a direct result of the Companies Act 2006.
However, whilst it’s no longer necessary to appoint a company secretary, there is certainly some value in having one.
In this blog post we’re first going to look at why you should consider appointing a company secretary, and then how you go about doing this.
Why appoint a company secretary?
A limited company has a number of filing obligations, that, if missed can result in heavy penalties, the company being closed down, and even criminal prosecution.
The role of the company secretary is to take care of the filing responsibilities and so steer the company away from these costly consequences.
On a more general level, the secretary is there to assist the company directors in fulfilling their legal duties.
How to appoint a secretary
If you decided not to appoint a secretary when incorporating your limited company but now wish to appoint one, there are a few ways to do this:
Your Online Company Manager
If your company was formed by us you will already have access to the free Online Company Manager. To make the appointment from here:
- Log in
- Select ‘My Companies’
- Click on your company’s name
- Select ‘Add New Officer’
- Confirm that ‘this is an official appointment at Companies House’
- Select ‘Add New Officer’ again
- Tick the ‘Secretary’ box, then proceed to enter the new secretary’s title, full name, date of birth, residential address, service address and forwarding address – and date that the appointment was made
- Select ‘Save’
The request will immediately be sent to Companies House (it can take up to 2 working days to be processed but it’s often much quicker than this).
Didn’t form your company with us? No problem, you can still use the Online Company Manager.
Signing up is completely free and all we need is some basic information on yourself, as well as your company number and company authentication code: Sign up to the Online Company Manager
Alternatively, make the change directly with Companies House
You will not find a simpler way to make the appointment than our Online Company Manager.
However, you can also use Companies House WebFiling or the paper AP03 form to make the request.
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So there you have it, how to appoint a secretary. We hope you have found this post helpful. Please let us know via a comment if you have any questions.
