In an announcement made yesterday, 16th April, Companies House have confirmed that they will temporarily suspend the strike off process and that a sympathetic approach to late filing penalties has been put in place to assist companies in this difficult time whilst they try to meet their legal responsibilities.

Strike off         

The strike off process has been suspended which will prevent companies from being dissolved. If company’s make a voluntary action for strike off a notice will be published in the Gazette by Companies House, however any further action to dissolve the company will be paused to protect those who may wish to object to the company being struck off the register.

In addition, Companies who have failed to file their annual accounts on time will receive a letter from Companies House but an intention to strike off notice will not be published in the Gazette.

It is important to note that these changes do not apply to businesses which are being dissolved as a result of an insolvency procedure, such as administration or liquidation, under these circumstances dissolvent will carry on under the Insolvency Act.

Late filing penalties    

Penalties for late filing due to Coronavirus will be treated sympathetically and a break for payment of penalties has been introduced as have measures such as payment plans.

Previous measures were announced in March to allow companies to apply for an immediate 3 month extension for filing annual accounts. If the reason cited is due to issues arising out of Coronavirus then the extension will be granted automatically and immediately.

Martin Swain, Director of Strategy, Policy and Communications at Companies House said: “We know that many businesses are finding it difficult to keep up with their filing requirements at the moment.

We’re committed to helping them meet their legal responsibilities while keeping the register as up to date as possible.

We will continue to contact customers to remind them of their responsibilities, and we encourage all companies to file their statutory documents as soon as they’re able to do so”.