UK Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency (ECCTA) changes and delivery in Entities

Following the Companies House changes to the UK Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA), we introduced a set of form updates, wizards, reports and functionalities that support companies in staying compliant.

Update phases and scope

We’re continuously releasing updates as changes to the ECCTA are being announced.

Future changes

The schedule below is an approximation based on the timeline information released by Companies House at the date of publishing this article. Dates and scope are subject to change.

• January 2026 – Confirming individuals’ verification details.
• Spring/Summer 2026 — Submitting individual filer ID code and statement of capacity when delivering documents to Companies House.

  Note

  We have delivered pre-emptive support to store filer identity codes within user profiles in Entities in preparation for this change. Support within Entities is subject to change as information on how Companies House intend to implement this requirement becomes available.

Changes introduced in Entities

This section provides an overview of updates introduced in Entities to support companies in staying compliant with ECCTA.

• Mandatory ID verification You can record and store individuals’ unique UK Identity Verification codes (IDV codes) in Entities. These details are then used to populate the relevant sections on the supported UK forms. Entities provides reports which give you an overview of the relevant individuals who need to record their IDV details, and their status.

  For more information, refer to the Mandatory ID verification section.

• E-filing pre-configured UK accounts You can electronically file iXBRL-tagged UK accounts packages prepared in 3rd party applications.

  For more information, refer to the E-filing pre-configured UK accounts section.

• Storing Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSP) codes You can record the Identity Verification code or the Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) code and specify the capacity in which you are delivering documents, which will be required by UK Companies House.

  For more information, refer to the Storing Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSP) codes section.

• Storing Relevant Officer (RO) information for a Registered Legal Entity You can record this information in the UK Relevant Officer of a Registered Legal Entity (RLE) data library.

  For more information, refer to the Storing Relevant Officer (RO) information for a Registered Legal Entity section.

• Registered email address You can record the Registered Email Address for UK companies and LLPs in Entities.

  For more information, refer to the Registered email address section.

• Lawful purpose statement With the rollout of the changes to Entities, the lawful purpose statement is a mandatory prompt in the wizard process for the following actions:
  • Generating a Confirmation Statement for a company or an LLP
  • Incorporating a new UK company

  For more information, refer to the Lawful purpose statement section.

• Authenticating on behalf of company or LLP When confirming selected events, the existing wizard for signing forms will now indicate who is authenticating the event on behalf of the company.

  For more information, refer to the Authenticating on behalf of company or LLP section.

• Appropriate registered office addressEntities does not accept a PO box as Registered Office Address. Entities prompts to confirm that the Registered Office Address meets the following criteria:
  • A document addressed to the company or LLP, and delivered there by hand or by post, would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company or LLP.
  • A person can get an acknowledgement of delivery to record the delivery of documents to the new registered office address.

  For more information, refer to the Appropriate registered office address section.

Mandatory ID verification

From November 18, 2025, Companies House requires Persons of Significant Control (PSCs) to verify their identity when submitting several documents. Identity is confirmed and verified using Identity Verification (IDV) codes, also known as Companies House Personal Codes (CHPC).

Entities comes with several features and functionalities supporting you in effective IDV information management.

From Entities, you can:

• Identify individuals whose IDV information is required, see which individuals do not have IDV information recorded, and identify which individuals must verify their IDV information with Companies House directly in a specified timeframe.
• Record and store individuals’ IDV codes.
• Generate a number of e-filing messages and automated paper forms with IDV information included.

For information on how to record IDV information and use it for e-filing, see Managing Person of Significant Control Individual Verification information for UK entities.

E-filing pre-configured UK accounts

You can electronically file iXBRL-tagged UK accounts packages prepared in 3rd party applications. You can upload iXBRL-formatted files to the related Data Library as HTML or ZIP files and use the UK e-filing wizard to file them with Companies House.

For information on how to electronically file iXBRL-tagged UK accounts files, see E-file pre-configured UK accounts.

Storing Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSP) codes

The new UK Delivery tab in My Preferences allows you to record the necessary information to submit document filer details for individuals delivering documents to UK Companies House. In this tab, you can record the Identity Verification code or the Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) code and specify the capacity in which you are delivering documents, which will be required by UK Companies House.

For more information, see Storing Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSP) codes.

Storing Relevant Officer (RO) details for a Registered Legal Entity

You can record Relevant Officer (RO) information for a Registered Legal Entity in the new UK Relevant Officer of a Registered Legal Entity (RLE) data library.

For more information, see Storing Relevant Officer (RO) details for a Registered Legal Entity.

Changes introduced in 2024

On Monday, March 4, 2024, Companies House has released the first set of changes related to the UK Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency (ECCTA) Act.

These changes impact several forms available for e-filing and paper format within Entities.

The changes were released to Entities on March 2, 2024.

ECCTA changes: scope and impact on UK companies

The changes introduced as part of ECCTA apply to new forms generated in Entities with Made Up Date (MUD) starting on the Companies House implementation date – March 4, 2024.

The changes apply also to Confirmation Statements with the Made Up Date starting from March 5, 2024.

Change summary

Form	Description	Changes
CS01	Confirmation Statement	Registered email address Lawful purpose statement Authenticating on behalf of company
IN01	Application to Register a Company (SBEE Act 2015)	Registered email address Lawful purpose statement Authenticating on behalf of company
AD01	Change of Registered Office Address	Authenticating on behalf of company Appropriate registered office address
LLCS01	Confirmation Statement	Registered email address Lawful purpose statement Authenticating on behalf of LLP
LLIN01	Application for Incorporation of a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) (SBEE Act 2015)	Registered email address Authenticating on behalf of LLP
LLAD01	Change of Registered Office of a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)	Authenticating on behalf of LLP Appropriate registered office address

Legislative reference correction

We have been notified by Companies House that the new ECCTA forms LLAD01 and LLCS01 provided by them and subsequently released to Entities on March 4, 2024, contain incorrect legislative references. Companies House have confirmed that they will accept the existing forms from Entities until they are replaced.

On April 8, 2024, the forms LLAD01 and LLCS01 have been replaced in Entities.

The following form corrections have been released:

Form	Incorrect reference	Correct reference released
LLAD01, page 3	In accordance with Section 87 of the Companies Act 2006 as applied by the Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Companies Law) Regulations 2024.	In accordance with Section 87 of the Companies Act 2006 as applied by the Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 2009.
LLAD01, section 3	I confirm that the new registered office address is an appropriate address as outlined in section 2(5) of the Limited Partnerships Act 2000.	I confirm that the new registered office address is an appropriate address as outlined in section 2(5) of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000.
LLCS01, page 3	In accordance with Section 853A of the Companies Act 2006. As applied to LLPs by The Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Company Law) Regulations 2024.	In accordance with Section 853A of the Companies Act 2006. As applied to LLPs by The Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 2009.
LLCS01, page 6	In accordance with regulation 17ZB of The Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Company Law) Regulations 2024.	In accordance with regulation 17ZB of The Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 2009.

Registered email address (REA)

This change affects forms:

• CS01

• LLCS01

• IN01

• LLIN01

As part of ECCTA, companies are required to maintain an appropriate email address. An appropriate email address is one at which, in the ordinary course of events, emails sent to it by the registrar would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company.

Providing the Registered Email Address for all UK companies and LLPs is mandatory under ECCTA.

The Registered Email Address must be supplied on the first Confirmation Statement issued after the ECCTA implementation. The Made Up Date for the statement must be a date after March 4, 2024.

You can register the same email address for more than one company.

Changes in Entities

You can record the Registered Email Address for UK companies and LLPs in Entities.

You can record REA in the following ways:

• For one company at a time, by editing Company Details

• For multiple UK entities, by using Batch Change Registered Email Address Wizard

To learn how to set the Registered Email Address for UK companies, refer to Set Registered Email Address for UK Companies.

When you add a Registered Email Address in Entities, the first Confirmation Statement you generate after the ECCTA implementation date will include the REA. Incorporations will also include the REA entered.

Currently, to change the Registered Email Address after it has been submitted to Companies House, you will need to use the Companies House new online process for the EM01 form and then update the REA in Entities manually. The e-filing EM01 form will be added to Entities in a future release.

Lawful purpose statement

This change affects forms:

• CS01

• LLCS01

• IN01

Under ECCTA, there is a new mandatory requirement, to confirm that the intended future activities of the company/LLP are lawful, for the following:

• Incorporating a new UK company

• Submitting Confirmation Statements for a company

• Submitting Confirmation Statements for an LLP

Changes in Entities

With the rollout of the changes to Entities, the lawful purpose statement will be a mandatory prompt in the Wizard process for the following actions:

• Generating a Confirmation Statement for a company or an LLP

• Incorporating a new UK company

Authenticating on behalf of company or LLP

This change affects forms:

• CS01

• LLCS01

• IN1

• LIN01

• AD01

• LLAD01

For selected forms, signatures are being replaced by authentication on behalf of the company.

Changes in Entities

When confirming selected events, the existing wizard for signing forms will now indicate who is authenticating the event on behalf of the company. The wizard will update the relevant new forms and e-filing submissions with the person's name. For other events, the field will still be used to indicate a signatory.

Appropriate registered office address

This change affects forms:

• AD01

• LLAD01

This change affects the following UK entities:

• Companies – outlined in section 86(2) of the Companies Act 2006

• LLPs – outlined in section 2(5) of the Limited Partnerships Act 2000

As part of ECCTA, companies and LLPs are required to maintain an appropriate registered office address. An appropriate registered office address is an address where, in the ordinary course of events, a document addressed to the company, and delivered there by hand or by post, would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company, and the delivery of documents is capable of being recorded by the obtaining of an acknowledgement of delivery.

Changes in Entities

Entities will not accept a PO box as Registered Office Address.

Entities will now prompt to confirm that the Registered Office Address meets the following criteria:

• A document addressed to the company or LLP, and delivered there by hand or by post, would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company or LLP, and

• A person can get an acknowledgement of delivery to record the delivery of documents to the new registered office address.