Published 20 May 2026. Every UK limited company and LLP must file a confirmation statement (Form CS01) at Companies House at least once every 12 months. It is one of the cheapest, most administrative filings on the calendar — and one of the easiest to forget. Forgetting it does not generate a financial penalty, but the consequence is more serious than a fine: persistent failure to file leads to your company being struck off the register and dissolved.
If your company year ran from around June or July 2025, your confirmation statement filing window for the 2025/26 review period is opening or open right now. This is what to check, what to file, and what to do if you have already missed yours.
What the confirmation statement actually is
The confirmation statement (Form CS01) is Companies House's annual "is your information still correct?" filing. It is not a tax return and it is not the same as filing annual accounts — those are separate obligations with separate deadlines. The confirmation statement is the public record of who owns and controls the company, where it is registered, what it does, and who its officers are.
On the statement you confirm that the following are accurate, or update them if they are not:
- Registered office address. Must be a real address where post can be received and acknowledged. Since the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 came into force, PO Boxes alone are no longer acceptable.
- Registered email address. Now mandatory for every company since March 2024 under the same Act. Companies House uses it for service notices.
- Directors and secretary. Names, service addresses, and dates of birth (the public record shows month and year only).
- People with Significant Control (PSC). Anyone holding more than 25% of shares, more than 25% of voting rights, the right to appoint or remove a majority of directors, or significant influence by other means.
- Shareholders and share capital. Statement of capital and a statement of any share transfers in the review period.
- SIC codes. Up to four codes describing what the company does.
- The Lawful Purpose Statement. A confirmation, also introduced by the 2023 Act, that the company's future activities will be lawful.
The official guidance is on gov.uk and the most reliable filing route is the Companies House online service.
Filing windows and deadlines for summer 2026
Every company has a review period of 12 months and a filing window of 14 days from the end of that review period. The review period starts on the date of incorporation and resets each year on the anniversary of the last confirmation statement.
| Review period ends | Filing window closes | Plain English |
|---|---|---|
| 1 June 2026 | 15 June 2026 | If your last statement was filed by 1 June 2025, file by 15 June 2026. |
| 1 July 2026 | 15 July 2026 | If your last statement was filed by 1 July 2025, file by 15 July 2026. |
| 1 August 2026 | 15 August 2026 | If your last statement was filed by 1 August 2025, file by 15 August 2026. |
| 1 September 2026 | 15 September 2026 | If your last statement was filed by 1 September 2025, file by 15 September 2026. |
To check your specific dates, look up the company on the Companies House public register — the "confirmation statement" tab shows the date of the last filing and the next "due by" date. The 14-day filing window applies regardless of how busy your June, July or August looks. You can file early: filing a confirmation statement before the review period closes is allowed and resets the next review period to the new filing date.
The £40 online / £62 paper fee
The confirmation statement fee was raised on 1 May 2024 from £13 / £40 to £34 online / £62 paper. Companies House further adjusted fees in subsequent reviews; the current standard is £40 online via the digital service and £62 for paper filing. The fee is an annual payment covering all confirmation statements filed in the 12-month review period — if you file a second statement mid-period because of a change you want on the record, no additional fee is due.
Paper filing in 2026 carries the higher fee, takes longer to process, and offers no advantages — unless your company structure makes it unavoidable (rare). Filing online is the default and is what every active company should be using. The Companies House fee schedule on gov.uk is the authoritative source.
PSC register and people-with-significant-control checks
The PSC information is the part of the confirmation statement most likely to be wrong. Common errors I see:
- A share transfer the year before that was never reflected. Shares moved between founders, a spouse, or a holding company, but the PSC register stayed showing the old position.
- A 25% threshold crossed silently. An EMI option exercised, a SAFE converted, an angel diluted out — and the new shareholder structure changed who counts as a PSC.
- Indirect control not declared. An individual controlling more than 50% of a holding company that holds shares in your company is a PSC of your company, even though they hold no shares directly.
- The "right to appoint or remove a majority of directors" overlooked. A shareholder agreement granting that right makes the holder a PSC regardless of shareholding percentage.
The PSC register must be kept up to date throughout the year, not only at confirmation statement time. Changes must be filed within 14 days of the company becoming aware of them, on Form PSC01–PSC09 as appropriate. The confirmation statement then confirms that the register is accurate as at the review date. HMRC and Companies House are now actively cross-referencing PSC records with beneficial ownership data submitted under Economic Crime Act provisions; inconsistent records are increasingly flagged. Our limited company accountant work routinely reviews the PSC register at every year-end and confirmation statement, because the company-secretarial admin is otherwise the first thing to slip.
Consequences of not filing — including being struck off
Unlike late accounts (where the penalty is a sliding-scale fine of £150 to £1,500+), late confirmation statements do not carry an automatic financial penalty. The consequences are different and arguably more serious.
- Companies House reminder, then warning. You will receive a reminder shortly after the review period ends, and a more formal warning a few weeks later if the statement remains unfiled.
- Strike-off action. Persistent failure to file (typically after 3–6 months overdue, depending on the company's overall filing record) leads Companies House to begin compulsory strike-off proceedings. A notice is published in The Gazette; if not contested within two months, the company is dissolved.
- Assets vest in the Crown (bona vacantia). A dissolved company's bank balances, IP, contracts and any property pass to the Crown. Recovering them via company restoration is possible but slow and expensive — typically £500–£2,000 in fees and several months of administrative work, plus the back-filing of every outstanding statement and account.
- Director liability. Directors who knowingly allow a company to continue trading after dissolution face personal liability for debts and potential criminal sanction under the Companies Act 2006.
- Banking disruption. Banks routinely review the Companies House status of business customers; a company in strike-off proceedings, or worse, dissolved, will see its accounts frozen.
The point is that the £40 confirmation statement is not just a fee — it is the cheapest piece of company-secretarial insurance you will ever pay. Skipping it because "nothing happens immediately" is one of the most expensive small admin decisions a director can make.
What to do if you have missed yours
If your confirmation statement is overdue but the company has not yet entered formal strike-off, the fix is straightforward and the path forward is calm.
- Check the Companies House register today. Look up your company; the next "due by" date for the confirmation statement is on the public record. If it is in the past, file as soon as possible.
- Review PSC and shareholder records before filing. Do not file a statement confirming inaccurate information — correct the underlying record first (via PSC forms, share transfer notifications, etc.) and then file the statement.
- File online, pay the £40 fee. The statement is processed within hours in most cases.
- If a Gazette strike-off notice has already been published, you can object to the strike-off via Companies House by filing the outstanding statements and writing to Companies House to confirm the company is still trading. The 2-month notice window is your window to act.
- If the company has already been dissolved, restoration is possible but is a separate process — either administrative restoration (within 6 years of dissolution, by application to Companies House) or restoration by court order. This is the costly route to avoid.
Our limited company accountant work and management accounts service both fold the company-secretarial calendar (confirmation statement, annual accounts, corporation tax return) into one operating rhythm so the dates do not slip in the first place.
FAQs
If your confirmation statement deadline falls between June and September 2026, the action is small — check the record, correct any PSC drift, file online, pay £40 — and the calm of having it cleanly filed is real. The owners who get into trouble are the ones who quietly defer it for a year, and the trouble compounds from there.
Sense-check your Companies House filing calendar
If you are not sure whether your confirmation statement is current, your PSC register is accurate, or your annual accounts deadline is in good shape, a written review will tell you. Bring your company number and Stuart will reply with a clear status and a short action list.
Start with a free written assessment — no calls, just a clear written reply.