A confirmation statement confirms structure, not performance

The record

Every company on the UK register, including dormant ones, must file a confirmation statement at least once every 12 months. Companies House's own current guidance states the filing confirms the information Companies House holds about a company is up to date, and that a company must file even if nothing has changed. The underlying duty sits in section 853A of the Companies Act 2006, which requires delivery before the end of the period of 14 days after each review period. That section replaced the older annual return from 30 June 2016, which is why the guidance still carries a residual reference to the old return's deadline.

The review period runs 12 months from incorporation, or from the date on the last statement. Filing costs £50 online or £110 by paper form CS01, and Companies House can fine a company up to £5,000, or strike it off, for not filing.

What the documents establish

Before filing, a company must have told Companies House about changes to directors and secretary, people with significant control, the registered office, and the registered email. The additional-information section can also update the SIC code, statement of capital, trading status of shares, a PSC exemption, or shareholder details. None of this is a financial disclosure: nothing in section 853A or the guidance asks for turnover, assets, or solvency, and annual accounts remain a separate filing.

The statute and guidance also draw a distinction easy to miss: the 12-month review period, which sets when the statement is due, is not the same as the 12-month payment period, which sets when the fee is due. A company can file more than one confirmation statement inside a payment period without paying twice.

The operating read

This is an editorial reading of what the record is good for. A current confirmation statement tells a counterparty that a company's officer, PSC and share-capital data match what the company asserted on the filing date; Companies House does not check that assertion for accuracy. Treating on-time statements as evidence of financial health, rather than paperwork discipline, over-reads the document. Since identity verification became a live requirement, Companies House will not accept a confirmation statement until each director has verified their identity and supplied a personal code, a gate that did not exist when the statement replaced the annual return.

What to check before you decide

Before relying on a confirmation-statement history beyond confirming a public record is current, check the following.

• Does the filing date fall inside the current review period, or is the company already in the 14-day grace window?
• Have all directors and PSCs listed completed the identity verification Companies House now requires before accepting the filing?
• Does the officer and shareholder information match the company's own internal register, or has an update simply not been filed yet?

A confirmation statement is a currency check on the public record, not a report on how a company is doing. Read alongside filed accounts and PSC detail, it is useful evidence a company keeps its paperwork current; read alone, it says nothing about performance or solvency.