Charitable Company Registers and Statutory Records
Use this section if your charity is a company limited by guarantee and you need to set up or maintain the registers that company law requires it to keep. These obligations apply because the charity is a company; they do not apply to a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) or an unincorporated charity.
Which registers must a charitable company keep?
Every company must keep a register of its members at its registered office or a single alternative inspection location (SAIL). Since 18 November 2025 a company no longer has to keep its own registers of directors, who in a charitable company are the trustees, of directors' residential addresses, of secretaries or of people with significant control. That information must still be provided to Companies House and kept up to date there. The Register of Members of a Company Limited by Guarantee (Charity) is a template for the register the company must keep. The Register of Directors (Trustees) for Company Limited by Guarantee (Charity), the Register of Residential Addresses of Directors (Trustees) of Private Charitable Company Limited By Guarantee and the Register Of Secretaries of Charitable Company Limited By Guarantee are templates for the former statutory registers, which a charity may still choose to keep as internal records. The Register of Directors' (Trustees') Interests for Company Limited by Guarantee (Charity) is not a statutory register but is a useful record of the interests trustees have declared.
How do we collect members' details for the register?
The register of members has to contain accurate details of each member. The Letter to Members of CCLBG to Provide Full Names (s.113A CA 2006), the Demand letter to CCLBG Members Requiring Information for Register of Members (s.113F CA 2006) and their pro-forma replies are templates for asking members for the information the register needs and for members to respond.
What about people with significant control?
Two guidance notes deal with the people with significant control (PSC) regime as it applies to a charitable company limited by guarantee. Related identity verification requirements for trustees are in the Identity Verification for Charitable Company Trustees section.
- Guidance on Register of PSC of a Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee
- Register of Directors' (Trustees') Interests for Company Limited by Guarantee (Charity)
- Demand letter to CCLBG Members Requiring Information for Register of Members (s.113F CA 2006)
- Pro-forma Reply from CCLBG Members to Demand for Information for Register of Members (s.113F CA 2006)
- Register of Directors (Trustees) for Company Limited by Guarantee (Charity)
- Register Of Secretaries of Charitable Company Limited By Guarantee
- Register of Residential Addresses of Directors (Trustees) of Private Charitable Company Limited By Guarantee
- Register of Members of a Company Limited by Guarantee (Charity)
- Guidance on Register of PSC of a Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee
- Letter to Members of CCLBG to Provide Full Names (s.113A CA 2006)
- Pro-forma Reply from Members of Charitable Company Limited By Guarantee re Full Names for Register of Members (s.113A CA 2006)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Not as statutory registers: since 18 November 2025 a company no longer has to keep its own registers of directors or of directors' residential addresses. The information must still be provided to Companies House and kept up to date there. Many charitable companies sensibly keep the same information as internal records, for accuracy checking, regulator queries and continuity, which is how the register templates here are now best used. What remains mandatory is notifying Companies House within 14 days when a trustee is appointed or leaves or when their registered details, including a residential address, change.
The register of members must record each member's name and address, the date they became a member and, where relevant, the date they ceased to be one. Additional requirements under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, including members' full forenames, have not yet been brought into force. Since 18 November 2025 companies no longer keep their own registers of directors, secretaries or people with significant control, so the register of members is now the main statutory register a charitable company keeps for itself and its accuracy carries more weight, not less. The register template here is structured around those requirements.
Yes. The Companies Act now gives the company a statutory power to require a member or former member to provide the information the register must contain, and the recipient has one month to comply. Serve the demand in writing and keep the reply with the register. This section includes the section 113F demand letter, the pro-forma member reply and the parallel letter for collecting members' full names under section 113A.
Usually not, but you must assess it rather than assume. With no shares, PSC status in a CCLBG turns on voting rights, the right to appoint or remove a majority of trustees or other significant influence, so an ordinary member among many will not qualify, while a member with special constitutional powers might. Record the assessment and file the outcome, including a nil return where no one qualifies. The PSC guidance note here applies the conditions to guarantee company membership.