Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE ECONOMIC CRIME & CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT 2023 IS BEING IMPLEMENTED IN PHASES AND MAY CHANGE SOME OF THE TEMPLATES BELOW.
Economic crime is considered to pose a serious threat to the UK’s national security, economy and its institutions as well as causing serious harm to society and individuals. The UK government is committed to tackling this issue and the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) is a key part of this strategy. The ECCTA received Royal Assent on 26th October 2023.
The ECCTA is multifaceted and includes for example provisions related to crypto assets and new intelligence gathering powers for law enforcement. However, for private companies the most significant reform is to the role and powers of Companies House (CH). Amongst the key changes for private companies include:
- an identity verification regime,
- changes to the type of accounts filed for small companies and micro-entities,
- changes to CH filings and the keeping of company registers and records, and
- enhanced powers for CH to check, remove and reject information.
This collection contains some useful templates for SME private companies considering how the ECCTA will affect them and what information to disseminate to their directors, shareholders, PSCs and other affected stakeholders.
We will add to this group of templates as the ECCTA comes into force and regulations are passed bringing it into effect.
More information is available on our Information Pages here. The government has also created some useful factsheets which can be accessed here.
- Economic Crime & Corporate Transparency Act Roadmap
- Letter to Directors Regarding ID Verification
- Letter to People with Significant Control Regarding ID Verification
- Summary of the Identity Verification Regime
- Letter to Shareholders to Provide Full Names for Register of Members (s.113A CA 2006)
- Pro-forma Reply from Shareholders re Full Names for Register of Members (s.113A CA 2006)
- Checklist of Headline Points for Economic Crime Act
- Note to Directors – Summary of key Issues under ECCTA
- Board Minutes to Document and Approve IDV of Existing Directors
- Confirmation of Identity Verification (Existing Directors) - Letter from a director to a company
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Frequently Asked Questions
Every director and person with significant control, plus LLP members in an LLP. New appointees verify from 18 November 2025 as part of appointment. People already in post verify by the company's first confirmation statement date after that, so every existing director is covered by 18 November 2026 (company secretaries are likely to need to identity verify by no earlier than November 2027). Verification is done once through GOV.UK One Login or an authorised provider and follows the person, not the company. The register shows each person's due date. Once the first phase of the IDV rollout is complete, Companies House will be able to commence steps to ensure compliance by those in-scope individuals who are in default.
Two main ones. Filing restrictions: Companies House will limit who may deliver documents, with third party agents needing registration as authorised corporate service providers and individual filers needing verified accounts, postponed to no earlier than November 2027 so the director and PSC transition completes first. And accounts reform from April 2028: software-only filing, no abridged accounts and profit and loss filing for small companies with a publication opt-out.