page_title: Companies House
section_title: England and Wales
hierarchical_section_title: Companies House / England and Wales
caption_attribution_description: English: Companies House, Cardiff Companies House is the redbrick building behind the trees. Keywords: Road, trees, building, picnic table, Give Way sign.
context_page_description: Companies House is the United Kingdom's registrar of companies and is an executive agency and trading fund of Her Majesty's Government. It falls under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is also a member of the Public Data Group. All forms of companies are incorporated and registered with Companies House and file specific details as required by the current Companies Act 2006. All registered limited companies, including subsidiary, small and inactive companies, must file annual financial statements in addition to annual company returns, which are all public records. Only some registered unlimited companies are exempt from this requirement.
  The United Kingdom has had a system of company registration since 1844. The legislation governing company registration matters is the Companies Act 2006.
context_section_description: England and Wales are treated as a single jurisdiction (companies may be ‘Registered in England and Wales’) with a unified register, separate from those of Scotland or Northern Ireland. Companies must advise Companies House of their intended registered office (the official address of the company), which may be in England and Wales, in Scotland, or in Wales. Consequently, on incorporation, companies will be either 'Registered in England and Wales', 'Registered in Scotland', or 'Registered in Wales'. Effectively, companies in England must register in England and Wales, companies in Scotland must register in Scotland, while companies in Wales may choose to register in either England and Wales, or in Wales.
  Although their legal registration is in either England and Wales, or in Wales, according to Companies House companies must display the company registered office location in a manner similar to one of the following suggested formats:
  “On all company’s business letters, order forms (in hard copy, electronic or any other form) and its websites, the company must show in legible lettering:
  (a) the part of the United Kingdom in which the company is registered which is:
  For Companies registered in England and Wales either:
  Registered in England and Wales; or
  Registered in England; or
  Registered in Wales; or
  Registered in London; or
  Registered in Cardiff.”
  The Companies House office in Cardiff handles companies incorporated in England and Wales. These companies are subject to English law. Until 2011 there was another office at Nantgarw, Wales. The London office at Petty France is purely a facility to file and view documents, which are then processed in Cardiff.
  The Registrar of Companies for England and Wales is the Chief Executive Louise Smyth. The role of Chief Registrar is not a political one and the incumbent is a civil servant.
  All companies registered in England and Wales have 8-digit registration numbers.
caption: The Cardiff office
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