Plans to combat fraud and give businesses confidence in who they are working with have been announced by the government, with the launch of three consultations on reforms to the UK’s register of company information.

Announcing the consultations, the government said:

“One of the consultations will seek views on how the new discretionary power for the register to query new, submitted information will work in practice. The proposals will help close loopholes that lead to abuse of the register, facilitating a crackdown on the misuse of corporate structures by criminals.

“The proposals also look to reduce the administrative burden on businesses and boost the quality of data on the register by making the filing process more consistent, with one consultation exploring how the quality and value of accounts filings can be improved. The plans also propose making Companies House a fully digital organisation, with all companies required to submit accounts to the register online.

“A further consultation on corporate directors will take forward plans to restrict the use of opaque chains of corporate control. Under the plans, only companies whose boards comprise real people with verified identities will be allowed to act as corporate directors of other companies. The move will stop criminals from concealing their true identities behind complex corporate structures, while continuing to allow law-abiding companies to use corporate directors for legitimate purposes.”

See the consultations here:

• Improving the quality and value of financial information on the UK companies register. Read here >
• Powers of the registrar. Read here >
• Implementing the ban on corporate directors. Read here >

The closing date for all three consultations is 11:45pm on Wednesday 3rd February.