Rebranding Your Business: Complete Guide to Changing Company Name

A new name can give a business a fresh start, but rebranding a business is more than a new logo. The name sits in contracts, bank accounts, tax records, search results and your customers' memories. Done in the right order, the switch is smooth. Done in the wrong order, payments bounce and customers wonder whether you have closed. This guide covers the decisions to make first and a checklist of everything to update.

Legal name or trading name?

The first decision is whether you need to change the company's registered name at all.

• Trading name only. A company can trade under a different name from its registered one, as long as it does not pretend to be a different company. The registered name, number and address must still appear on letters, invoices and the website. This is quicker and cheaper, and suits launching a new brand alongside the old one.
• Change the registered name. If the old name no longer fits anything you do, or you want one name everywhere, change the legal name with Companies House. Our guide to the legal requirements for company name changes explains the process.

Check and protect the new name

Before you spend money on design, make sure the name is actually available to you.

• Companies House. Search the register for the same or a very similar name.
• Trade marks. Search the UK trade mark register in the classes that match what you sell. A name free at Companies House can still be someone else's trade mark, and using it can lead to a claim against you.
• Domains and social handles. Check the web address and the social media names you will want, and register them before you announce anything.
• Your own trade mark. If the brand will be valuable, applying to register it yourself stops others copying it.

Rebranding business step by step

1. Agree the name internally and, for a legal change, pass the shareholders' special resolution.
2. Register the domain, handles and any trade mark so nobody can take them once the news is out.
3. File the change at Companies House if you are changing the legal name, and wait for the certificate before using the new name on contracts.
4. Update the bank first. Customers will soon pay the new name; the bank must recognise it on the account.
5. Switch your documents and website on a set date, and tell customers and suppliers in advance.
6. Keep the old name working for a while. Redirect the old website, keep the old email addresses forwarding, and tell people the business has only changed its name.

The rebranding checklist

Official records

• Companies House (if changing the legal name)
• HMRC: Companies House tells HMRC of a legal name change, but check your VAT, PAYE and Corporation Tax records show it
• Licences and regulators, such as the ICO data protection register, the FCA or a local council licence

Money

• Bank accounts, card machines and payment providers
• Direct debits you collect, so customers' banks show the new name
• Insurance policies
• Lenders and leases

Customers and suppliers

• Invoices, quotes, order forms and email signatures
• Contracts: a legal name change keeps them valid, because the company number is the same, but tell the other side in writing
• Suppliers' and customers' records, so payments and orders go to the right name

Online

• Website, with permanent redirects from the old domain so search rankings carry over
• Google Business Profile, directories and review sites
• Social media profiles

Physical

• Signs at your premises, which must show the registered name
• Vehicles, uniforms, packaging and printed stock

Mistakes to avoid

• printing new stationery before the name is registered
• switching the bank details on invoices before the bank recognises the new name
• letting the old domain lapse, which loses search rankings and lets someone else take it
• forgetting that the registered name, not just the brand, must appear on letters and the website

How we can help

Our change company name service checks the new name, prepares the resolution and files it, with a same-day option. If the rebrand comes with a new direction, our update business activity service changes your SIC codes to match.