What Information Must Be Included in Your Confirmation Statement?

The confirmation statement, form CS01, is a yearly check that the information Companies House holds about your company is right. It does not ask for accounts or tax figures, but it covers a lot of ground: who runs the company, who owns it, who controls it, what it does and how its shares are split. Knowing what confirmation statement information you are confirming, and what you can change on the form itself, makes filing quick and keeps the public register accurate. This guide works through each section.

Why the information matters

The Companies House register is public and free to search. Banks, lenders, customers, suppliers and law enforcement use it to check who they are dealing with. When you file a confirmation statement, a director is confirming that the company's information on the register is correct at the confirmation date. Knowingly or recklessly giving false information is an offence, and the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act has given Companies House more power to query and remove information that looks wrong.

Section 1: Registered office address

The statement shows your registered office, the official address for legal letters. Since March 2024, it must be an appropriate address: somewhere documents sent to the company will come to the attention of someone acting for it, and where delivery can be acknowledged. A PO box on its own is not allowed.

You cannot change the registered office within the confirmation statement. If it has moved, file form AD01 first. Our guide to changing your registered office address explains how.

Section 2: Single alternative inspection location

Some companies keep their statutory registers somewhere other than the registered office, at a single alternative inspection location (SAIL). If you use one, its address is shown. Most small companies do not.

Section 3: Officers

The statement lists your directors and, if you have one, your company secretary, with their service addresses and other details. Appointments, resignations and changes to a director's details must be filed separately on forms AP01, TM01 and CH01 before you confirm. You cannot add or remove a director within the statement.

Directors' identity verification

Since 18 November 2025, every director must have verified their identity with Companies House before the company's next confirmation statement. The statement includes each director's personal code, and it will be rejected if any are missing. This is now the most common reason confirmation statements are delayed. See our guide to ID verification requirements.

Section 4: People with significant control

You confirm that the details of your people with significant control (PSCs) are right. A PSC is usually someone who holds more than 25% of the shares or voting rights, can appoint or remove most of the board, or otherwise has significant influence or control. If your company has no PSC, you must say so.

PSC changes are filed separately, on forms PSC01 to PSC09, within the time limits. The confirmation statement is not the place to report them. Our guide to PSC requirements explains who counts.

Section 5: SIC codes

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes describe what your company does. You can have up to four. Unlike most other confirmation statement information, SIC codes can be changed directly within the statement. If your business has moved into a new area, update them; wrong codes can affect bank checks, insurance and eligibility for some support schemes. If your codes need changing outside the statement, we can update your business activity for you.

Section 6: Statement of capital

If your company has share capital, the statement includes a statement of capital showing:

• the total number of shares issued
• the classes of shares, such as ordinary or preference shares
• the total nominal value
• the amount paid and unpaid
• the rights attached to each class

If the details have changed, you can update the statement of capital within the confirmation statement. However, some share changes, such as issuing new shares, have their own forms and deadlines (for example, a return of allotment on form SH01 within one month), so file those as they happen.

Section 7: Shareholder information

For private companies whose shares are not traded on a market, the statement shows who holds the shares, how many each holds, and any transfers during the review period. You can update this within the statement. A full list of shareholders is needed in some years, for example in your first statement or when changes have been made.

Section 8: Registered email address

Every company must have a registered email address, so Companies House can contact it. It is not shown on the public register. Companies incorporated before March 2024 provided it on their first confirmation statement after that date. Keep it current: if the inbox is not monitored, you may miss important notices.

Section 9: Lawful purpose statement

Each confirmation statement now includes a statement that the company's intended future activities are lawful. It is a simple tick, but it is a formal declaration by the company, and making it falsely is an offence. If the company plans to change what it does, make sure the new activity is lawful and update your SIC codes to match.

Section 10: Trading status of shares

You confirm whether any of the company's shares were admitted to trading on a relevant market during the review period. For almost all small private companies the answer is no, but the question must be answered.

Which registers you still keep

Since 18 November 2025, companies no longer have to keep their own registers of directors, directors' residential addresses, secretaries or people with significant control. That information now lives only on the Companies House register, which makes it even more important that what you confirm is right. Directors also no longer have to give a business occupation when they are appointed.

You must still keep a register of members (shareholders) at your registered office or SAIL and make it available for inspection. Companies that used to keep their register of members at Companies House lost that option in January 2026, so they now need to hold a full register themselves. Your confirmation statement information about shareholders should match it exactly.

A first confirmation statement: an example

Picture a company formed in March 2025 with two directors, who each own half the shares. When its first confirmation statement falls due in March 2026, the directors check that the registered office still receives post, add a registered email address, confirm that both of them are listed as PSCs with more than 25% of the shares, review the SIC code chosen at incorporation, and confirm the statement of capital still shows 100 ordinary shares of £1. Both directors verify their identity in February and give their personal codes. The statement is filed with a week to spare and the next review period begins.

What you can and cannot change on the statement

To keep things clear, here is the split:

Can be updated within the confirmation statement

• SIC codes
• statement of capital
• shareholder information
• registered email address

Must be filed separately first

• registered office address (AD01)
• appointment and removal of directors or secretaries (AP01, AP03, TM01, TM02)
• changes to officers' details (CH01, CH03)
• PSC changes (PSC01 to PSC09)
• new share allotments (SH01)
• changes to the company name or articles

Preparing your confirmation statement information

A few minutes of preparation makes filing straightforward:

1. Check the public register. Look up your company on Companies House and read every section as an outsider would.
2. Compare it with your register of members. Your shareholder list on the register should match the register of members you keep at the registered office.
3. File any separate forms first. Changes of director, address or PSC must be on the register before you confirm.
4. Collect personal codes from every director.
5. Find your authentication code, which Companies House posts to the registered office.
6. File and pay the £50 fee before the deadline.

Deadlines and fees

You must file at least once every 12 months, within 14 days of the end of your review period. The fee is £50 online and £110 on paper, paid once per review period. Missing the deadline is an offence and can lead to the company being struck off. Our guide to the confirmation statement deadline explains how your date is worked out.

Common errors in confirmation statement information

• Old shareholder details after shares were transferred during the year.
• Outdated SIC codes from when the company was first set up.
• PSCs not updated after a change of ownership.
• Missing personal codes for one or more directors.
• A registered email nobody reads.
• A registered office that no longer receives post, which breaks the appropriate address rule.
• Typing errors in names or dates of birth, which then appear on the public register and can cause problems with identity checks and bank onboarding.

Companies House explains each section in its guidance on filing your company's confirmation statement.

Let us check and file it

We review every piece of confirmation statement information against your company records, file any separate forms that are needed first, help your directors with identity verification, and submit the statement on time. See our confirmation statement service.