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Changes to company law: help on the high street for small business

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE AND REGULATORY REFORM News Release (2008/069) issued by The Government News Network on 31 March 2008

More than 20,000 high-street accountants and solicitors are set to receive leaflets explaining important changes to company law, which will have a big impact on their professions.

The Companies Act 2006 makes sweeping changes to improve and simplify company law. To ensure a smooth transition, it is being phased in over a three-year period, with the next set of measures coming into force on 6 April 2008.

Department for Business Minister, Gareth Thomas, said:

"The business world doesn't stand still and the law is changing to reflect this. The Companies Act 2006 provides a real step forward in the reform and modernisation of company law. It contains a number of de-regulatory measures and will make the UK an even more attractive place to invest and do business."

The measures coming in on 6 April are particularly relevant to solicitors and accountants; they include:

* The accounting and reporting requirements for small companies are being brought together into a single set of regulations; this will make things simpler for small companies and their advisors

* Private companies will no longer be required to have a company secretary

* The time in which private companies can file their accounts with the Registrar of Companies has been reduced from 10 to nine months

Parts of the Act that have already come into force include:

* Companies can make greater use of electronic communications for contact with shareholders

* Private companies do not need to hold an annual general meeting unless they positively opt to do so

The 2006 is the result of extensive consultation with business, investors, practitioners and professions.

Further changes are set to come in on the 1st October 2008 and the 1st October 2009. Full details on can be found at http://www.berr.gov.uk/bbf/co-act-2006.

Notes to Editors

1. The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform helps UK business succeed in an increasingly competitive world. It promotes business growth and a strong enterprise economy, leads the better regulation agenda and champions free and fair markets. It is the shareholder in a number of Government-owned assets and it works to secure, clean and competitively priced energy supplies

Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform
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