Company Registers & Records UK: What to Keep

Overview

Statutory registers are the internal books of record that a UK company is legally required to maintain. They are separate from the filings held publicly by Companies House, although the two overlap. The core registers cover members (shareholders), directors, directors' residential addresses, secretaries, charges over company assets, and people with significant control.

Some companies also keep a register of directors' interests and a register of transfers, depending on their articles and circumstances. These books must be kept either at the registered office or at a nominated Single Alternative Inspection Location, known as a SAIL.

The SAIL is simply a second address that the company has formally notified to Companies House as the place where certain records can be inspected. Members and, for some registers, the public have inspection rights, so the records need to be accessible during working hours.

Since 2016, private companies have also had the option to keep certain registers on the central register at Companies House rather than maintaining their own internal version, though many advisers still prefer the traditional approach for control and privacy reasons.

Key steps

1. Confirm your registered office and, if relevant, your SAIL. Your registered office is the legal address for service, and it must appear on company stationery and the Companies House record. If you want to keep inspection records somewhere different, set up a SAIL address and file the appropriate notification so the public knows where to look.
2. Build the core set of statutory registers. At minimum, prepare a register of members, a register of directors, a register of directors' residential addresses (kept private), a register of secretaries if you have appointed one, a register of charges where security exists, and a PSC register recording people with significant control. Accuracy matters more than format.
3. Keep the registers up to date after every change. Share transfers, new appointments, resignations, address changes, and PSC changes all need to be reflected promptly. Many of these changes also trigger a Companies House filing, so treat the internal update and the public filing as a single task rather than separate jobs.
4. Record board decisions properly. Where the company moves its registered office, adopts a SAIL, changes officers, or approves share issues, the directors should pass a written resolution or minute a board meeting. These minutes sit alongside the registers and form part of the company's permanent record.
5. Review annually and reconcile with the confirmation statement. Once a year, when the confirmation statement is due, cross-check your internal registers against the public record at Companies House. Fix any mismatches, update the HMRC contact address if it has changed, and keep a dated note of the review.

Common questions