For businesses
How to correct Companies House information (and what a check reads)
To correct Companies House information you file the right form for the field: AD01 for the registered office, CH01 for a director’s details, RP04 to replace a filing that contained a mistake, amended accounts under section 454 for the accounts, and a confirmation statement for SIC codes. Most are free and show on the register within 24 hours. A check reads the register live, so a correction at source is a correction everywhere — including in your SafeToPay report.
Key facts
- Registered office (AD01), director and PSC details (CH01, PSC04 and related forms) and most other changes are filed free online and normally appear within 24 hours (Companies House WebFiling).
- A filing that contained an error can be replaced with a “second filing” using form RP04; the original stays on the record, marked as replaced (Companies (Registrar, Languages and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2009).
- Accounts cannot be corrected by RP04; incorrect accounts are corrected by filing amended accounts, clearly marked as such, which sit alongside the originals (Companies Act 2006, s.454).
- SIC codes are changed on the next confirmation statement, or on an early one filed for £34 (Companies Act 2006, s.853A).
- Since the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 Companies House can query, annotate and remove inaccurate or fraudulent information on its own initiative; a false director appointment can be reported online (ECCTA 2023, Part 1).
- SafeToPay reads Companies House at the time of each check and records the exact source and time for every line; a fact fixed at source is fixed in the next report without any request to us (methodology v1.2, source_meta).
Which form fixes which field
Every field on the register has one form that changes it, and the most common mistake is filing the wrong one — or filing a confirmation statement in the belief that it corrects everything, when it only confirms what is already there.
| What is wrong | What to file | Fee | Shows on register | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered office out of date or wrong | AD01 (change of registered office) | Free | Usually within 24 hours | Update website footer, invoices and letterhead the same day |
| Director’s name, service address, occupation or nationality | CH01 (change of director’s details) | Free | Usually within 24 hours | Residential address is changed separately and stays private |
| Director appointed or resigned but not shown | AP01 (appoint) or TM01 (terminate) | Free | Usually within 24 hours | Backdated effective dates are allowed; late filing is not an offence in itself but should not be left |
| Person with significant control wrong or missing | PSC01, PSC04 (change), PSC07 (cease) | Free | Usually within 24 hours | Missing PSCs are a discrepancy customers and banks notice |
| A previous filing contained a mistake (e.g. wrong date, wrong address on an AD01) | RP04 (second filing) with the corrected form attached | Free | Days to weeks; paper | Original stays visible, annotated; not available for accounts or confirmation statements |
| Accounts contain an error | Amended accounts under s.454, marked “amended” | Free | Days to weeks | Originals stay on the record; a check reads the latest set |
| SIC code wrong or missing (e.g. a manufacturer coded as construction) | Confirmation statement (CS01) — next one, or an early one | £34 | Usually within 24 hours | The single most common source-side fix we see in reports |
| Company name wrong (typo at incorporation) | NM01 (change of name) with resolution | £20 online | Days | The old name becomes a “previous name” on the record |
| Home address showing in historic filings | Application to suppress residential address (s.1088 and ECCTA provisions) | Fee per document | Weeks | Change the service address first so no new documents carry it |
| Someone filed something in your company’s name without authority | Report to Companies House online; consider PROOF to block paper filings | Free | Varies | Companies House can now remove fraudulent filings under ECCTA powers |
A confirmation statement confirms; it does not correct
The confirmation statement lets you update SIC codes, shareholders and the registered email, and it asks you to confirm officers and PSCs are right — but if they are wrong, it points you to the separate forms. Filing a statement over an inaccurate record just confirms the inaccuracy, which is an offence and, more practically, keeps the wrong data on every check.
RP04 replaces a filing; it does not erase it
A second filing is the route when a form was filed with an error — a wrong date, a misspelt name, an address with a missing line. The corrected form goes on the record and the original is annotated as replaced. Both remain visible, so a customer scrolling the filing history will see the correction; that is fine, and better than an unexplained error.
Accounts are corrected by amended accounts
If the numbers were wrong — a scale error, a figure in the wrong box — the directors approve and file amended accounts under section 454, marked as amended on every page. The originals stay on the record; checks and credit agencies read the latest set. Do this quickly if net assets or cash were misstated, because those two numbers are what customers read.
Four situations: where the error actually is
When a report says something a business believes is wrong, the error is in one of four places, and each has a different fix.
| Situation | Example | Who fixes it | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| The register is wrong | SIC code says construction; the business manufactures. Registered office still the old accountant’s. | The company, at Companies House | The form in the table above. The next check reads the corrected register automatically. |
| The register is right but the website disagrees | Site says “established 1998”; company formed 2015; no earlier domain history | The company, on its website | Change the claim or explain it (“trading since 1998, incorporated 2015”). Re-check reads the new page. |
| The register and website are right; the check misread one of them | Brand name parsed from a page title as “Loft Conversion” instead of the company’s trading name; a postcode picked up from a client testimonial | SafeToPay | Request a correction with the page and the fact; we fix the reader and re-run. |
| Everything is right; the business disagrees with how it is presented | A single loss-making year shown as net liabilities; a dissolved company on a director’s record that was closed solvently | Nobody changes the fact; the business adds context | Short business response shown in the report; the fact, date and verdict stay. |
The first two situations account for most requests we receive, and neither needs us: the register and the website are the sources, and the report follows them. Everything we read, field by field, and where it comes from is on the business data page.
Fixing it at Companies House, step by step
Source-side corrections take one login and one form; the sequence below covers the case where more than one thing needs changing.
- Read your own record as a customer would — the overview page, officers, PSCs, filing history — and list every line that is wrong or stale. The free check on this page shows what a customer’s report makes of it.
- Log in to WebFiling with the authentication code. Request a new code if it is lost; it is posted to the registered office.
- File the free forms first: AD01, CH01, AP01/TM01, PSC changes. They appear within a day.
- File RP04 or amended accounts where a past filing was wrong. These are slower; start them the same day.
- File an early confirmation statement if the SIC code needs changing and the next one is months away. £34 buys a correct trade description on every check from tomorrow.
- Update the website the same day: footer, quote template, About page, so the site and the register say the same thing.
- Re-run the free check. Both the register and the report read live. If a line is still wrong and the source is right, use the correction form.
One thing you cannot correct: history. A previous name, a resigned director, a replaced filing and an amended set of accounts all stay visible. Customers do not mind history; they mind history that is unexplained. A line on the About page usually does it.
Fixing it in a check
A SafeToPay report is a reading of public sources at a stated time, and a correction request is handled by asking where the reading went wrong rather than by editing the report.
- If the source has changed — you filed a form or edited the site — a re-check is the fix, and any business can request one from the businesses page. The old report is not altered; the new one supersedes it and the badge link always opens the latest.
- If we misread the source — wrong brand name, wrong postcode, a claim taken from the wrong page — send the page and the fact through the correction form. We fix the reader, re-run the check and tell you what changed. Fixes to the reader apply to every company, not just yours.
- If the fact is right and you want to explain it, a business response of up to 150 words appears in the report next to the section it concerns. It cannot change a fact, a date or a verdict.
- Nothing is removed on request. A public filing, a Gazette notice or a dissolved company on a director’s record stays in the report as long as it stays on the register.
Two real corrections
Both from live checks; names withheld.
Joinery manufacturer coded as “construction of buildings”
The website described a workshop and manufacturing; the register’s only SIC code was 41100. The report showed it as a soft discrepancy — “worth asking” — and it was the last note on an otherwise green record. The fix is one line on the next confirmation statement: add 16230 (manufacture of other builders’ carpentry and joinery). Nothing for us to do; the next check reads the new code.
Loft company whose page title read “Loft Conversion, Absolute…”
The check took the first part of the page title as the brand and reported it as a name mismatch against the register. The website and the register were both right; the reader had split the title wrongly. Corrected in the reader so that comma-separated titles resolve to the part matching the domain, re-run, mismatch gone — and the same fix now applies to every site with that title pattern.
Enter a website address, e.g. smithkitchens.co.uk
Keep the record worth showing
A correct register is the foundation of everything a customer can verify, and once it is right the fastest way to benefit is to show it: the free verified business badge links from your website to your full public report, refreshed on every re-check. What that report shows, line by line, is in what customers see on Companies House.
Enter a website address, e.g. smithkitchens.co.uk
Frequently asked questions
Can I delete a filing from Companies House?
Not normally. Filings are a permanent public record; an erroneous one is replaced by a second filing (RP04) or amended accounts and annotated, but stays visible. Companies House itself can remove material under its ECCTA powers where a filing was fraudulent or invalid, and you can report such a filing online.
How long does a correction take to show?
Online changes to the registered office, officers and PSCs usually appear within 24 hours. Paper second filings and amended accounts can take days to weeks. SafeToPay reads the register live, so the change is in the next check as soon as it is on the register.
Can I change my SIC code without waiting for the confirmation statement?
Yes — file an early confirmation statement for £34 and the new SIC code shows the next day. It also resets the review period, so the next statement falls due a year from the early one.
My home address is on old filings. Can it be removed?
Change your service address first so no new documents carry it, then apply to Companies House to suppress the residential address from the historic documents; a fee applies per document. Your usual residential address held privately is never shown.
Someone appointed me as a director of a company I know nothing about. What do I do?
Report it to Companies House through its online service for false appointments; they can remove the appointment and annotate the record. Consider registering for PROOF so paper filings for your own companies are rejected.
Can SafeToPay remove a fact from my report if I ask?
No. A report reflects public sources at a stated time. If a source is wrong, fix it at source and the next check follows it; if we misread a source, we fix the reader and re-run; if the fact is right, you can add a short business response. Nothing is removed on request.
Sources
- GOV.UK — Companies House forms for limited companies (AD01, CH01, AP01, TM01, PSC forms, RP04, NM01)
- GOV.UK — Life of a company: event-driven filings
- Companies Act 2006, section 454 — voluntary revision of accounts — legislation.gov.uk
- GOV.UK — Changes to UK company law under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023
- GOV.UK — Confirmation statement guidance (SIC codes, early filing)
- SafeToPay — what we read about your business and where from
- SafeToPay methodology v1.2