For most of the last decade, Companies House behaved like a passive registry. Filings went in, public-facing data came out, and direct communication with companies was rare and often ignored. That is changing fast. Under ECCTA, Companies House is becoming an active regulator with evidenced communications, verified email addresses, and a track record of follow-up. Clients who treat correspondence from the registrar as junk mail are about to learn an expensive lesson.
The registered email address requirement
Since March 2024 every UK company has been required to maintain a registered email address with Companies House. This is not the same as a service address - it is the email Companies House uses to send official correspondence. The address is not published on the public register, but it must be appropriate (used and monitored) and confirmed at every confirmation statement. Companies House can act on the assumption that any correspondence sent to that address has been received and read.
For accountants, the practical question is: whose inbox? Many firms initially registered their own as the default. That works as long as the firm has a clear internal process for actioning incoming Companies House comms within a few business days. It does not work if the email lands in a shared inbox no one is monitoring.
What "formal" actually means
Companies House is moving away from soft reminders towards evidenced statutory communications. That includes direction notices (requiring action within a defined window), formal requests for information, and the use of section 1064A powers to require additional supporting evidence on filings the registrar finds questionable. Each of these comes with a deadline, a stated consequence for non-compliance, and a paper trail that will be admissible in later enforcement action.
The shift is deliberate. The 2022 White Paper on corporate transparency made clear that the registrar's historic role as a passive recipient of filings was incompatible with the level of fraud and economic crime running through the register. ECCTA gives Companies House the powers, and the formal communications regime is how those powers are exercised in practice.
Why clients ignore these letters
Talk to any practising accountant and you will hear the same story: a director receives an envelope from Companies House, decides it looks like a renewal scam, and either bins it or forwards it months later. The visual quality of the genuine correspondence does not help - it has historically looked similar to the well-known register scams (fake confirmation statement reminders, fake AML registers, fake EU intellectual property invoices) that have been targeting UK directors for years.
The new regime makes ignoring the letters a much more expensive habit. Failure to respond to a direction notice in time can result in financial penalties, register annotations, and in serious cases criminal liability for directors.
What to tell clients now
A short, blunt client briefing covers the ground. Cover four points and keep it to a single page.
- Companies House correspondence is now formal and time-bound - treat it as you would an HMRC enquiry letter
- The registered email and registered office address are how Companies House reaches the company - both must be monitored
- Forward any direct correspondence to the firm within 48 hours of receipt
- If a deadline is stated, it is real - do not assume there is room to negotiate after the date passes
Where the firm sits in the chain
Most firms are now choosing to route Companies House comms through their own infrastructure. That means either acting as the registered office (with a defined turnaround SLA for incoming post) or registering the firm's monitored email address as the registered email. The advantage is control. The cost is the operational discipline of actually processing the inbound flow within the statutory windows.
Accupe's Companies House sync pulls the registered office and registered email address into the client record, and Compliance Radar flags clients whose registered details look like personal addresses or unmonitored mailboxes - the highest-risk profile for missing a formal communication. The firm still owns the response process; Accupe is the visibility tool that makes sure the right clients are flagged before a deadline lands.
What this means for engagement letters
Engagement letters written before 2024 typically did not deal with who is responsible for monitoring Companies House correspondence. They need updating. Spell out whether the firm acts as registered office, whether the firm receives the registered email, and what the SLA is for forwarding or actioning incoming statutory comms. Clients who choose to retain their own registered address should explicitly accept the risk in writing.
Closing
The next 18 months will see the shift from passive registrar to active regulator complete itself in the day-to-day experience of UK directors. Firms that get ahead of this - by updating engagement letters, briefing clients clearly, and using practice-management tooling to flag at-risk addresses - will manage the transition calmly. Firms that wait for the first penalty notice to land will spend the rest of the year explaining to clients why they were not warned.