The confirmation statement (CS01) is the most-filed form at Companies House. It is also the form firms most often get wrong on timing, because the rules involve two different windows that look similar but do different things. Understanding the 60-day review window and the 14-day filing grace properly is the difference between a clean register and a strike-off threat.
The two dates you actually care about
Every company has a confirmation date (often called the made-up date). It is the anniversary of incorporation, or the anniversary of the last confirmation statement filed, whichever is more recent. The review period ends on that confirmation date. The company then has 14 days from the confirmation date to deliver the CS01 to Companies House. Miss that and the filing is late.
The 60-day window is separate: it is the window in which you can file the CS01 early. From 60 days before the confirmation date, the form is available and acceptable. Filing within that window - but before the confirmation date - resets the next confirmation date to a year after the date you actually filed, not the original anniversary. That matters for batching workflows.
Why this is harder than it sounds
Sole-director companies with no changes are easy. The problem is bigger clients with multiple PSCs, share class structures, SIC code amendments and intercompany shareholdings. The confirmation statement is not just a "nothing has changed" declaration - it is an attestation that the entire snapshot on the public register is correct. If the PSC data is wrong, the SIC codes are out of date, or the shareholder list is missing a recent transfer, you fix it before or alongside the CS01, not after.
- Confirmation date: anniversary of incorporation or last CS01
- Review period: 12 months ending on the confirmation date
- Filing deadline: 14 days after the confirmation date
- Early-filing window: up to 60 days before the confirmation date
- Filing fee: £34 online, £62 paper, paid once per payment period (12 months)
What happens when you miss the 14 days
Unlike late accounts, there is no automatic civil penalty for a late CS01. What you get instead is worse: Companies House treats persistent failure to file as evidence the company is not carrying on business, which triggers the strike-off process under section 1000 of the Companies Act. A first-gazette notice typically appears two to three months after the missed deadline. Directors then commit a criminal offence if the company continues to trade in the registered name while struck off.
The fix is straightforward: file the overdue CS01 immediately, pay the £34 fee, and respond to any strike-off objection if the gazette notice has already been published. The damage is to credit reports and to the company's standing with banks - both of which will note the strike-off action even if it is later withdrawn.
Batching confirmation statements across a client base
A 300-client practice has roughly 25 CS01s due every month, with seasonal clusters around the company-formation peaks of April and October. Doing them one-by-one as they fall due is inefficient. The standard approach is to batch by month, run a single data-cleansing pass (PSC, SIC, share capital) across the cohort two weeks before the filing window opens, then file all clean cases in the early window. Anything with changes gets pulled out for individual attention.
How Accupe surfaces the work
Accupe's Companies House sync pulls the confirmation date and last-filed date for every client company into Compliance Radar. The Smart Board view groups upcoming CS01s by month, with a red-amber-green status showing which are inside the 60-day window, which are inside the 14-day grace, and which have slipped. The firm still files via its usual filing software - Accupe is the visibility and ownership layer, not the submitter - but the team knows on Monday morning exactly which CS01s are due that week and who owns each one.
PSC and statement of capital edge cases
Two scenarios trip firms up repeatedly. First: a PSC change occurred mid-year and was not filed at the time on PSC01 / PSC04 / PSC07. The CS01 cannot fix this retrospectively - you file the individual PSC forms first, then the CS01 confirms the now-correct register. Second: a share issue or transfer that altered the statement of capital. The CS01 includes a current statement of capital, so if the previous share movements were not reflected, you correct them before submitting.
When to charge for it and when not to
Most firms include a basic CS01 in their annual compliance fee. The cases that warrant a separate fee are PSC restructuring (where you are effectively rebuilding the PSC narrative), share capital reorganisations, and clients with overseas corporate shareholders requiring beneficial-ownership chain analysis. Document the scope clearly in the engagement letter so the additional charge is not a surprise.
Closing
The confirmation statement is mechanically simple but operationally easy to misjudge. The 60-day early-filing window is the workflow tool - it lets you batch, clean and file ahead of the deadline. The 14-day grace is the safety net, not the plan. Firms that treat the confirmation date as the deadline (rather than the start of a 14-day countdown) avoid the strike-off risk entirely and keep their clients off Companies House's problem-company list.