Companies House launches crackdown on register abuse

Companies House has introduced new measures to protect businesses after numerous chefs reported that their restaurant addresses were being used without their consent.

In January, The Caterer spoke to Arabica London owner James Walters and chef Chantelle Nicholson of Apricity, who had discovered suspicious restaurant listings on Companies House that were based on their premises.

At the time, Companies House told The Caterer it would introduce “greater powers to query and remove fraudulent information from the companies register and will prioritise cases where addresses have been used without consent”.

Last month, chef Heston Blumenthal also called for greater urgency in protecting restaurants from fraud after he found a company on the register that had been set up under the name ‘Dinner By Heston Blumenthall', with an an extra 'l' in his surname.

As of this week, Companies House has committed to a phased roll-out of new measures, which were introduced under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCT Act). These include stronger checks on company names; new rules for registered office addresses; and greater powers to remove factually inaccurate information.

New criminal offences and civil penalties have also been established.

The reforms have been designed to “remove the smoke and mirrors around companies hiding behind false information”, according to business minister Kevin Hollinrake.

Louise Smyth, chief executive of Companies House, said: “These new and enhanced powers are the most significant change for Companies House in our 180-year history.

“We’ve known for some time that criminals have misused UK companies to commit fraud, money laundering and other forms of economic crime.”

She added: “As we start to crack down on abuse of the register, we are prioritising cases where people’s names and addresses have been used without their consent. It will now be much quicker and easier to report and remove personal information that has been misused.”

Many of the new measures will be integrated into existing reporting cycles, while additional initiatives requiring further explanation will be communicated by Companies House.