Companies House has confirmed that the temporary measure to suspend compulsory strike-off action will be lifted from 10 October 2020. The temporary measure to pause compulsory strike-offs started in April 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
When a company is struck off, the company's legal existence is removed from the Companies House register. The strike-off can be voluntary or compulsory.
From 10 October 2020, Companies House will resume the compulsory process to remove a company from the register if there’s reasonable cause to believe it’s no longer carrying on business or in operation.
This includes:
- company documents are outstanding, and Companies House have had no response to their letters
- letters sent by Companies House are returned undelivered
- the company has no directors
Companies that do not file their annual accounts or confirmation statement will normally receive two letters from Companies House. A notice is then published in the Gazette to tell the public that the registrar intends to strike-off the company.
When compulsory strike-off action resumes from 10th October – if there are no objections to dissolution and the two month period from the publication of the Gazette notice has expired – a company will be struck off shortly afterwards.
If a company is in default and wants to remain on the register then action should be taken before 10 October 2020 to remain registered.
