Accounting

Company formation & filings

Director appointments and resignations

The directors of a company are its managers in law, and the register of directors at Companies House is the public record of who they are. Any change, an appointment, a resignation, a removal, a death or a change in a director's registered details, must be notified to Companies House within fourteen days on the appropriate form: AP01 to appoint, TM01 to terminate, CH01 to change details. None of these filings carries a Companies House fee. What they do carry is a set of legal requirements behind the form, and it is those requirements that determine whether the change holds up if a shareholder, lender, buyer or court later asks how it was done.

£29 · fixed, per change — no Companies House fee applies

Next deadlines

  • Companies House identity verification for directors and PSCs, phased in from 18 November 2025
  • PAYE and National Insurance for last month paid to HMRC (electronic)
  • PAYE and National Insurance for last month paid to HMRC (electronic)
  • Confirmation statement due within 14 days of your review date, at least once every 12 months

Fees

Packages, fixed and published

£29

Appoint a director (AP01)

£29

Resign or remove a director (TM01)

£49

Appointment + resignation together

£25

Director's details change (CH01)

Who this is for

Director Appointments & Resignations

Limited companies across the UK taking on a new director or co-founder, companies where a director is stepping down, retiring or has died, companies that need to remove a director who will not resign, directors who have moved house or changed their name, family companies passing roles between generations, and companies that have let their register of directors fall behind the reality.

What is included

Inside the fixed fee

  • Appointment of a director (AP01) with consent, identity verification and service address handled
  • Resignation or removal of a director (TM01) with the resolution or notice drafted for the circumstances
  • Change of a director's name, address or other details (CH01)
  • Board minutes and, for removals, the ordinary resolution and special notice the Companies Act requires
  • The company's own register of directors and register of residential addresses updated
  • A check that the company retains at least one natural-person director and a compliant PSC register

In detail

How director appointments & resignations works

Appointing a director requires the person's consent to act, their personal details and service and residential addresses, a board resolution approving the appointment and an entry in the company's own register of directors. Since 18 November 2025 it also requires that the person has verified their identity with Companies House through GOV.UK One Login or an authorised corporate service provider; an appointment filed for an unverified person is rejected. Our £29 appointment fee covers the consent, the resolution, the verification check, the filing and the register, and we confirm the company will continue to have at least one natural-person director, which the law requires at all times.

Resignation is at the director's initiative, by notice to the company under the articles, and the company must then file the TM01 within fourteen days; it cannot refuse. Removal against the director's wishes is a statutory procedure under section 168 of the Companies Act 2006: an ordinary resolution of the members, special notice of 28 days to the company, the director's right to make written representations and to speak at the meeting, and anything additional the articles or a shareholders' agreement require. Done wrongly, a removal can be challenged and the director reinstated. Our £29 termination fee covers the notice or the removal paperwork, the minutes, the filing and the registers; an appointment and termination together, the common succession case, is £49.

Several consequences follow a director change that the form does not capture. A director who is also a shareholder keeps their shares on leaving unless the articles or a shareholders' agreement force a transfer, so removal is often negotiated alongside a share sale. A director who is a person with significant control may cease to be one, and a new director acquiring shares may become one, each requiring a separate PSC filing. A departing director's loan account must be settled or documented, and the payroll must process them as a leaver; a new salaried director must be added to payroll and reported through RTI. When a sole director dies, the articles or the Act allow the personal representatives or members to appoint a successor before the termination is filed. We flag each of these as part of the service.

Changes of a director's details on form CH01, at £25, cover a change of name, service address, residential address, nationality or occupation, and are most often needed when a director moves house or stops using their home as the public service address. All filings are made online using the company's authentication code and are usually registered by Companies House within 24 hours. The statutory deadline is fourteen days from the change, so companies that have let changes accumulate should regularise them promptly; the register being wrong is itself an offence and an obstacle to borrowing or sale. Everything is handled online, fees are fixed and nothing is filed until the company has approved it.

Process

From first message to filed

  1. Scope the job

    We find out what you need filed, when it is due and what state the records are in, and tell you which fixed-fee package applies.

  2. Agree the price

    The fee is confirmed in writing. There is no hourly billing and nothing added for questions during the work.

  3. Hand over the records

    Photographs, PDFs, software access or a spreadsheet, sent however suits you. We confirm what we have and what is missing within two working days.

  4. Approve, then we submit

    You review the draft with our explanation, sign off, and we file. Receipts, copies and the next deadlines come back to you immediately.

Worth knowing

Rules that come up in this work

CIS deductions

CIS turns construction subcontractors into advance taxpayers: a fifth of every labour payment goes to HMRC before they see it. Registering keeps the rate at 20% rather than 30%; gross payment status, for established businesses with a clean record, removes deductions altogether. The annual return is where the overpayment comes back, and filing it early brings the refund sooner.

Confirmation statements and identity verification

Every company must file a confirmation statement at least once a year, within fourteen days of its review date, with a £50 Companies House fee. Since November 2025 directors and people with significant control must also verify their identity with Companies House, and the confirmation statement is where existing officers confirm they have done so during the transition year.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

MTD for Income Tax replaces one annual return with quarterly digital updates and a year-end declaration, submitted from software. The threshold is gross trading and property income, measured two years earlier, and started at £50,000 in April 2026 before falling to £30,000 in April 2027. Anyone affected needs digital record keeping in place before their start date, not after.

Closing a company

Voluntary strike-off is available only to solvent companies. One that owes money it cannot pay needs a creditors' voluntary liquidation through a licensed insolvency practitioner, and directors who dissolve an insolvent company face personal consequences. For a solvent company the process takes three to four months from filing the DS01, with notice to creditors and shareholders within seven days.

Late filing penalties

Penalties are the clearest reason to work to deadlines. A Self Assessment return one day late costs £100 regardless of whether any tax is due; three months late adds £10 a day. Late company accounts start at £150 and reach £1,500, and double if the previous year was also late. None of this is negotiable afterwards except through a narrow reasonable-excuse appeal.

Switching accountants

The main reasons people switch accountant are surprise invoices, missed deadlines and not understanding what they are being told. Switching involves a clearance letter between the firms, a transfer of records and agent authorisations, and a short handover of the current position. It takes about two weeks and should cost nothing extra.

Payments on account

Payments on account catch out most people in their second year of self-employment. HMRC assumes next year's tax will match this year's and collects half in January and half in July, in advance, on top of the balancing payment. If profits are dropping you can apply to reduce them, but reducing them too far attracts interest. We calculate the right figure rather than guessing.

Questions

Director Appointments & Resignations: your questions answered

Is there a Companies House fee for director changes?

No. Appointments (AP01), terminations (TM01) and changes of details (CH01) are filed free of charge. Our fees of £29, £29 and £25 respectively, or £49 for an appointment and termination together, are the total cost. The filing deadline is 14 days from the change.

What is needed to appoint a director?

The person's consent to act, their full name, date of birth, nationality, occupation, service address and residential address, and since November 2025 their Companies House identity verification. The board passes a resolution, the AP01 is filed within 14 days, and the register of directors is updated. We handle each step.

Does a new director need to verify their identity?

Yes. Since 18 November 2025 nobody can be appointed as a director until they have verified their identity with Companies House through GOV.UK One Login or an authorised corporate service provider. An appointment filed for an unverified person is rejected. We check verification is complete before filing.

How does a director resign?

By giving notice to the company in accordance with the articles, usually in writing. The company then files the TM01 within 14 days and updates its registers. A director can resign without the company's agreement; the company cannot refuse to file it. Our £29 fee covers the notice, the filing and the registers.

How do I remove a director who will not resign?

Under section 168 of the Companies Act, by ordinary resolution of the members with 28 days' special notice to the company, and the director has the right to make representations and speak at the meeting. Articles or a shareholders' agreement may add requirements. Once passed, the TM01 is filed. We draft the notice, resolution and minutes.

Can a company have no directors?

No. A private company must have at least one director who is a natural person, not a corporate body. If the only director resigns, dies or is removed, the members must appoint a replacement before the termination can be filed. We check the position before processing any termination.

What happens when a director dies?

The company files a TM01 recording the termination, with the date of death. If they were the sole director, the articles or the Companies Act allow the personal representatives or the members to appoint a new one. If they were also the sole shareholder, the shares pass under the will or intestacy and the executors can appoint. We guide the company through the sequence.

Does removing a director affect their shares?

No. Directorship and shareholding are separate. A removed director who holds shares remains a shareholder with all the rights that brings, unless the articles or a shareholders' agreement contain compulsory transfer provisions. That is why removal is often accompanied by a negotiated share transfer.

What is the CH01 for?

Changing a director's registered details: a change of name, service address, residential address, nationality or occupation. It must be filed within 14 days of the change. Service address changes are the most common, often when a director moves house or stops using their home as the service address.

Does a director change affect PAYE or the company's tax?

A new director paid a salary must be added to the payroll and reported through RTI; a departing director is processed as a leaver. Director's loan accounts should be settled or documented on departure. The company's Corporation Tax is unaffected by the change itself. We flag the payroll steps as part of the service.

Do I need to update the PSC register as well?

Only if the director is also a person with significant control, which is common in owner-managed companies. A director leaving who sells their shares may cease to be a PSC; a new director acquiring shares may become one. PSC changes are filed separately on PSC forms within 14 days, through our PSC changes service at £35 to £39.

How quickly can a change be filed?

Once we have the information, consent and identity verification, the same working day. Companies House usually registers online filings within 24 hours. The legal 14-day deadline runs from the date of the change, so a company that has let several changes build up should deal with them promptly to avoid being in default.

Where

A national service

Director Appointments & Resignations is a Companies House or HMRC filing that works identically wherever your business is based, so it has one page for the whole United Kingdom rather than a page for each town. The process, the fee and the turnaround are the same for a company in Belfast, Glasgow, Cardiff or London. England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland: all covered.

Related

Other services in company formation & filings

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