Published 7 September 2026 · updated 9 September 2026 · 5 min read
A confirmation statement is due once a year, within 14 days of the end of your review period, whether or not anything changed. Missing it is common, fixable, and worth fixing immediately — because of what it starts.
What actually happens
There is no automatic financial penalty for a late confirmation statement in the way there is for late accounts. What there is instead is worse: failing to file is a criminal offence by the company and its officers, and it is the trigger Companies House uses to begin striking the company off.
Strike-off runs on a published timetable. A notice appears in the Gazette. If nothing happens, the company is dissolved — and everything it owns, including money in the bank, passes to the Crown as bona vacantia.
What it costs you before that
- Banks refuse facilities to companies with overdue filings, and some close accounts.
- Companies House will not issue a certificate of good standing, which stalls anything international.
- Customers running supplier checks see the overdue status, because it is public.
- The strike-off notice is public too, and it stays in the filing history afterwards.
How to stop it
File the statement. If a strike-off notice has already been published, filing the outstanding documents and objecting to the proposal is usually enough for Companies House to suspend it. The objection has to be made, though — it does not happen automatically because you filed.
If the company has already been dissolved
It can usually be restored, either administratively or by court order, generally within six years. Administrative restoration requires the outstanding filings to be brought up to date and the bona vacantia position dealt with. It costs considerably more than the statement would have.
The boring prevention
The reason companies miss it is almost never negligence. It is that the reminder went to an address nobody reads, often a former accountant or a home the director moved out of two years ago. Point the registered office somewhere that is actually monitored, and put the date in a calendar you look at.
Our confirmation statement service includes recording the next review date and reminding you before it falls due.
Nothing here is advice about your situation
It is general information about how UK company registration works, written to be accurate at the time of publication. Rules and fees change. Where a decision matters — tax, structure, an insolvent company — take advice on your own facts.