Is it possible to delete information from Companies House?

The process of applying for the removal of personal information from Companies House involves several stepsIn today’s digital world, protecting personal information is becoming an increasingly important task for businesses. In particular, for company directors and persons with significant control, this problem is of particular relevance.

Currently, there are limited options for removing personal information about directors and persons with significant control (PSC) from Companies House, the English company registration authority. Despite the adoption of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA), which was supposed to expand data protection opportunities and grounds for deletion of personal information, its provisions have not yet been implemented, and the date of implementation remains uncertain.

For company directors, personal data protection is limited to Section 243 of the Companies Act 2006, which allows only the address of residence to be withheld from credit reference agencies, while other information remains publicly available.

The situation with PSCs is somewhat different. There are two levels of protection for PSCs: section 790ZF of the Companies Act 2006, which hides the address of residence from credit reference agencies, while the highest level, section 790ZG of the Companies Act 2006, allows you to hide all data about PSCs in the Companies House register. At the same time, the company’s page will indicate that a PSC was registered, but the information about it was removed due to the application of section 790ZG.

If there is sufficient documentary evidence that customers are being threatened (e.g., photographs or other recordings, police reports, etc.) because of the company and/or the nature of their current work, you can try to apply for a de-registration.

It should be noted that Companies House will consider the application on a case-by-case basis and there is a small chance that it will ultimately be successful, as it depends primarily on the reliability and persuasiveness of the evidence of a serious risk to the director or PSC.

It is important to mention that the application process includes a fee of £100.

It takes at least 30 days to process the application, but complex applications can take up to a year to process. While reviewing the application, Companies House may ask for additional evidence, request an independent assessment of the nature and level of risk from the relevant authority.