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Review Guidelines

Company Name Sensitive words The company name-check tool should be highlighted yellow if the company name contains a sensitive word. However, if the company name has hidden sensitive words, for example: IAMANURSE LTD, the sensitive word ‘Nurse’ will not be picked up by the name-check tool. Please make sure that before you proceed, you check the ‘Documents’ section of the application to ensure that the correct supporting document has been provided by the customer. If not, you will need to pause the application and contact the client. You will find the sensitive words document within the London Share Drive.   Company name ending All limited by shares companies must choose from one of the following three endings at the end of their company name: LIMITED, LTD or LTD. This also applies to Limited by Guarantee companies, however, if a client has purchased a bespoke package (uploaded their own articles) they may apply for limited exemption which allows then to submit their application without a company ending. Please note that only clients who upload their own articles will be able to have limited exemption. Limited exemption – Normally used for charity companies that do not wish to use the words LIMITED or LTD at the end of their company name.   Company name containing ‘CIC’ Any company structure with ‘CIC’ separately in the company name must be paused at the Review stage, and the customer contacted to see if the customer’s intention is to set up a Community Interest Company, and if so, to inform the customer we do not provide this structure of company, and refund the customer prior to submission to Companies House.   Company name spelling errors On occasion, we may receive applications where a customer could have perhaps misspelt their company name. This can be difficult to judge, as many customers use different variations and play on words. However, if you think that there may have been an error made, it is always best to check by contacting the client before submitting the application. An example of such a case would be an application with the company name “BOB THE BUDILDER CONSTRCUTION LIMITED”. It is clear that the proposed company name should be “BOB THE BUILDER CONSTRUCTION LIMITED”. It is important to confirm this with the customer and amend where necessary, to avoid any complaints or the customer receiving incorrect company documents.    Contacts – Addresses It is important that the customer’s address is displayed neatly and in accordance to the required fields – as company formation document is generated using these fields. The required fields are as follows: Name/Number: Must be number/name of the premises Street: Must be the full street name Town: Must be the correct Town and not the country or locality Postcode: There should be a space between the first and second part of the postcode e.g. WC2H 9JQ and not WC2H9JQ. Some overseas countries and Irish addresses do not have a postcode, if this is the case for the particular customer then you can leave this field blank. ALL addresses in the ‘Contacts’ section must be decapitalised, with the exception of the country name. If the customer has entered their name in one of the address fields, this must be removed, as otherwise this will appear twice in their company formation documentation. Symbols and accents are not permitted in the addresses. Any letters that contain accents or symbols must be changed to the English version of the letter for example (Á) should be changed to (A).   Registered Office The registered office address MUST be an English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Ireland address only. Always ensure that you double check the customer has chosen the correct jurisdiction for their registered office address. E.g. If the registered office is in Scotland, the Jurisdiction must say SCOTLAND (SC); If the registered office address is in London the jurisdiction must say ‘ENGLAND AND WALES’. All Northern Ireland postcodes start with ‘BT’.   Customer Name Where the customer’s name is that of a person (as opposed to a company), you should always decapitalise this name. This is to ensure their email documentation does not have capitalisation, which looks unprofessional.   Officer / Member Details Officer First Name/Last Name Decapitalisation All officer and shareholder/member names must be decapitalised. This means the first letter of each name needs to be capitalised and the rest decapitalised. Symbols and accents These can cause customer’s IN01 forms to be displayed incorrectly. We suggest that customers do not use accents; however, if a client wishes to proceed with accents in their name, you will need to always CAPITALISE their full name (accents included) to avoid the application being rejected by Companies House gateway, which does not usually support such characters. You will need to make the client aware of the possibility that their IN01 form will not show their name correctly by choosing to proceed without changing their name to English characters. No initials Always ensure that the customer has provided their full name. Initials are not permitted. If you notice that the customer has provided initials, you will need to pause the application and contact the client to get the full spelling of their name. If the client states that their ID documents only show an initial and not the full spelling, you will need to prepare and attach a supporting document that states: “To the Registrar of Companies, [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE] LIMITED I can confirm that FRANK M. SMITH is my full name as reflected on my passport. I trust this will suffice for the successful company formation of the above company name. Yours sincerely,   [INSERT STAFF NAME HERE] [INSERT OUR COMPANY NAME HERE]   If the above supporting document is not attached to the application when an initial is being used, the application will be rejected by Companies House. Please note: We cannot attach any ID documents to the application such as passport copies etc. This is highly sensitive and will be instantly rejected by Companies House.   Date of Birth A company director, company secretary or PSC of a LTD company must be at least 16 years of age . The maximum age is 100 years old. Date of birth entries need to be checked to ensure that they meet this criteria, as failing to spot this will cause Companies House to reject the incorporation. Company shareholders do not need to supply their date of birth.   Occupation This section must be completed with a noun and not a plural. For example, gardening should be changed to gardener or consulting should be amended to consultant. If a client has supplied an occupation which is not suitable, e.g. Business Person, this will not suffice and will be rejected by Companies House. If you review an application with such an occupation, please change the occupation in accordance to the officer’s position within the company. For example, if the officer is director of the company, simply input ‘Company Director’. Please note that shareholders are not required to provide their occupation.   Nationality A nationality chart has been supplied within the shared drive in case you are ever unsure about what the correct nationality is for a particular country.  Abbreviations are not accepted, so if a client has provided UK or US as their nationality it must be changed to the correct term of ‘British’ or ‘American’, respectively. Dual nationality is also accepted. This will appear like this: British,American or French,Italian.   Personal Authentication Questions All shareholders are required to complete three authentication questions which act as an online signature. The questions that are available to choose from are as follows: First three letters of mother’s maiden name First three letters of father’s forename First three letters of place of birth Last three digits of telephone number Last three digits of Passport number Last three characters of National Insurance number If the question requires numbers as an answer (e.g. Last three digits of telephone number), you should ensure that only numbers are used within the answer and not letters. The last three characters of the National Insurance number should always be two numbers and one letter (34C). This is the only field that requires a numeric and an alphabetic answer. Entering just numbers or just letters will result in a rejection from Companies House. Please note: Symbols are not permitted within any of the authentication questions.   Residential Address All company officers must supply their residential address to Companies House. This address is kept private and NOT displayed on the public record. It is not a legal requirement for minority shareholders and secretaries to supply their residential address to Companies House, however, we ask for this information to ensure we comply with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations and ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) requirements. When reviewing an application, the residential address must be a true, physical residential address where the officer resides. A business premises cannot be entered within this field. If the residential address appears to be a business address, you will need to pause the application and contact the client to obtain a suitable residential address from them.   Service Address Our London Covent Garden address is included in most of our formation packages on the 1st Formations and QCF websites. Our address is also featured within our Non-residents packages across all of our brands. On Rapid Formations, customers are able to add our London or Glasgow address to their package during their application. The product list and order overview will display ’Service Address –London’ or ‘Service Address – Glasgow’ if the customer has purchased the service. On occasion, the customer will have purchased the service address however they will have not allocated which officer they wish the service to be used for. If the customer has purchased the service however their service address is listed as an alternative address, you will need to update their service address in accordance to the service they have purchased. If the customer has more than one officer within the company and has only one service address, the application will need to be paused so you are able to contact the client to confirm which officer the service address should be used for.   Guarantee amount If a customer is forming a Limited by Guarantee company, they are required to provide a guarantee amount which is the amount that the guarantor will pay back to creditors if the company ever needs to be dissolved. The standard guarantee amount is £10. Please note: The standard guarantee amount for a client who is trying to form a charity using our ‘Charity package’ is £10 – you should always check this. If it is not £10 then you need to contact client to confirm. They will not be able to register with charity commission if it is less than £10. If a client insists they want to have a different amount, we must change the Articles of Association.   Shareholdings When a customer completes our online application, the share quantity is pre-set to 1 share at the value of £1. However, the customer can increase the share amount or the share value at their discretion. Decimal points within the quantity of shares are not permitted. The number of shares must be a whole number, so submissions which resemble 33.333, 0.5 or 1.5 will not be accepted by Companies House. If the client has provided decimal points within the quantity of shares, you will need to pause the application and advise the client to revise the quantity to a whole number. Please note that the number of shares cannot exceed 11 numeric characters. Decimals within the price of the shares is acceptable, however the maximum value permitted in this section is 99999999999. Please note that the price of shares cannot exceed 11 numeric characters.   Shareholder particulars For all of our packages that support only ordinary class of shares, this section is pre-set to a standard wording of: “Full rights to receive notice of, attend and vote at general meetings. One share carries one vote, and full rights to dividends and capital distributions (including upon winding up).” In the event that a client purchases our multiple share package, they will be prompted to amend this wording or add their own wording to outline what each of their share classes represent. The basis of the information they need to provide for this section is what rights the shareholder holds in relation to attending meetings; if they have any voting rights and if /how much they are entitled to dividends and capital distributions. If the customer needs assistance with the wording, they should speak to our CoSec department.   PSC (Person Of Significant Control) Due to anti-money laundering regulations, our company is obliged to ensure that all PSC information submitted to Companies House is correct, prior to submission. As a result, it is a requirement during the Review stage that all companies PSC information is reviewed and amended where they are missing or incorrect. If a company has submitted an application containing no PSCs to the company, you must appoint at least 1 PSC to the company based on the shareholding rules. The majority shareholder, who owns at least 51% of the company, should be appointed as the PSC within the company. If the company has equal shareholders then all shareholders should be appointed as PSCs. The following rules should apply when PSCs are appointed: If the PSC holds no shares or less than 25% shares within the company. Ownership of shares – N/A Voting rights – N/A Appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors – NO Other Significant influences or control – YES If the PSC holds more than 25% but not more than 50% shares within the company. Ownership of shares – more than 25% but not more than 50% Voting rights – more than 25% but not more than 50% Appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors – NO Other Significant influences or control – NO If the PSC holds more than 50% but less than 75% shares within the company. Ownership of shares – more than 50% but less than 75% Voting rights – more than 50% but less than 75% Appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors – YES Other Significant influences or control – NO If the PSC holds 75% or more shares within the company. Ownership of shares – 75% or more Voting rights – 75% or more Appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors – YES Other Significant influences or control – NO   Corporate shareholder UK vs Non-UK The above rules apply to corporate shareholders, where the shareholder is a UK company. When the shareholder is a company based outside of the UK, we will not be amending information provided by the corporate shareholders.   PSCs for LLP companies We will accept the information presented by the customer with regards PSC information. No changes should be made to PSCs for LLP companies.   PSCs for Limited by Guarantee companies If the PSC holds no shares or less than 25% shares within the company Ownership of shares – N/A Voting rights – N/A Appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors – NO Other Significant influences or control – YES   If the PSC holds more than 25% but not more than 50% shares within the company Ownership of shares – N/A Voting rights – more than 25% but not more than 50% Appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors – NO Other Significant influences or control – NO If the PSC holds more than 50% but less than 75% shares within the company. Ownership of shares – N/A Voting rights – more than 50% but less than 75% Appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors – YES Other Significant influences or control – NO If the PSC holds 75% or more shares within the company. Ownership of shares – N/A Voting rights – 75% or more Appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors – YES Other Significant influences or control – NO PSCs for Multiple Share Class companies When a Reviewer comes across a Multiple Share Class company order, they should contact Nicholas Campion or Laura by telephone immediately. Nicholas or Laura will undertake a check of the PSC information entered into the company details to ensure these are correct. Under no circumstances should a Multiple Share Class company be reviewed and submitted to Companies House without Nicholas or Laura reviewing and approving the PSC information beforehand. Please follow the link below for further information on PSCs: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/555657/PSC_register_summary_guidance.pdf   Lead Contact Details (Bank/Merchant Account Referral Details) Bank Account Referral Details For Lloyds/Barclays/Tide/Counting Up/Mettle The Lead contact details for the bank referral should always be a shareholder within the company. Directors should not be the contact person. The bank would require to speak with a company shareholder in regards to setting up the bank appointment as the shareholder is who owns the company. In extreme circumstances, the bank may allow you to provide the company director’s details; however, it is preferable that you supply the shareholder’s contact telephone number and email address within this field. If a customer is forming the company on behalf of someone else, you must state the customer’s name within the “Referrer’s Name” section and then the company shareholder’s name and contact details in the remaining fields. If the contact details provided are for a person who does not hold any position within the company, or is forming the company on someone else’s behalf, the application will need to be paused. The customer will then need to be contacted.   Paused Orders If for any reason an application is required to be paused, please make sure that the following guidelines are followed once the application is paused: Call the Client – You should call the client twice on two separate days at two different times of day, to increase the chance of getting in touch with the customer. Email the Client – You should email the client on a daily basis. Email them after you have placed your first call to the client, if you do not get through. If the application has been paused for 7 days and you have not received any response from the customer, their order should be cancelled and refunded back to them. On the 6th day, the ‘final reminder’ email should be sent to the client. You can find a template of this email within the share drive. This email will notify the customer that as we have not received a response from them, we will hold their application for a further 24 hours before the application is cancelled and refunded to them. On day 7, if a response still is not received from the customer, their application will be cancelled and refunded. Once the order has been cancelled, it is vital that the ‘cancellation email’ is sent to the customer. This email is to notify the customer that due to no response to various contact attempts, their order has been cancelled and refunded back to them. It is important that we send these emails to advise clients of the action that we have taken and what they will need to do next if they wish to proceed at any time. Please note: If you get through to the client on the telephone, ensure that you get exact spelling for changes from them, where relevant. You should also ask them to email you the information required for changes to be made, if you are struggling to understand what they are saying.