UK: Proposed Changes To Registering Security In England And Wales

In August 2011 the government put forward proposals to revise the procedure for registration of charges under the Companies Act 2006. Following on from this the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills ('BIS') circulated an email in October 2011 to the respondents to the government's proposals. In this email BIS set out modifications to the brief particulars of charges that must be delivered to the Registrar of Companies. It was suggested that the brief particulars should include the name of the person entitled to the security and a description of the property secured as they appear in the instrument (if the description exceeds 1000 characters then a note directing the reader to the relevant page of the instrument will suffice).

The October email also sought feedback from respondents on the information on registered security that would be made available to users of Companies House products. Under the proposals anyone who wishes to access a description of the type of security or details of the amount secured will have to check the security instrument itself which will be made available through Companies House Direct.

Subsequently on 21 November 2011 BIS sent a further email that included a first draft of a replacement to the entirety of Part 25 of the Companies Act 2006 which sets out the current law on registration of charges created by companies registered in England and Wales. The November email also contained additional revisions to information required in the brief particulars in the security registration form. As a further suggested modification to the earlier proposals, the November email does not represent a definitive change. This being the case BIS asked recipients to submit their feedback on the latest modifications by 28 November 2011.

With the BIS still weighing up the extra time and cost burden on parties registering security, as well as the needs of users of the services offered by Companies House, it is not expected that the finalised draft regulations will be completed until early 2012, with changes unlikely to come into force until April 2013.

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