A swathe of legislation and regulations has been introduced in recent months by the UK government with the intention of mitigating the effects of Covid-19 pandemic on the country’s businesses and relaxing the regulatory and administrative burden on companies.
In particular the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (which came into force on 26th June 2020) (CIGA) introduced temporary relaxations to alleviate the challenges facing businesses in compliance with statutory obligations contained in the Companies Act 2006 concerning meetings and filings.
Shareholder meetings
Relaxations apply to company meetings held between 26 March and 30 September 2020. Specifically:
Shareholder meetings can now take place by electronic or any other means notwithstanding the provisions contained in the Companies Act 2006 and the company’s articles of association.
Participants need not be in the same place
Votes may be permitted to be cast by electronic (or any other) means
Shareholders do not have a right to attend in person.
Company filings
Temporary extension to filing deadlines under the Companies Act 2006 (and other legislation) have also been introduced by regulations made pursuant to CIGA including:
Charges: extended from 21 days to 31 days
Confirmation statement: extended from 14 days to 42 days
Accounts: extended by 3 months, to 12 months for a private company and 9 months for a public company. The extension is automatic and applies only to the original filing deadline.
Event-driven filings (e.g. changes in details of directors, a change of registered office or a change to the company's PSC register): extended from 14 days to 42 days.
In addition Companies House has expanded the selection of forms and documents to be uploaded and submitted online. These include resolutions and articles of association relating to constitutional changes.
