Apparently this petition is confusing a few people. So trying to explain.
At the simplest level Companies House have to ID people now - directors and persons with significant control (PSC). This seems not that unreasonable to be honest.
ID means somehow proving a real ID, and that has a lot of issues - but they have some government ID app, or you can take ID to a post office or some such. The actual ID process is not the issue, and having to have a proper ID to be a director or PSC is not that daft - Companies House have always published the identity of people behind companies. These days there is more privacy over things like actual date of birth and home address, thankfully. But the names of company directors and PSC are a matter of public record.
So the new system means proved ID for director or PSC. Simples. You would think.
But no!
The reason for the petition, and my concern is simple.
My wife is PSC for our company. No problem. We know next return is June. So no action, surely?
Companies House have a deadline for proving her ID, and the confusion here is that is not the same as the annual return and the deadline for me to prove my ID as director. So we did not expect it to be an issue.
Turns out the deadline for proving ID for PSC is 14th of month of birth, so for her, last December.
Well, Companies House could have let her know - but they CHOSE NOT TO. Instead they waiting until the deadline was past and then sent her a letter basically saying she was now a CRIMINAL.
The letter was actually very very badly worded, and it seems that doing the ID process promptly and before end of December was enough to shut them up, thankfully. But from what I can see my wife is technically a criminal for not having met the deadline.
Someone else I know nearly had their bank accounts frozen over this even.
Of course, I was a tad panicked, and so wanted to sort my ID at companies house.
There is a snag.
I can't.
This it what the petition is about.
The stupidity.
I have to wait. I cannot prove my ID now!
I have to wait (1) until 1st of month of my birthday as PSC for some other company. And (2) July for many other companies for which I am director and PSC.
I have done my ID as a PSC now, but not as director, so I have to do again, and I cannot do that now. I cannot do in one go. I cannot do BEFORE the 14 day window.
I fully understand a legal deadline.
I do not understand an startline.
I do not understand why I cannot prove my ID now, and be done with it.
The only possible reason it to catch people out and make them unwilling criminals.
FFS 14 days! People have holidays. People can be off sick.
That is what the petition is about.
I got caught out by this too. My company has two directors, we both had to prove identity before we could file the annual confirmation statement. All good so far (even if the Gov.uk One Login process is reallly poor and very badly explained). I also have to declare as a PSC as I am the majority shareholder. Got a letter at the weekend telling me basically that I was a criminal for not proving my ID as PSC.
ReplyDeleteSo they have me listed as a director who's proved their ID, and someone with the same name, date of birth and address listed as a PSC, but insisting that they need my ID to be verified a second time for the PSC role. You couldn't make it up....
Same as above - both directors IDd several months ago but got a stroppy letter last week because I hadn't IDd as PSC. But wait, I'd filed the now exorbitantly expensive confirmation statement with all our ID numbers on, but that didn't carry over to the master record.
ReplyDeleteOnly our Civil Servants could come up with a mess like this.
Is this new Co House system intended to sort out the mess that exists with one person shown with multiple names and therefore treated as different people by Co House? e.g. you might appear as (a) Rev. Adrian Kennard (b) Mr Adrian J. Kennard (c) Adrian Kennard and that's before we get to all the typos in names on the Co House system.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, get even more interesting when CH have the wrong DoB, if your are a PSC then it could be you need to provide the code in not your month of birth but the one CH believe it to be. Simalarly if you are a PSC and director and CH don’t see you are the same person then the PSC one based on is month of birth. We are an ACSP with probably 4000 clients… it’s a nightmare but the poor dedicated support team and CH are basically like it doesn’t matter what the correct position is the only thing that matters is the date we say… just file stuff when we say want it and the pain is only temporary, after 12 months the issue won’t an issue and the duplicate people will be tidied up; as will a lot of bogus ones.
DeleteThe best has to be a director code can be filed on the period end date for the confirmation statement (and 30% of CS01 are apparently); the PSC one can’t be delivered before the day after the period end date… well drafted legislation there where 30% people will have to change their behaviour!
GDPR Article 16 gives you the right to "have incomplete personal data completed".
ReplyDeleteIf you write to the DPO asking to use your "right to rectification" to be verified ASAP, I can't see that they have a choice.