In the UK, a "certificate of good standing" is a Companies House company certificate that includes a summary statement, the wording Companies House previously called the good standing statement. It confirms that the company has been in continuous, unbroken existence since incorporation and that no action is currently being taken to strike it off. It costs £22 with standard dispatch or £65 for the same-day service, and Companies House will only issue it if the company's filings are up to date.
What the certificate actually says
Companies House does not sell a product called a certificate of good standing. What it sells is a company certificate with certified facts, and you can ask for extra certified facts to be added to it. The one that overseas banks, registries and counterparties usually mean by "good standing" is the summary statement. According to Companies House, that wording says the company:
- Continuous existence. Has been in continuous, unbroken existence since its incorporation;
- No strike-off action. Is not currently subject to any action to strike it off the register.
You can also ask for other certified facts on the same certificate: the directors' names (and details such as date of birth or nationality), the secretaries' names, the registered office address and the company's objects. You cannot order a certificate that certifies people with significant control, shareholders, shareholdings or the statement of capital. If the recipient wants to see ownership, that has to come from another document, such as a certified copy of the latest confirmation statement.
Who can get a summary statement
Companies House will only include the summary statement if the company is up to date with its filings and meets a minimum officer requirement:
- Private limited company. At least one director who is a natural person;
- Public limited company. A secretary and at least two directors, one of whom must be a natural person.
"Up to date with its filings" is the condition that catches companies out. If the annual accounts or confirmation statement are overdue, the certificate will not carry the statement, however long the company has been trading. The fix is to file the outstanding documents first and order the certificate once they have been registered.
How to order and what it costs
You can order online through the Find and update company information service (search for the company and use the "More" tab) or by calling the Companies House contact centre on 0303 1234 500. There are two dispatch options:
| Service | Fee | Dispatch |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | £22 | Aim to send within 10 working days; Royal Mail second class in the UK |
| Express (same day) | £65 | Sent the same working day if ordered before 11am; Royal Mail first class in the UK |
Orders placed after 11am on the express service are not sent until the next working day. If an order does not arrive, you must contact Companies House within 28 days of ordering; after that you have to place a new order.
Using the certificate abroad: apostilles
A foreign bank, notary or company registry will often want the certificate legalised with an apostille. Apostilles are issued by the FCDO's Legalisation Office, and for a Companies House document the FCDO needs the original signature of a British public official. That means ordering the certified certificate from Companies House rather than printing information from the online register. The FCDO's current apostille fees are:
- Standard paper apostille. £45, plus courier or postage costs;
- Next-day service. £40 per document, paper-based, for registered businesses only;
- e-Apostille. £35, for PDF documents electronically signed by a UK notary or solicitor;
- Restricted urgent service. £100, for registered businesses only.
Check with the person asking for the document which format they accept before ordering; some recipients will only take a paper apostille.
Worked example: opening an overseas bank account
A UK trading company wants to open a euro account with a bank in Spain. The bank asks for a certificate of good standing, dated within the last three months, showing the directors, with an apostille. The company's confirmation statement is two weeks overdue.
- The company files the overdue confirmation statement first, because without it the summary statement will not be issued.
- It orders a company certificate with the summary statement and the directors' names as additional certified facts, on express dispatch: £65.
- It sends the certificate to the FCDO for a standard paper apostille: £45 plus postage.
Total fees: £110 plus postage. Ordering on the standard service instead would bring that down to £67 plus postage, but adds up to 10 working days. The three-month age limit is the bank's own rule, not a Companies House one, which is common: recipients set their own freshness requirements, so time the order for when the document is actually needed.
Checking good standing for free
If you only want to know whether a company, perhaps a new supplier or customer, is in good standing, you do not need a certificate. Its public record on Find and update company information shows the company's status and filing history, including when its accounts and confirmation statement were last filed. Missing or late filings are a reason to ask questions before extending credit. For your own company, the same record shows when your next filings are due; our guides to filing a confirmation statement and dealing with a late confirmation statement explain how to keep it clean.
Sources: Order certified documents and certificates from Companies House; Companies House fees; Get your document legalised (FCDO).
Acumon's company secretarial services keep filings up to date so a good standing certificate is available when you need it, and our UK subsidiaries for international groups team regularly prepares apostilled company documents for overseas banks and parent companies.