Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill receives royal assent.
The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill received royal assent on 25 June and is now an Act.
The measures in this Act will relieve the burden on businesses during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and allow them to focus all their efforts on continuing to operate.
What happens next
Some of the measures in the Act came into effect immediately on Friday 26 June. Other measures came into effect on Saturday 27 June when the secondary legislation came into force.
The Act:
- introduces temporary easements for Annual General Meetings (AGMs) and filing requirements for public limited companies (PLCs)
- introduces new corporate restructuring tools to the insolvency regime to give companies the time they need to maximise their chance of survival
- temporarily suspends parts of insolvency law to support directors during this difficult time
Under the secondary legislation, companies will receive an automatic extension for:
- confirmation statements
- registrations of charges (mortgage)
- event-driven filings, such as a change to your company’s directors or people with significant control
Most companies will also be given more time to file their accounts.
What you need to do
The Companies House published detailed guidance on the changes that came into effect on Friday 26 June. This includes changes for PLCs with an accounts filing deadline between 26 March 2020 and 29 September 2020.
They have also published detailed guidance for private companies and other company types on the changes that came into effect on Saturday 27 June.
Your deadlines will be updated automatically, and you do not need to apply for an extension. You can check your company’s deadlines on Companies House service.
If you have already extended your accounts filing deadline, you may not be eligible for an extension.
It’s important that you file your documents by the new deadline. You can use our online services to:
This is a temporary measure. Your deadline will not be extended next year if it falls on or after 6 April 2021.