Companies House HelpCompanies House PROOF scheme

Companies House has been aware for some time of the damage that can be done by hijackers to companies (or LLP's) and suppliers of goods and services. Company hijacks normally involve fraudsters changing the details of officers and registered office.

We cannot prevent hijacking. We do not have the power to investigate the content and accuracy of forms sent to us for filing. However, we have been looking very closely to see whether electronic filing systems can improve security for companies and LLP's. Both our 'WebFiling' and 'Software Filing' services have security protection by using passwords, confidential authentication codes and recognised email addresses.
The Companies House Protected Online Filing scheme – PROOF enables companies and LLP's to protect themselves from unauthorised changes to their company's record as it prevents the filing of certain paper forms. These include documents for an appointment/termination/change of particulars of officers and the change of the registered office.

Once you have successfully joined the scheme, Companies House will reject any paper versions of these forms and send them back to the registered office address. This will help ensure that any changes made have been registered by the company (or LLP) itself.

Using PROOF, together with other services such as WebFiling and CH Monitor, will provide you with more flexibility and security ensuring that you are in complete control of filing your information with us at Companies House.

For security reasons, please note that if your company (or LLP) is subject to an ongoing internal dispute you will be ineligible to join the PROOF scheme. Companies House cannot intervene in internal disputes and involved parties must seek independent professional legal advice. Once the Registrar is fully satisfied that the internal dispute has been resolved, the company (or LLP) will then become eligible to join the scheme.
Joining PROOF is easy – simply register online now.