The Certificate of Good Standing is a formal document issued by Companies House to confirm that a company is registered and compliant with its filing requirements. In addition to confirming these points the certificate can also be used to confirm certain other facts about a company.

The standard information that can also be included on the Certificate of Good Standing is as follows:-

• Statement of good standing - A statement that the company is in good standing (not added if the company is not in good standing*).
• Registered office address - The current registered office address, no dates included.
• Directors - The names of all current company directors.
• Secretaries - The names of all current company secretaries.
• Company objects - Summary of company objects.

* The good standing wording says that a company has been in continuous, unbroken existence since its incorporation and that no action is currently being taken to strike the company off the register. This can only be included if the company is up to date with its filing requirements.

This document is often requested by overseas authorities to provide evidence that a UK company is registered and in good standing for various reasons including, but not restricted to, companies conducting business internationally, companies opening overseas branches and companies opening bank accounts in other countries.

We are able to assist with obtaining this document for UK companies. In addition to obtaining the document we can also assist with legalising the document with the apostille for overseas use. Legalisation is generally needed for documents being presented internationally. Please contact us for more guidance on how to obtain and legalise a certificate of good standing for your UK company.