In our last blog post, we covered the meaning of the Certificate of incorporation. In some cases, another document is needed and in this article, we briefly cover what is a Certificate of Good Standing.   

A Certificate of Good Standing is used to prove that a limited company is incorporated and authorized to undertake business in the UK. The certificate of Good Standing is used to confirm two important things:

• The limited company has been in existence from the time of incorporation;
• that no action is currently being undertaken to remove the company from the register.

In the UK, a Certificate of Good Standing is given by Companies House and sent to the company’s registered office address by post.  Although it is possible to obtain an electronic copy, this will not bear the official signature of a Companies’ House and consequently is not always right.

The Certificate of Good Standing includes information about the company including:

• The company name and number
• Director’s name
• Registered office address
• The date of incorporation
• Verification that the company is up-to-date with all statutory filing requirements
• A declaration that no actions have been taken by Companies House to strike off the company and class it as invalid.
• A statement that, as far as the Registrar is aware, the company isn’t in liquidation, isn’t subject to an administration order and no manager or receiver of the company’s property has been chosen.

A Certificate of Good Standing is usually required in the following circumstances:

• To open a UK business bank account for a company that only have overseas directors
• When a UK limited company opens an overseas bank account
• Checking the credibility of another company
• An investor or potential business partner may require the certificate to check that the company is being run correctly
• Opening an overseas branch or office

If you require any assistance in obtaining your Certificate of Good Standing or if you require the certificate to be apostilled 1Office UK we would be happy to assist you.