Press release

Companies House reveals UK’s top 10 areas for late filing

We've revealed the top 10 areas in the UK where companies are late filing their accounts.

Image from our animated campaign showing a tablet with 'File your company's annual accounts with Companies House' on the screen.

Companies that fail to file accounts with Companies House on time will receive a late filing penalty. A total of 223,640 penalties were handed out in 2018.

We recently launched a new campaign to help companies avoid a penalty. It highlights the range of quick, simple and secure digital services available to companies so they can file accounts online and on time.

Top 10 areas in the UK for late accounts*

Area Late filing penalties
London 56,180
Birmingham 6,363
Manchester 5,177
Harrow 3,935
Belfast 3,844
Brighton 3,237
Glasgow 3,192
Reading 3,161
Guildford 2,850
Bristol 2,747
Other 132,954
Total 223,640

Senior Enforcement Manager at Companies House Nick Parker said:

It is interesting to see how these results vary across the country, but they should serve as a reminder to all companies and directors of their responsibility to file accounts with Companies House.

Most companies file accounts electronically as it’s easier and faster, and our digital services have in-built checks to ensure that all the relevant information is provided before a customer can submit.

It also provides filers with automatic e-mail confirmation that accounts have been received and once they have been accepted for filing.

*Notes

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Figures are for 2018 and are based on registered office address postcodes. Belfast postcode region includes Northern Ireland. This information forms part of Companies House’s management information and is unaudited. Therefore, it is subject to change and should be used for indicative purposes only. Our official statistics are produced on a quarterly and annual basis and this information may be included in future releases of our statistics. 

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Updates to this page

Published 18 July 2019