Corporate report

Companies House Welsh language monitoring report, 2020 to 2021

Published 6 August 2021

1. Introduction

The Companies House Welsh language scheme was prepared in accordance with section 21(3) of the Welsh Language Act and received the full endorsement of the Welsh Language Board on 20 April 2010.

This report covers the period from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

Last year has been a challenging year with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic but we’re very pleased to report that exciting developments have taken place with the Welsh language provision at Companies House.

At the end of September, we established our new Welsh language unit with its own dedicated manager who now has responsibility for the implementation of our Welsh language scheme at Companies House. There are currently 2 members of staff in the unit and we also hope to grow this in the future as we develop our Welsh language services further.

We have also maintained a Welsh language committee that meets regularly to monitor progress and performance, along with a team of Welsh speakers we can consult on everyday issues. Membership of the committee is drawn from across the organisation, including our director of transformation delivery who acts as chair.

2. Interpretation

‘Welsh company/LLP’ means a company or limited liability partnership (LLP), as defined by section 88 of the 2006 Act (as applied to LLPs), which has given notice to the registrar that its registered office is to be situated in Wales. On incorporation, a company must indicate if its registered office is to be situated in Wales, England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. The company’s registered office address must be in the country where they have stated that their registered office is to be situated.

A Welsh company has the option, under the Companies Act 2006, of having a Welsh company name and Welsh name ending (cyfyngedig, cwmni cyfyngedig cyhoeddus) and can file statutory documents in Welsh.

An England and Wales company can have a registered office address in Wales or England but cannot have a Welsh company name or Welsh name ending and cannot file statutory documents in Welsh.

3. Achievements

The current reporting period has seen Companies House build on the transformative and reforming environment of 2019 to 2020. During this exceptionally busy period, the organisation progressed work to deliver fundamental changes to the way in which it operates and contributes to driving confidence in the UK economy.

The unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 crisis meant that we had to transform our services even further and encourage more people to communicate with us online. Systems were put in place to ensure that everything could still run smoothly for the customer and our Welsh language services were a key element.

Companies House’s ongoing commitment to providing a high-quality service to our Welsh language customers has been an important consideration throughout this process. Building on the findings of our internal review, and working with other departments and executive agencies, we’re proud to announce the introduction of our Welsh language unit at Companies House since September 2021.

There are currently 2 members of staff working in the unit to improve the services that we’re offering at present and to support the services that are already available. The Welsh language unit liaise with a network of Welsh speaking colleagues across Companies House to support them in their role.

Our aim is to increase the number of customers using our Welsh language services in the future. The Welsh unit acts as champion of bilingualism across the whole of Companies House.

4. Compliance with the Welsh language scheme

Companies House remains committed to complying with its Welsh language scheme and from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

Companies House’s Welsh committee met bi-monthly to ensure adherence to the Companies House Welsh language scheme and review progress against the action plan. Welsh service meetings were also held to consider the services offered to Welsh speaking customers.

A team of Welsh speakers from various areas within Companies House continued to respond to customer enquiries. During the reporting period 21 customers asked to speak in Welsh and we received 17 emails in Welsh. The phone lines were closed between April and June because of COVID-19 but the number of calls received were still higher than on last year’s report.

In this reporting period, 26 Welsh speaking customers contacted Companies House directly with general queries, including:

• assistance with amending articles and changing address and rectification of incorrect nationality listed
• confirmation that documents had been received, and assistance with filing documents
• confirmation on how to change director details on confirmation statement
• assistance with dissolving a company
• assistance with filing accounts online
• support on setting up a community interest company

We continued to make the most commonly filed forms – which make up 95% of filings on the register – available bilingually, both in paper form and electronically. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, Companies House had to adapt to meet challenges caused by the quarantine and limited freedom of movement. This applied particularly to the development of our digital services. The Welsh language unit worked closely with the digital teams to develop several new systems to be available bilingually.

The Welsh language unit has also attended sessions with the Digital Public Services Centre (Welsh Government) to share good practice and discuss how we can improve bilingual services and encourage people to choose Welsh when using our services.

We continued to review Companies House guidance to ensure that all guidance created by Companies House is available bilingually, other than that which is specifically not applicable to Welsh companies (for example, guidance on matters that affect only Scottish companies).

Customers who corresponded with Companies House in Welsh received a response in Welsh. All departments in Companies House communicate with our Welsh language unit to ensure that the customer has their correspondence in the language of their choice. The unit provided a translation service for each department.

Since September 2020 we have placed a Welsh marker on all Welsh companies to ensure that they receive bilingual correspondence across the organisation. We no longer require our customers to register for this service. We fully appreciated the importance of this being an active offer and that they did not need to ask for Welsh correspondence.

Each set of Welsh language accounts received from Welsh companies were translated into English for the public record, as required by law. Additionally, we continued to translate correspondence into Welsh to satisfy the requirements of our Welsh language scheme. This included letters, guidance, and project work, for the website and online services.

All contracts issued included a clause ensuring that our service partners comply with Companies House Welsh language commitments.

Companies House continued to participate in the UK government inter-departmental CALL Committee. The committee regularly brings together representatives from the Welsh language units of various UK government departments and provides an ideal forum to share best practice and find solutions to improving our Welsh language services with a mind to achieving a more standardised approach across government.

Colleagues from the CALL Committee provided support for the establishment of the Welsh language unit at Companies House.

5. Mainstreaming the Welsh language

We continued to consider our Welsh services at the earliest stage of all projects through the inclusion of Welsh in all project managers’ checklists and other development plans. The Welsh language unit manager now sits on various panels to drive this forward.

We prioritised our Welsh language GOV.UK content over the last year. All sections on our homepage that could be translated were translated into Welsh. Our corporate information pages were also translated.

We also translated most of our guidance pages and news stories over the last year. The Welsh language unit have been updating and translating more of this content.

We published a news story about our new Welsh language unit in March 2021. We prioritised informing our customers of our new developments and through this, encouraged more customers to communicate with us through the Welsh language. Read more about supporting businesses with our Welsh services.

We continued to increase the number of Welsh language messages shared on our corporate Twitter account which now has more than 20,000 followers. During 2020 to 2021, we posted at least 2 Welsh language tweets per week. These tweets highlighted our Welsh language content including videos, online guidance and new graphics to draw attention to our Welsh language services.

We updated our Twitter bio to encourage questions from the public in Welsh.

Since January 2021, our Welsh posts have been viewed by 22,000 people on Twitter.

6. Performance indicators

In the reporting period, there were 7,732 (6,351 last year) Welsh jurisdiction companies and 22 Welsh jurisdiction LLPs incorporated. 810,323 companies and 5,666 LLPs in total were incorporated during this period.

By the end of the reporting period, there were 29,973(26,014 last year) Welsh jurisdiction companies and 158 Welsh jurisdiction LLPs on the register, compared with a total of 4,350,913 companies and 51,153 LLPs.

By the end of the reporting period, there were 1,604 (1,432 last year) Welsh companies and 7 LLPs incorporated with a Welsh name ending on the register. 267 Welsh companies (233 last year) and 2 Welsh LLPs were incorporated with frontline services.

7. Companies House contact centre

There are 2 full time members of Welsh speaking staff at the contact centre. There is a contractual requirement to provide a service through the medium of Welsh. Any recruitment specifies Welsh language as desirable. There’s an ongoing recruitment exercise.

If a customer specifically asks to speak to a Welsh speaker and one is not available, we offer the customer the choice of completing the call in English or request the customer’s contact telephone number so that a Welsh speaker can contact them directly, as per our Welsh language scheme.

Companies House also has a designated group who can respond to Welsh related queries. This is communicated to all members of staff through our internal communications.

The Welsh language unit now holds regular meetings with the contact centre to ensure that everyone understands the importance of having Welsh language provision, no matter how small the number who currently contact us.

The Welsh language unit holds regular meetings with Welsh speakers at the contact centre to make sure that they have the opportunity to use and practise their Welsh as the percentage of Welsh calls at present is low.

8. Public reception

The public reception has been closed since May 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions. The vast majority of customer interactions are carried out online or via postal contact. Companies House reception staff are able to give greetings in Welsh and there’s usually a prominent sign advising visitors that a Welsh service is available on request.

Reception staff have a list of Welsh speaking staff they can contact if a request is made.

The Welsh language unit will also support these staff with their Welsh language skills.

9. Language training and awareness

Companies House has continued to promote Welsh language development opportunities for our staff and offer opportunities for the staff to use their Welsh at the workplace.

The Welsh language unit since its inception in September held monthly online events for Welsh speakers and learners at Companies House. The unit manager has attended each department’s team meetings to identify learners and Welsh speakers and then added them to the monthly Welsh catch up group. The confidence of the staff to speak the language has gone from strength to strength since holding these activities.

The Welsh language unit also puts regular articles and Welsh language vocabulary on the Companies House intranet page for employees. This has raised awareness and ensured the Welsh language has visibility across the whole of Companies House.

The Welsh language unit also established an internal social page this year to share Welsh learning resources for example, resources to help non-Welsh speaking parents with their children at home. This is a site for Welsh learners and speakers and for anybody who’s interested in the Welsh language and culture.

The Welsh language unit also held a Welsh session with the Working Families network at Companies House.

Companies House offered Welsh language learning opportunities to all staff in line with its adult education scheme. The organisation has fully supported those who have taken advantage of this opportunity by covering the cost of the course and any exams, as well as providing facilitation time to study.

Four members of staff are actively learning Welsh at present. Companies House funds this learning.

The Welsh language unit held meetings with the Welsh tutor from ‘Learn Welsh’ with the aim to start Welsh online lessons in September for staff who have shown an interest in learning. The Welsh language unit is actively promoting Welsh language learning at every opportunity.

The Welsh language unit also held Welsh awareness sessions with all the departments since September.

Companies House continued to encourage and support volunteer days which we believe are a positive means of contributing to the local community while developing Welsh language skills. The COVID-19 pandemic has limited the number held.

10. Complaints

The number of complaints received about the lack of Welsh language service provision and the steps put in place to resolve these complaints.

During this reporting period there were 4 instances in which customers contacted Companies House relating to its Welsh language service. This is a reduction on the last reporting period which saw 8 complaints.

A summary of the complaints

Two customers had problems trying to pay on our Welsh page, the same problem was not found on the English side. This has now been resolved after contacting our digital team.

One customer complained as he had not been able to speak to a Welsh speaker when making a call. The Welsh language unit has since made sure that a system is in place so that this does not happen again.

A company submitted its accounts electronically in English when submitting paper accounts in Welsh. The company argued that it did so because it was unable to file bilingual accounts online. The matter was resolved to the company’s satisfaction. We’re hoping to develop a system going forward where it’ll be possible for customers to file both versions of their accounts online in the future.

11. Conclusion

Our new Welsh language unit and the committee will continue to ensure that Companies House is aware of their responsibilities under the Welsh language scheme and that everybody sees the importance of a proactive Welsh language offering to our customers.

We remain committed to providing an excellent Welsh language service for our customers and will work with all departments in Companies House to champion bilingualism across the organisation. We’re very excited about the future of the Welsh language at Companies House.

12. Action plan

Legislation and initiatives

Action required	Target date	Action owner	Progress to date
Review action on a quarterly basis	Quarterly	The Welsh language unit	The content of the action plan was reviewed as part of the Welsh language committee which met bi-monthly in 2020 to 2021.
Review strategic plan quarterly to link to the Welsh language action plan	Quarterly	The Welsh language unit	Our commitment to Welsh language services underpin 2 of our key strategic goals: brilliant services that give a great user experience, and registers of data that inspire trust and confidence.
Consider how new policies, projects and developments will conform with the commitments set out in the Welsh language scheme	Ongoing	The Welsh language unit	We have continued, and will continue, to consider our Welsh language scheme in new policies, developments and projects.
Enable ‘Welsh experience’ incorporation for Welsh companies	October 2012	Business solutions delivery	Completed in October 2012.
Enable full online incorporation for Welsh companies at Companies House	March 2013	Business solutions delivery	Completed on 6 April 2013.
Improve the WebFiling ‘Change of name’ service to produce a translation of the certificate (currently under review)	March 2013	Customer delivery directorate	As we further develop the Companies House beta service for customers, Companies House will develop more end to end Welsh services - the work on this has now commenced.

Staffing

Action required	Target date	Action owner	Progress to date
Maintain ongoing Welsh language training, targeted at language speaking skills	Ongoing	The Welsh language unit / Human resources	The Welsh language unit has been working with Learn Welsh tutors to hopefully start online Welsh lessons in 2021. The Welsh language unit is also providing opportunities for staff to use and practice their Welsh at the workplace. It’s important that staff feel like they can bring their whole selves to work and part of this is being able to use their language of choice at work.
Ensure Welsh speaking staff are present in all major operational areas to provide cover for Welsh speaking customers	Ongoing	Directors	Companies House ensures Welsh speaking staff are available in all areas to examine Welsh filings or respond to Welsh customers. We also now have our Welsh language unit to support this.
Internally promote Companies House’s requirements under the Welsh language scheme, ensuring staff understand their responsibilities and where to seek assistance	Ongoing	Welsh language unit / Strategy and policy	We regularly made staff aware of our commitment to our Welsh language scheme on our internal intranet site. The Welsh language unit have also been holding Welsh awareness sessions with the different teams - ensuring that all the teams know the correct systems to follow with Welsh customers.
Maintain Welsh team in Companies House to provide cover for Welsh speaking customers and hold regular meetings to discuss issues and progress	Ongoing	Welsh language unit / Customer delivery	The Welsh team continued to provide cover and meet regularly.

Publicity campaigns, exhibitions, advertising and press releases

Action required	Target date	Action owner	Progress to date
Ensure Welsh speakers attend all events at which there is a Companies House presence in Wales	Ongoing	Events team	No events have taken place because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Ensure Welsh literature is available at events held in Wales	Ongoing	Events team	No events have taken place because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Ensure adverts and press releases are available in Welsh, when published in Wales	Ongoing	Human resources / ICT	Where job adverts are published in Welsh press, they are bilingual, however there is no facility for a bilingual job advert on the Civil Service Jobs website.

Publications and forms

Action required	Target date	Action owner	Progress to date
Ensure Companies House Welsh publications are updated in parallel with English versions	Ongoing	Strategy and policy	Companies House continues to ensure that Welsh publications are updated at the same time as English publications.
Ensure Welsh statutory forms are updated in parallel with English versions	Ongoing	Strategy and policy	Companies House continues to ensure that Welsh forms are updated at the same time as English forms.
Monitor usage of letters to ensure Welsh versions are used where appropriate	Ongoing	Business change development	Companies House continues to monitor usage of letters to ensure a response is provided in Welsh where required. Throughout the period our Customer Delivery Support team have reviewed the provision of our Welsh letters.

Websites

Action required	Target date	Action owner	Progress to date
Ensure the Welsh website is updated in parallel with the English version, when relevant, and that the information on the Welsh website is up to date	Ongoing	External communications / Welsh language unit	We continued to increase Welsh content on GOV.UK - the Welsh language unit monitor this and have regular meetings with the external communications team.
Social media			We ensure that Welsh Twitter and Facebook posts are posted on a weekly basis. This is important to encourage more Welsh customers to communicate with us in Welsh. We have a message on both platforms to say that we welcome correspondence in Welsh.

Face-to-face meetings

Action required	Target date	Action owner	Progress to date
Ensure that customers who want to conduct their business in Welsh can speak to a Welsh speaker	Ongoing	Contact centre / Customer services / Welsh language unit	There’s a system in place to make sure that the customer can communicate with us in their language of choice. The Welsh language unit hold regular meetings with the contact centre and all the departments to make sure that this system is effective.

Telephone communications

Action required	Target date	Action owner	Progress to date
Ensure that customers who want to conduct their business in Welsh can speak to a Welsh speaker	Ongoing	Contact centre / customer services / Welsh language unit	There’s a system in place to make sure that the customer can communicate with us in their language of choice. The Welsh language unit hold regular meetings with the contact centre and all the departments to make sure that this system is effective.

Signs

Action required	Target date	Action owner	Progress to date
Ensure that all public signage for the Cardiff office is displayed bilingually	Ongoing	Building services / Welsh language unit	All public signage is produced bilingually. The Welsh language unit provide translation for these.

Complaints

Action required	Target date	Action owner	Progress to date
To ensure complaints about Companies House’s Welsh language service are fully investigated and dealt with promptly, in line with the Companies House normal complaints procedure	Ongoing	Welsh language unit	Paragraph 10 of the report.
Monitor complaints regarding bilingual service	Ongoing	Welsh language unit	The Welsh language unit monitors all complaints regarding the bilingual service as per paragraph 10 of the report.