Corporate report

Companies House Welsh language monitoring report, 2021 to 2022

Published 2 March 2023

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 2021 to 31 March 2022.

Companies House is proud to have its head office in Cardiff and to offer Welsh language services to our customers. Since we established our Welsh language unit in September 2020, we feel that communication has improved across all areas of Companies House. All Welsh customer services are monitored by the Welsh language unit to make sure we are providing a service of a high standard to our Welsh customers.

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

“CH” means Companies House

“2006 Act” means the Companies Act 2006

“the Registrar” means the Registrar of Companies “LLP” means Limited Liability Partnership

“LP” means Limited Partnership

“Welsh company/LLP” means a company or 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 (for example, 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 CH build on the transformative and reforming environment of 2020 to 2021. During this 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.

CH’s ongoing commitment to providing a high-quality service to our Welsh language customers has been an important consideration throughout this process.

With the introduction of our Welsh language unit in September 2020, we are now receiving more Welsh communication from customers in all areas of CH. We have done a lot of work to promote the Welsh services we offer and feel that we have had more communication from Welsh-speaking customers because of this.

4. Compliance with the Welsh language scheme

CH remains committed to complying with its Welsh language scheme and from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 CH’s Welsh Committee met bi-monthly to ensure adherence to the CH Welsh language scheme and review progress against the action plan, which is attached to this report. Welsh service meetings were also held to consider the services offered to Welsh-speaking customers.

A team of Welsh speakers from various areas within CH continued to respond to customer enquiries. During the reporting period, 34 customers asked to speak in Welsh (21 in the last annual report) and we received 44 e-mails in Welsh (compared with 17 in our last annual report). We have also seen a rise in the number of customers contacting our Welsh language unit directly.

In this reporting period, 34 Welsh-speaking customers contacted CH directly with general queries, including:

• assistance with amending articles and changing addresses 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 their 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 filed forms – which make up 95% of filings on the register – available bilingually, both in paper form and electronically. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, CH had to adapt to meet challenges caused by 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 practices and discuss how we can improve bilingual services and encourage people to choose Welsh when using our services.

We continued to review CH guidance to ensure that all guidance created by CH 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 CH in Welsh received a response in Welsh. All departments in CH 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.

We have, since September 2020, 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. 267 markers were placed on Companies during this reporting period.

Each set of Welsh language accounts received from Welsh companies was translated into English for the public record, as required by law. 122 Welsh accounts were translated to English in this reporting period by the Welsh Language Unit.

Additionally, we continued to translate correspondence into Welsh to satisfy the requirements of our Welsh language scheme. This included letters, guidance, project work and translations for the website and online services.

All contracts issued included a clause ensuring that our service partners comply with CH Welsh Language commitments.

CH 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. It provides an ideal forum to share best practices 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 CH.

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. We are pleased to say that after several meetings with Government Digital Service (GDS) we now have been able to translate our 10 featured links on the homepage.

We have also created a Welsh collection page so that our Welsh customers can access our Welsh language guidance more easily. This is following feedback that we received from our Welsh-speaking customers.

We redrafted some of our main guidance pages Bod yn gyfarwyddwr cwmni - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) (received 105 pageviews) and Gweithio i Tŷ’r Cwmnïau - Tŷ’r Cwmnïau - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) (received 94 pageviews) and featured them on our Welsh home page: Tŷ’r Cwmnïau - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

We published 2 news stories in Welsh.

Mae gwasanaethau Companies House Direct a WebCHeck yn cau

Ffeilio eich Cyfrifon Tŷ’r Cwmnïau yn gynnar ac ar-lein er mwyn osgoi oedi

We continued to increase the number of Welsh language messages shared on our corporate Twitter account which now has more than 20,000 followers.

From 2021 to 2022, 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. These posts were viewed 51,228 times.

The content we posted included ‘business as usual’ messages about confirmation statements, filing online and on time, and we created Welsh language content for our employer brand campaign. We also posted messages about awareness days and celebration days such as St David’s Day and Welsh Language Rights Day.

6. Performance indicators

In the reporting period, there were 6,435 (7,732 last year) Welsh jurisdiction companies and 18 Welsh jurisdiction LLPs incorporated (22 last year). 753,164 companies and 5,472 LLPs in total were incorporated during this period.

By the end of the reporting period, there were 31,096 Welsh jurisdiction companies and 156 Welsh jurisdiction LLPs on the register, compared with a total of 4,894,356 companies and 52,393 LLPs.

By the end of the reporting period, there were 1,711 (1,604 last year) Welsh companies and 7 LLPs incorporated with a Welsh name ending on the register.

7. CH Contact Centre

There are two 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 the Welsh language as desirable. There is 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 requesting the customer’s contact telephone number so that a Welsh speaker can contact them directly, as per our Welsh language scheme.

CH also has a designated group that 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 also holds regular meetings with Welsh speakers at the contact centre to make sure that they can 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. Most customer interactions are carried out online or via postal contact. CH reception staff can give greetings in Welsh and there is 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

CH 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 has held monthly online events for Welsh speakers and learners at CH. 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 CH Interact page (our internal intranet site). This has raised awareness and ensured the Welsh language has visibility across the whole of CH. The Welsh language unit also has a permanent page on Interact, which includes guidance for each area on Welsh communications, our Welsh language scheme, and a list of Welsh speakers in each area.

The Welsh language unit’s internal social page now has 79 members (compared with 65 last year) and we continue to provide Welsh content and advertise our events on here.

CH 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, as well as providing facilitation time to study.

12 members of staff are actively learning Welsh at present, compared with 4 members of staff in the last reporting year.

These lessons are held weekly and are virtual. CH funds this learning. The Welsh language unit is actively promoting Welsh language learning at every opportunity.

The Welsh language unit has also created a Teams group for the learners to practice and support each other and share useful resources.

The Welsh language unit held a virtual St David’s Day event and over 200 staff from across CH attended. A video was created containing contributions of art, photography, singing and dancing from members across CH. We held our own mini-Eisteddfod and hope to build on this each year.

CH 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 outbreak has limited the number held but we are looking forward to providing more volunteering opportunities in Welsh surroundings now that restrictions are lifting.

10. Complaints

During this reporting period, there were 3 instances in which customers contacted CH relating to its Welsh Language Service.

1 customer complained about not being able to appeal their late filing penalty appeal online. This requires technical digital development but notified the customer that he could complete the English appeal form in Welsh until the system is developed further.

1 customer complained about not being able to complete his payment of a confirmation statement on the Welsh language screen. This problem was resolved for the customer.

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 are hoping to develop a system going forward where it will be possible for customers to file both versions of their accounts online.

11. Conclusion

Our Welsh language unit and the Welsh 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 CH to champion bilingualism across the organisation. We are very excited about the future of the Welsh language at CH and are already seeing positive improvements since the development of our Welsh Language Unit in September 2020.

12. Action plan

12.1 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 2021 to 2022.
Review strategic plan quarterly to link to the Welsh language action plan	Quarterly	The Welsh language unit	Our commitment to Welsh language services underpins 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.

12.2 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 has also been holding Welsh awareness sessions with the different teams - ensuring that all the teams know the correct systems to follow with Welsh customers. The Welsh language unit has now also created a permanent page on the Intranet site containing guidance for each area, a copy of our Welsh language scheme and a list of Welsh speakers in each area.
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.

12.3 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.

12.4 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.

12.5 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.

12.6 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 holds regular meetings with the contact centre and all the departments to make sure that this system is effective.

12.7 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 holds regular meetings with the contact centre and all the departments to make sure that this system is effective.

12.8 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 provides translation for these.

12.9 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.