AWRS40600 - Groups: timescales for notifying changes to the formation of a group

Changes to the formation of a group must be notified to us via the group’s AWRS account. Any changes are not considered approved until they have been checked and approved by the reviewing officer and you have issued a confirmation confirming the change.

HMRC must be given 45 days’ notice to implement the following changes

• add a new group member (whether newly incorporated or already trading)
• add a new group representative who wasn’t previously part of the group.

To change a group representative to a current member of the group, the business must notify the date that the change is to come into effect. You then have up to 45 days to consider and approve the variation.

You will need to undertake the appropriate fit and proper checks on these new group members before approving the variation.

We must be notified no later than 14 calendar days following a change taking place if

• the controlling body of the group changes or changes of corporate ownership or group structure affect the companies eligibility to form an AWRS group
• a group member leaves as they no longer satisfy the conditions for forming a group and want to continue to trade in their own right

It is a condition of the group approval that the group representative notifies us on time of any changes or variations to the group approval. This is particularly significant as each group member will appear on the online look-up service, which must have up to date information. Failure to comply with these notification periods can attract civil penalties – please see AWRS140000 for further details of AWRS regulatory penalties.