Last updated Oct 23, 2024 and written by Tom Richardson

UK Limited Company Formation really does mean UK

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Do you want to form a Scottish company? Or perhaps a Northern Irish company? Maybe a Welsh or English company? Whatever part of the UK you want to form a company in, we can help. We’ll explain how in this post.

 

Genuine UK limited company formation is possible because the UK share one registrar of companies, Companies House. This means that the process for opening a limited company is exactly the same, no matter where you want your company based in the UK. So if the process is exactly the same…

Where in the company formation process do you select the ‘nationality’ of your company?

This is all to do with where the Registered Office is. The Registered Office (the company’s official address) can be any UK address that you have permission to use, the company does not need to trade from the address nor does anyone from the company need to live there (the address is on the public register so use of a residential address is not recommended). Other than being based in the UK and having permission to use it, the only stipulation is that government mail that is sent to the address must be forwarded on to the company directors.

When starting a company, if the Registered Office is in Scotland, you’ll be forming a Scottish limited company. If the Registered Office is in Northern Ireland, you’ll be forming a Northern Irish limited company, if the Registered Office is in England or Wales, you’ll be forming an English/Welsh limited company (England and Wales are grouped together).

The Registered Office can’t be moved between countries

This is important. whilst it’s fine for an England/Wales limited company to move its Registered Office between England and Wales (but not anywhere else), a company with a Registered Office in Scotland can’t move the Registered Office outside of Scotland, nor can a Northern Irish company move its Registered Office outside of Northern Ireland.

We hope that you’ve found this post useful. See here for more information about how we can help your business start, run and grow – wherever it’s based in the UK.