File Companies House documents directly from Shareflo

Why it matters

Filing directly from Shareflo keeps the information you have prepared for your company in one place. You can check the filing before you submit it and follow its progress from Regulatory filings.

Before you start

• You must be a Company Admin or Manager for the company.

• Make sure the filing is complete and ready to submit in Shareflo.

• Make sure you have provided Shareflo with your Company authentication code (or have it with you to submit).

Important: Treat your authentication code like a password. Shareflo uses it to connect your company to the filing service, and stores it encrypted.

Connect your company to Companies House

1. Open the company view in Shareflo and go to Documents → Regulatory filings.

2. Check that your company is connected to Companies House in Shareflo.

3. If it’s not then enter the company’s authentication code in the Companies House connection card at the top and click Connect.

4. Wait for the connection result before continuing.

5. Going forward, you can use Check connection to confirm that the code is still valid.

If Companies House issues a new authentication code, use Connect again with the new code.

Submit a filing from Shareflo

1. In Regulatory filings, open the filing you want to submit.

2. Select Check filing. Shareflo checks the information before it is sent.

3. Resolve any errors shown. Review any warnings and confirm any requested share-class details where applicable.

4. When the check is valid, select File with Companies House.

5. Confirm that the company has authorised the filing. Shareflo then sends it to Companies House.

Important: Submit only after you have checked that the filing reflects the company’s approved information. A successful submission becomes part of the public register.

What happens next

The filing status is shown in Regulatory filings. Shareflo records the submission and updates the status as Companies House processes it.

You can open the filing at any time to refresh its status, see its submission details and view previous submission attempts. Shareflo will also email you when an outcome needs your attention, or once it has been accepted or rejected by Companies House. Other Shareflo users with Company Admin or Manager permission can choose whether to receive filing notifications in their notification preferences.

Rejected filings

It is not uncommon for Companies House to reject paper filings - for example because details of the signatory were missing or because fields had been omitted from the form. It is, however, extremely uncommon for a Shareflo filing to be rejected. That’s because Shareflo runs all the necessary checks on a filing before submitting it to Companies House. In the unlikely event that you do get a rejected filing, you will also receive an explanation from Companies House. In this case the Shareflo team are available to help you correct it and resubmit.

Queued filings

If you have multiple filings, Shareflo submits them to Companies House sequentially. For example, suppose you started with 100 shares in your cap table, then create Filing 1 to allot 200 more shares, taking the total to 300; and Filing 2 to allot another 300 shares, taking the total to 600. You would then submit Filing 1 to Shareflo first, and Filing 2 second. However, Companies House does not guarantee that they will process your filings in the order they are submitted. And if the filings are processed out of sequence then your statement of capital will look wrong in Companies House because the most recent filing in your record will be Filing 1 not Filing 2.

To guard against this, Shareflo ensures that only one filing is ever sitting with Companies House awaiting approval at at time. So in the case above, Shareflo would automatically queue Filing 2 until Filing 1 has been approved. You will see this in Shareflo because the status of Filing 2 will show “Queued to send” and the card will indicate how many filings are ahead of the selected one in the queue.

If Filing 1 is subsequently rejected by Companies House, then you will make any corrections and re-send it. In that case Filing 2 will move to “On Hold”. You will need to cancel and refile Filing 2. This is a way to ensure that any changes made to Filing 1 don’t invalidate Filing 2.

Finally, it’s worth noting that Shareflo only queues filings which affect your statement of capital (and for which the sequence therefore matters). Director appointments and terminations, for example, do not need to go in a queue since their sequence doesn’t affect your statement of capital.

If you need amend a filing

You cannot change a filing while it is with Companies House nor once it’s been accepted. If you make a mistake on an accepted filing then you need to file a correction with Companies House. Both the original filing and the correction will normally remain on the register.

You can amend or cancel a filing before it’s been sent to Companies House, including while it is sitting in the Shareflo queue awaiting submission. You can also amend a filing if it’s been rejected by Companies House.

Guidance for specific filings

SH01 — return of allotment of shares

Availability: Direct filing is currently live for SH01 returns of allotment of shares.

Before submitting an SH01, make sure the allotment is recorded in Shareflo and review the statement of capital and prescribed particulars. For detailed SH01 guidance, see Filing an SH01 return of allotment of shares for more details.

Troubleshooting

I cannot see the File with Companies House button. Check that you are a Company Admin or Manager, the company is connected, and the filing is ready to submit. You may also need to wait for an earlier submission to reach an outcome.

My authentication code is not accepted. Check that you are using the company authentication code, rather than a personal code. If Companies House has issued a replacement code, connect the company again with the new one.

I don’t have a company authentication code. See our article on how to obtain one, in the Related Articles link at the bottom.

The filing is rejected. Read the rejection details in the filing screen, correct the relevant information, check the filing again and refile it. If you need help understanding a rejection, contact support@shareflo.co.uk.