FKINP A UK private limited company does not have to appoint a company secretary. If it does, the directors remain legally responsible for the company. Outsourcing administration therefore needs clear director approval, filing authority and escalation arrangements.[7]
For a UK private company, Browne Jacobson advertises fixed annual support and register reconstitution, while BDO offers bespoke whole-function or selective support with register reconstruction; HW Fisher describes flexible support, and London Registrars offers long-term, absence-cover or single-project appointments.[1][2][3][4]
Compare providers on the three continuity issues
Assess each provider in the same order: recurring filing-calendar work, event-driven company changes and continuity of statutory records during handover.
HW Fisher
- Annual calendar: Includes confirmation statements, electronic statutory-register maintenance, accounts filing and minutes recording the board’s approval of the accounts.[1]
- Event-driven work: Covers director appointments and resignations, registered-office and accounting-reference-date changes, share transfers and allotments, reorganisations, dissolution and restoration.[1]
- Records and handover: Electronic register maintenance is offered.[1]
BDO
- Annual calendar: Offers confirmation-statement submission, statutory-register maintenance and monitoring of accounts and confirmation-statement deadlines.[2]
- Event-driven work: Lists director and address changes, accounting-reference-date changes, share transactions, capital work and reorganisations.[2]
- Records and handover: Expressly offers statutory-register reconstruction and an audit of statutory registers and company records.[2]
Browne Jacobson
- Annual calendar: Its fixed annual service covers registers, minute books, annual board minutes and confirmation-statement filing. Its software provides advance notice of accounts and confirmation-statement dates.[3]
- Event-driven work: Offers name changes, share-capital restructuring, meeting notices and minutes, Companies House forms and resolutions, dissolution and restoration.[3]
- Records and handover: Provides records audits and can reconstitute registers from paper records or Companies House filing history.[3]
London Registrars
- Annual calendar: Service options include long-term appointment as company secretary, extended-absence cover or a single project.[4]
- Event-driven work: Named services include new articles, administrative restoration, meeting management and company or LLP name changes.[4]
- Records and handover: A company-secretarial or corporate-governance audit is available.[4]
DWF
- Annual calendar: Its Annual Compliance service supports CS01 and accounts processes, filing-deadline management and statutory-register maintenance.[5]
- Event-driven work: Board Support includes governance advice, minute-taking, meeting scheduling and agenda and paper preparation.[5]
- Records and handover: DWF maintains electronic records in Diligent Entities, linked to Companies House web filing.[5]
Company Services UK
- Annual calendar: The published page does not confirm comprehensive annual filing-calendar management.[6]
- Event-driven work: Director changes, new share classes and company restorations are listed.[6]
- Records and handover: Formation packages include completed statutory books, registers, minutes and share certificates.[6]
Match the provider to the engagement model
- Browne Jacobson: Consider where fixed annual recurring coverage is wanted and records audit or reconstitution may also need to be scoped.[3]
- BDO: Offers bespoke support for the whole company secretarial function or selected complex procedures.[2]
- HW Fisher: Describes flexible support covering routine administration alongside capital, governance, restructuring, restoration and tax-linked work.[1]
- London Registrars: Explicitly offers long-term company secretary appointments, extended-absence cover and single-project support.[4]
- DWF: Combines Annual Compliance with Board Support, ranging from occasional meeting assistance to wider governance involvement.[5]
- Company Services UK: Offers a fixed-fee formation package alongside address services, director changes, new share classes and restorations.[6]
Identify who can repair inherited registers
Browne Jacobson and BDO are the two providers in this comparison whose pages expressly offer register reconstruction.[2][3] Browne Jacobson can rebuild registers from paper records or Companies House filing history, while BDO lists statutory-register reconstruction and records audit.[2][3]
London Registrars advertises an audit, but reconstruction remains unconfirmed there and for HW Fisher, DWF and Company Services UK.[1][4][5][6] Ask whether onboarding covers checking completeness, identifying discrepancies and rebuilding registers rather than simply maintaining or importing the records received.
What to confirm with each provider
Comparable prices and contract, service-level and transition terms are absent from HW Fisher, BDO and Browne Jacobson [1][2][3], as well as London Registrars, DWF and Company Services UK [4][5][6]; this includes the monetary amounts behind Browne Jacobson’s fixed annual fee and Company Services UK’s fixed formation fee.[3][6]
Ask each provider to specify:
- the annual or project fee, VAT treatment, payment frequency and price-increase mechanism;
- which recurring filings and company changes are included;
- charges for additional events, Companies House fees and other disbursements;
- onboarding, records-audit, reconstruction and remediation fees;
- the minimum term, renewal mechanism, cancellation rights, notice period, refunds and exit charges;
- response times, filing commitments and escalation arrangements;
- professional-indemnity limits and responsibility for missed deadlines; and
- responsibility for overdue filings or incomplete records inherited from the outgoing provider.
Put the handover process in writing
The proposal and contract should identify who will:
- obtain the outgoing statutory registers, minute books, resolutions, share records and filing calendar;
- check the material against the Companies House record;
- identify missing, inconsistent or overdue items;
- approve and complete any reconstruction or corrective work;
- resolve queries with the outgoing provider; and
- confirm receipt and sign-off.
Also agree delivery dates, transition fees, export formats, operational and escalation contacts, and access to records after termination.
Run a controlled quote comparison
Send each shortlisted provider the same brief, covering recurring filings, expected company changes, the condition of inherited records and any board-support requirements. Compare the written responses on included work, additional fees, remediation responsibilities, response arrangements and exit support rather than relying on general service-page descriptions.
Agree the records position for your company
Ask the adviser to confirm which records must be maintained by the company under the current rules, which information is held at Companies House and how any recent filing reforms affect the proposed service. A company-secretarial records audit should not be treated as an audit opinion on the financial statements.
References
- Company Secretarial Services – Administration & Maintenance – HW Fisher (hwfisher.co.uk)
- UK Company Formation and Company Secretarial – BDO (bdo.co.uk)
- Company secretarial | Company secretarial services | Browne Jacobson (brownejacobson.com)
- Company Secretarial Services (london-registrars.co.uk)
- UK Company Secretarial Services – How our team adds value | DWF (dwfgroup.com)
- Limited Company Secretarial Services | Company Services UK (companyservicesuk.co.uk)
- Appoint directors and company secretaries — GOV.UK (gov.uk)
