3: Companies House Reform

The UK government is failing to tackle economic crime. Money laundering and other forms of financial crime are made easy by the UK’s relatively lax approach to checking companies. Companies House infamously acknowledges at the top of its website that it “does not verify the accuracy of the information filed”…

Jo and Nick shine the light on Companies House and discuss why major reform is needed. The failures in tackling fraud have been brought into focus by the dramatic resignation of Lord Agnew in the House of Lords last week. A key piece of legislation, the economic crime bill, had been rejected for consideration during the next parliamentary year which prompted the resignation. The bill was expected to bring forward measures, among others, to improve almost non-existent oversight of the UK’s business register, Companies House and to increase business confidence in the UK.

Also covered in the episode are insolvency statistics for 2021. A record number of companies in England and Wales agreed with their creditors to cease trading during the final quarter of 2021, after the government tapered back its pandemic-support measures for businesses. Company insolvencies for England and Wales jumped up 11.2% to 14,048 from the previous year. The number of CVLs in the fourth quarter reached the highest since records began in 1960.