Inform Direct enforces certain date restrictions when editing company records, such as director or PSC details, due to Companies House compliance requirements. Understanding these restrictions will help you avoid errors and ensure your filings are accepted.

CS01 Pending with Companies House

You cannot make a change to a company or person record whilst the CS01 is pending with Companies House. A date restriction will appear, and no date will be acceptable; you must wait for the CS01 to be accepted or rejected by Companies House. You can find pending submissions in the "Recent Activity" section of the company dashboard.

The error you see may read:

"Date of change cannot be on or before the pending confirmation date."

This error (sometimes shown alongside "Date of change cannot be after [date]") means a CS01 is still pending. Changing the date you enter will not fix it. This applies to any change, including adding or editing a personal code for a director or PSC. Wait until the CS01 shows as accepted or rejected in Recent Activity, then try the change again.

CS01 Made Up To Date Restriction

The CS01 made up to date is the date up to which your company’s confirmation statement covers its records. Once this date has passed (14 days before the confirmation statement is due), no further changes can be dated after this date until the confirmation statement is filed. You can still backdate changes prior to the made up to date.

What Changes Are Restricted?

• All changes are impacted by this restriction.

If you attempt to make changes after this date, you may see an error message such as:

"Date of change cannot be after [CS01 made up to date]."

Other Date Restrictions

1. Officer or PSC Appointment Date

• You cannot terminate or change officer or PSC details prior to their appointment date.
  For example, you cannot record a resignation or change details for a director or PSC before their official appointment date.

2. Company Incorporation Date

• You cannot make any changes to a company on or before its incorporation date.
  All changes must be dated after the company’s official incorporation.

Share Work and Imported Shareholder Dates

Imported Shareholder Date Restriction:
When importing a company, Companies House sends us the last CS01 date as the imported shareholder date. Inform Direct does not know who holds the shares before this date and can cause date restrictions to appear.

For example: If you need to record a share transfer or other share transaction before this imported date (e.g., the last CS01 date is March 2026 but you want to transfer shares in February 2026), you must update the imported shareholder dates so the system recognises the correct shareholding as of the earlier date.

Common Scenarios

• Appointing a new director or PSC:
  If the appointment date is after the CS01 made up to date, you must file the confirmation statement before updating their details.
• Adding a personal code:
  You cannot add or edit a personal code with a date after the CS01 made up to date, but the date itself has no other effect. It is not sent to Companies House, it does not appear in the registers and it does not affect the confirmation statement. Use any date Inform Direct accepts (on or after the person's appointment date and on or before the made up to date), then file the confirmation statement. You do not need to file it first.
• Share transfers before the imported shareholder date:
  Update the imported shareholder dates to reflect the correct shareholding as of the earlier date.

What if the two restrictions contradict each other — e.g. the date must be on or after one date, but also cannot be after an earlier date?

This happens when an officer or PSC's appointment date falls after your company's CS01 made up to date — usually because a confirmation statement is overdue. The appointment date can't be moved, so the fix is to file the outstanding confirmation statement first: this moves the made up to date forward, clearing the upper-bound restriction so you can then record the change. This does not apply to adding a personal code, where the date is not used for anything and you can simply enter a date that is on or before the made up to date.

My confirmation statement is overdue and won't file without a personal code, but the personal code won't save because the confirmation statement is overdue. What do I do?

Enter the personal code with a Date of change on or before the made up to date (and on or after the person's appointment date). The date is only there because every transaction needs one: Companies House never receives it and it does not appear in the registers. Once the code is saved, file the confirmation statement. See How to add a Companies House personal code for a Director or PSC on Inform Direct?

Why won't Inform Direct let me enter a date of change for a director's address (or other details) before a certain date?

The earliest date you can enter for a change to a director's or PSC's details, including a change of residential address, is their appointment date. Inform Direct will not let you backdate a change to before the date they were appointed. If you are being stopped at a particular date, check the person's appointment date in the Officers/PSCs tab, or on the appointment filing at Companies House: it is very likely to be that date, even if the real-life change happened earlier.

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