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Back-Dating a Director's or Company Secretary's Name Change to Their Appointment Date

James Collett
  • Updated

Whether you can back-date a director's or company secretary's name change depends on why the name needs to change, and — importantly — when they were appointed.

1. The name was wrong from the start (an error at appointment): this is a correction, not a change, so it isn't filed as a normal name-change with an effective date. For a director named on the IN01 at incorporation, try correcting the name in Inform Direct first (see below). For other appointments it must be corrected directly with Companies House as a second filing — which form you need depends on the appointment date:

  • Appointed on or after 1 October 2009: correct it as a second filing using form RP01.
    • Director appointed after incorporation (via AP01): the RP01 correction can be filed online through Companies House WebFiling, or on paper with a corrected replacement AP01, evidence of the correct name (e.g. passport), and a covering letter.
    • Director appointed at incorporation (named on the IN01): try correcting the name in Inform Direct first, using the usual edit officer flow (Officers tab, select the director, yellow pencil, then Edit Personal Details). Only if that is refused, do it on paper — an RP01 form attached to a corrected replacement of the relevant IN01 section, evidence of the correct name, and a covering letter, posted to Companies House.
    • Company secretary (appointed via AP03/AP04): WebFiling doesn't support these online. This must be done on paper — an RP01 form attached to a corrected replacement of the relevant form, evidence of the correct name, and a covering letter, posted to Companies House.
  • Appointed before 1 October 2009: RP01 doesn't apply here — Companies House's second-filing process for RP01 only covers changes dated on or after 1 October 2009 (see How Do I Second File at Companies House Using the RP01 Form?). Instead, you need to submit a corrected replacement of whichever paper form was used at the time (e.g. form 288a for an appointment, or 288c for a later change of details), clearly marked "Amended", dated to match the original filing, and posted to Companies House. These older forms are no longer hosted on gov.uk — try the National Archives web archive of pre-2009 Companies House forms.

Where a paper route applies, Inform Direct doesn't generate or submit these forms for you — this needs to be done directly with Companies House.

2. The name changed later (marriage, deed poll, etc.): this is a genuine change, filed with the real effective date — not back-dated to the appointment date. From the Officers tab, select the director or secretary, click the yellow pencil and choose Edit Personal Details, enter the new name and the actual date of change, then file as normal — Inform Direct submits this to Companies House electronically. See How Do I Change a Person's Name? for the full walkthrough.