INSPECTION OF COMPANY REGISTERS
AND SINGLE ALTERNATIVE INSPECTION LOCATION

Updated 9/1/09. This information is included in s.18.5 in The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook (VSLH3).
From 1 October 2009 a company's statutory records — its registers of members, directors, secretaries, charges and debentures; index of members; directors' service contracts and indemnities; and minutes books — may be kept either at the registered office or at a single alternative inspection place (referred to as a SAIL). Companies House must be notified which records are kept at the SAIL and which at the registered office, and the company's name must be visible on the SAIL.

Any company member or member of the public wishing to exercise their right to inspect the records which are open to the public (the registers of members, directors, secretaries, charges and debentures), or company member wishing to inspect the public registers, directors' service contracts or directors' indemnities, must give advance notice to the company. This must be given at least 10 working days before they want to inspect the records, or at least two days during the notice period for a general meeting, the time while a written resolution is being considered, or when a liquidator, administrator, receiver or manager of the company’s property has been appointed. The notice must specify the date and time the person wants to inspect the records, which must be between 9am and 3pm, and the records must be made available to the person for at least two hours from that time.

Special provisions apply to requests by members of the public to inspect the register of members [see below].

If a person requests a copy of the records in hard copy (on paper) the company must provide it in that form. If the person requests an electronic copy the company may choose to provide it in this form, or if the record is held only as hard copy, the company can provide it as hard copy. A company cannot be required to provide the information in a different order, structure or form than how it is normally kept.

The Companies (Company Records) Regulations 2008 are at www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/plain/uksi_20083006_en.

From 1 October 2009 the maximum that can be charged for inspection of a company's register of directors, register of secretaries, or register of charges is £3.50 per hour or part of an hour while the person is inspecting the registers. The Companies (Fees for Inspection of Company Records) Regulations 2008 are at www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/plain/uksi_20083007_en.

The fees for copying from the register of members and from other company records went up from 1 October 2007. They are in the Companies (Fees for Inspection and Copying of Company Records) Regulations 2007 at www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2007/20072612.htm.