Our free formations service is currently paused

Not for you! Technically there’s a £12 registration fee payable to Companies House, but we’ll pay that on your behalf to help get your business started.

If you’re looking to set up a business and would like to compare the different types available to you, you can find out more information on the GOV.UK website.

To set up your new company you’ll need:

1. A unique company name. You can use our search tool here to find out immediately if the company name you want is available.
2. Some personal information. You’ll need to provide a few personal details including your address, date of birth and nationality.
3. A registered office address. You can choose your home address or your business address (if you have a separate trading address).
4. Officers of the company.  You will need to confirm the name(s) and personal details of the Director(s), Shareholder(s) and Secretary of the company you are setting up.

Yes. We’ve partnered with a companies formation service who are a formation agent of Companies House and are securely integrated with them so it’s safe and efficient to register your new company using us.

While we can’t give you the inspiration to decide on your perfect company name, we can help you find out if it’s available once you’ve chosen it. Just use the simple search tool at the start of the form to see if it’s available and we’ll let you know straight away. If it isn’t, just try again and keep going till you find one you like. Once you’ve found one that’s available, we’ll register it for you with Companies House.

You can choose any name for your company that doesn’t require you to submit additional documents. So for example, if you want the company name ‘The Good Doctor’, you’d need to provide Companies House with documents proving you are indeed a registered doctor. At the moment, we can’t submit additional documents when we register companies, so you wouldn’t be able to use such a name when asking us to set up your company.

Once registered, your name, nationality, occupation, month and year of birth, the registered office address of your business and the service address of its directors will appear on public record. 

Your home address will only show on the public record if you choose it as your registered office address. You can find out more on the Companies House website.

You can do it yourself! We’ve made it easy and quick to register your company – all you need is your company name, a few bits of information about you and we’ll take care of the rest. Simple! We do however encourage you to take legal and tax advice in order to determine whether setting up a limited company is suitable for your needs, and to understand what your responsibilities are.

At the moment you can only create a limited company using the Cashplus company formation service.  And this is currently restricted to a company limited by shares.

You can find out how to add yourself, under certain circumstances, to the secure register at gov.uk

Yes. Companies House requires all limited companies to include either ‘LTD’ or ‘Limited’ at the end of their names. If you don’t add it when using the company name search tool at the top of this page, we’ll automatically add it for you. If you’re wondering, there’s no difference between ‘LTD’ and ‘Limited’ apart from how they look.

Simply put, there’s no difference between ‘LTD’ and ‘Limited’ apart from how they look. Companies House requires all limited companies to include either ‘LTD’ or ‘Limited’ at the end of their names. If you don’t add it when using the company name search tool at the top of this page, we’ll automatically add it for you.

Apart from the various responsibilities around managing a company and obvious stuff about running your business as best you can, there are some important annual responsibilities you need to complete as the company director. These include filing your annual tax and company returns honestly and on time, and keeping an up to date register of directors, shareholders and ‘People with Significant Control’ (PSCs) in your company. To get a full rundown of your responsibilities as company director, take a look at the gov.uk website.

Not on paper! Our registration process is all done online, in minutes, with a digital signature, so it’s quick and easy.

Once you’ve completed your application, our team will do an initial review to make sure everything looks good, which could take up to 24 hours. Then we’ll send it on to Companies House. On average it takes between 12 and 24 hours for Companies House to incorporate most companies, although this doesn’t account for weekends when Companies House isn’t working. So if you apply on a Friday, it will take longer.

You’ll find all the contact details for Companies House at gov.uk

Companies House is a government department, like HMRC or the DVLA, that deals with incorporating limited companies. Cashplus Bank have partnered with a company formations service who are authorised with Companies House to set up a limited company on your behalf, exactly the same as if you did it yourself – minus the registration fee and hassle!

No, unfortunately you can’t use an office address outside of the UK. Your registered office must be in the UK and within the same country as the company you’re trying to create. So, if you’re setting up a limited company in England, your registered office address must also be in England and not, say, Spain. 

Yes. Once you’ve registered your company here and we’ve set it up with Companies House you’re free to add or change your company information. To do this you’ll need to contact Companies House directly. You’ll find their contact details at Companies House.

If your company turnover is less than £85,000 annually, you don’t need to register for VAT – although you may still want to as it can be beneficial for some businesses depending on their situation. You can find out more about VAT on the gov.uk website.

No. Which is why we don’t submit one on your behalf – although you can always appoint one later by contacting Companies House directly.

A shareholder is someone who owns part or all of a company as shares. Being a shareholder entitles you to a share of the company profits as well as a say in important company issues, such as appointing new directors. You’re free to change your company shareholders and their share allocation at any time after your company is registered by contacting Companies House directly.

Yes. Every UK limited company has to have at least one shareholder – but that can be you! You can also add other shareholders via our online portal.

The public record is a register of everyone who has set up a limited company. This means that when you set up a limited company, you must be prepared to have some of your details made publicly available. You can read more about the public record on the Companies House website.

Yes. Every UK limited company has to have at least one director, which for your company will be you! If you’d like to add or remove a director at a later date, you’ll need to log in to our company formations portal where you’ll see your company name under ‘Recently Incorporated Companies’. If you click on ‘Details’ it’ll take you to the overview page where you can use the edit buttons on the right hand side to add, remove or amend a company director.

The company director is legally responsible for running the company and reporting to HMRC and Companies House. You can hire someone (or indeed several people) to manage some of your day-to-day director responsibilities, such as an accountant for example, but it’s important to understand you’re the one legally responsible for your company’s records, accounts and performance even if they’ve been looked after by someone you’ve hired. You can set up your company if you have a single director, or multiple directors.

At present we are only allowing set up of limited companies with all Directors resident in the UK.

A Person of Significant Control (PSC) is someone who owns or controls your company. These are sometimes called the Beneficial Owner(s) (BOs). The PSCs in your application should reflect the ownership and control of your company as stated on Companies House. To align with your business details on Companies House, we refer to them as ‘PSCs’ in our application form and communications. For more information on PSCs, visit GOV.UK.

There are unfortunately some cases where we can't accept an application for one of our Business Accounts. A lot of the time the reason for this can be rules and regulations that we have to follow as a bank. Please be aware that if unable to open a business account with Cashplus won't affect the decision behind your company’s formation. 

If you don’t hear from us within seven days of your company formation being successful (we’ll email you), your account application has not been accepted. Please contact our team if you’d like to confirm the status of your account application.

No! You can still set up a Cashplus Business Bank Account if you’re an entrepreneur or sole trader rather than a limited company. It’s quick, simple and always a great idea to open a Cashplus Business Bank Account. 

Yes. You can only open a Cashplus Business Bank Account (and set up a limited company in the UK) if you’re a registered UK resident. Although you can still open an account while you’re abroad, as long as you’re still a UK resident. In this case we may ask you for additional information to process and complete your application, which can mean it takes a little longer than usual.

When you register to set up your limited company using Cashplus, you’ll also have the choice to set up a business bank account at the same time. To open your account, you may need to provide some basic information like your passport or driving licence. You can see which documents we accept here.

No. We’ve streamlined the process for both so you can now register your limited company and apply for a Cashplus Business Bank Account by filling in one simple form. We’ll even cover the registration fee with Companies House to help you get started!

Once you complete your company formations application, we’ll send you an email to confirm we’ve received your application. Once your application has been reviewed by Cashplus and Companies House, we’ll let you know the outcome. In some instances, we may ask you to update your application or provide further information. 

To check your company formation application, please log in to Cashplus company formations portal here and go to Applications.

If you’ve completed a company formation application and it has not yet been submitted to Companies House (usually within 24 hours of application being completed), you can request to cancel your application by emailing [email protected]. Please make sure you include your order number (which we emailed you at application). However, if the application has already been submitted to Companies House, we won’t be able to cancel it.

You’ll be asked to set up your company login details (username and password) for the portal during the company formation application process. Once you complete your company formation application, we’ll send you an email on the same day with your username.

If you forget your password, simply follow the ‘Forgot your password’ instructions on the Company Formations login screen. We’ll send you an email that allows you to reset your password.

If you return to the application within 30 days, you should be able to return to your original application. Once this timeframe has passed, you’ll need to start a new application to form a company.

If Companies House need more information from you to proceed with your company formation application, you’ll receive an email with instructions on how to update your application.

If you applied for a company formation directly with Companies House and are not using the Cashplus company formations service, you’ll need to contact Companies House directly.

If you can’t access your company formation documents via the email, you should be able to access these documents online via the Cashplus company formations portal here.

Simply log in to the portal and head to Companies, where you can access your company formation documents online.

No, these are separate logins. Cashplus company formations portal is the online portal for Cashplus company formation customers who registered a company through Cashplus and is completely separate to Cashplus Online Banking.

If you have used the Cashplus company formation service to register your company and also apply to open a Cashplus bank account, you will need to set up two separate logins. We’ll send you separate emails with instructions on how to do this.

Shares represent ownership of a company. Most limited companies are 'limited by shares'  which means that the shareholders are generally not personally liable beyond their investment since the company is a separate legal entity from its owners. For more information, please contact your legal advisor or visit Companies House website.

You can register as many shares as you want however if you’re the only shareholder, you’ll only need one share to own 100% of the company. Please contact your legal and tax advisers for more information about shares in your limited company. You can add more shares at any time after your company is registered by contacting Companies House directly.

Ordinary shares are the most common share type, mostly represented in British pounds sterling (GBP). Please contact your legal and tax advisers for more information about different types of shares. If you need more than one share type for your limited company, you’ll need to register it with Companies House using a different service as we only offer applications using ordinary shares.

Ordinary shareholders will:

• Have one vote per share on company decisions
• Get a share of profits as dividend payments
• Get a share of the capital (for example, if the business closes down)

Yes. When you use our service to set up your limited company, your nominal share value will be set at £1 per share – but this isn’t linked to how much your company is worth. You can change the value and number of your company shares at any time after your company is registered by contacting Companies House directly.

Yes. You can add or change your company directors and shareholders at any time after your company is registered by simply logging in to our company formations portal where you’ll see your company name under ‘Recently Incorporated Companies’. If you click on ‘Details’ it’ll take you to the overview page where you can use the edit buttons on the right hand side to add, remove or amend a company director or shareholder.

No. If you have an existing Cashplus Business Account you can’t use this service, sorry!

If Companies House rejects your application, we won’t be able to open a Cashplus Business Bank Account using this service. You can however open a Business Bank Account directly on our website without needing to register as a limited company, for example if you’re a sole trader.

We would advise that the person setting up the business should be company director as they’ll need to accept and digitally sign the company and account terms and conditions themselves. However, if you are a person with the permission of the director of the company you are also able to set up the business.

When you register a limited company, Companies House will inform HMRC automatically. HMRC will then send a letter with your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number to your registered office address, which can take up to three weeks to arrive. If you don’t get your UTR number within three weeks of applying here, you should contact HMRC directly.

Prescribed particulars are part of your company’s statement of capital. When using Cashplus to set up your company, we use the standard set of prescribed particulars as suggested by Companies House. These state that each shareholder will:

• Have one vote per share on company decisions
• Get a share of profits as dividend payments
• Get a share of the capital (for example, if the business closes down)

A statement of capital is a snapshot of your company's issued share capital at any given time. Private companies that are limited by shares must complete their statement of capital and initial shareholdings as part of the setup process.

Your statement of capital must include:

• The total number of shares in your company
• The aggregate nominal value of those shares
• And for each class of shares:
  • Prescribed particulars of the rights attached to the shares
  • The total number of shares of that class
  • The aggregate nominal value of shares of that class

But don’t worry – we’ll automatically create your statement of capital for you when you set up your company using our service.

Your statement of capital must include:

• The total number of shares in your company
• The aggregate nominal value of those shares
• And for each class of shares:
  • Prescribed particulars of the rights attached to the shares
  • The total number of shares of that class
  • The aggregate nominal value of shares of that class

But don’t worry – we’ll automatically create your statement of capital for you when you set up your company using our service.

A memorandum of association is a legal statement signed by all the shareholders agreeing to form the company. It confirms that all parties involved want to form the company and agree to take at least one share each. Don’t worry – we’ll automatically create your memorandum of association for you when you set up your company using our service.

If you’ve already set up your company and want to see your memorandum of association, you’ll find it on the Companies House register.

Every limited company must have articles of association – the rules directors and shareholders must follow on how to run the company. Model articles of association are a standard set of rules provided by Companies House that are designed to suit most companies – and it’s these we’ll use when registering your new limited company. You can find a copy of these on the gov.uk website.

Once your new company is set up, we’ll automatically provide you with your Certificate of Incorporation, memorandum of association, model articles of association, share certificates, company minutes and company register.

Currently, we only allow applications for limited companies so unfortunately any other applications for other types of businesses like charities or LLPs will not be accepted.

Your company registration documents will be emailed to you. Printed copies must be requested directly from Companies House.

Once you submit your application, our team will review the information you’ve provided (please allow up to 24 hours for this). If it all looks good, we’ll send your application to Companies House (this review could take up to 24 hours as well). Once Companies House has reviewed and accepted your application, they should send your documents within a few hours.

Amendments can be made, yes. However, information can only be amended once the initial registration has been made. To make any amendments, simply log in to our company formations portal where you’ll see your company name under ‘Recently Incorporated Companies’. If you click on ‘Details’ it’ll take you to the overview page where you can use the edit buttons on the right hand side to amend the details of your registered office address, company director/shareholder details, company name and more.

Currently we only allow one company registration per person.