Quick summary
A confirmation statement costs £50 filed digitally with Companies House, or £110 on paper. The fee covers a 12-month payment period, not a single submission, so any further confirmation statements you file inside that period cost nothing extra. There is no separate charge for updating directors, PSCs or the registered office.
The fee is the first thing people ask about and the least interesting part of the job. It is a fixed amount, it has not moved in a while, and it is the same whether your building has four flats or forty.
What matters is what the money actually buys, because it is not what most people assume.
The fee buys a period, not a filing
This is the detail that saves money and almost nobody knows it.
Paying the £50 opens a 12-month payment period. Any additional confirmation statement you file inside that period is free. So if you file, then a flat sells two months later and you want the public record to show the new shareholder promptly, you can file a second confirmation statement without paying again.
Most small companies file once a year and never touch this. It is useful in a year with a lot of movement.
What does not cost extra
None of these carry their own fee:
- Adding or removing a director (AP01 or TM01)
- Changing a director's details (CH01)
- Changing the registered office (AD01), covered in moving the registered office
- Updating PSC information
- Updating the registered email address
Filing on paper costs more across the board, and takes longer, and is easier to get wrong. There is no advantage to it unless you have no practical way to file online.
What can cost a great deal more
Not filing.
There is no automatic late filing penalty on a confirmation statement in the way there is for accounts, and we have set that out in is there a fine for a late confirmation statement. But persistent failure to file is how Companies House starts striking a company off, and a struck-off freeholder company stops every sale, remortgage and lease extension in the building until it is restored.
Restoration runs into the thousands and takes months. Against that, £50 is not really a cost.
What a service costs on top
If you pay somebody to handle it, you are paying for the work around the filing rather than the filing itself: keeping the register of members right, chasing director details, knowing that a share transfer has to be recorded before the statement rather than inside it.
We have written separately about what that is worth and what it typically runs to in what a company secretary service costs for a freehold company. Whoever does it, the £50 still goes to Companies House.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to file a confirmation statement?
£50 filed digitally, or £110 by post. The digital fee covers a 12-month payment period rather than one submission.
Do I have to pay again if I file a second confirmation statement in the same year?
No. Additional confirmation statements filed within the same 12-month payment period do not attract a further fee, which makes it practical to file again after a mid-year share transfer or director change.
Is there a charge for updating directors or the registered office?
No. AP01, TM01, CH01 and AD01 filings carry no fee of their own. The confirmation statement fee is separate and is not affected by how many changes you have recorded during the year.