A late confirmation statement does not trigger an automatic fine — the £150 to £1,500 late filing penalties directors panic about apply to annual accounts, not to the confirmation statement. What Companies House does instead is issue a penalty warning notice, and that notice gives you at least 28 days to respond. Take the required action within 28 days beginning the day after the date on the notice and you receive no penalty at all (gov.uk). Ignore it, and Companies House can impose a discretionary financial penalty under section 1132A of the Companies Act 2006 — between £250 and £2,000 depending on how serious the breach is and how many times you have been here before — and can begin striking your company off the register. Not filing a confirmation statement is also a criminal offence. So the overdue notice on your desk is a deadline, not a bill: file the statement, pay the £50, and it usually ends there.
Figures and process here are sourced to gov.uk and Companies House and are correct for filings made now. General guidance for directors, not personal or legal advice.
What happens the day after you miss the confirmation statement deadline?
Nothing is taken from your bank account and no charge is raised — but your company record changes, publicly. Your confirmation statement is due within 14 days of the end of your review period (gov.uk). Miss that window and the filing shows as overdue on the register, where anyone looking your company up can see it: a client running due diligence, a lender assessing an application, a supplier setting your credit terms.
The formal consequences sit behind that flag rather than arriving with it. Companies House puts it plainly: it "may issue a financial penalty and your company may be struck off the Companies House register if you do not file your confirmation statement", and failing to file accounts or confirmation statements is a criminal offence (gov.uk). Both are real risks. Neither lands automatically on day 15.
That gap between overdue and penalised is where you still have control. If a notice has arrived and you are not certain which filing it refers to, get it read properly before you reply — we can match you with a partner accountant who handles Companies House correspondence every week.
Is there an automatic fine for a late confirmation statement?
No — and this is where most articles on the subject go wrong, because the figures they quote belong to a different filing altogether. There is no fixed, automatic penalty for filing a confirmation statement late.
What exists instead is a warning process. Before imposing a financial penalty, Companies House issues a penalty warning notice setting out what it believes has gone wrong, and gives you at least 28 days to respond. Read the next part twice: take the required action within 28 days beginning with the day after the date of the warning notice and no penalty is issued at all (gov.uk). Not reduced, not deferred — not issued. For a confirmation statement, the required action is the simplest thing on your list: file it.
If you think the notice is wrong, you can make representations by emailing enquiries@companieshouse.gov.uk within 28 days of its date. Only where the breach is not put right does Companies House move to a financial penalty under section 1132A of the Companies Act 2006. The amount is discretionary and turns on how seriously the breach is viewed and how many offences precede it:
Seriousness
1st offence
2nd
3rd
4th or more
Minor
£250
£500
£750
£1,000
Serious
£500
£750
£1,000
£1,500
Very serious
£750
£1,000
£1,500
£2,000
Even at the top of that scale, the penalty follows a warning you had 28 days to answer. That is a different animal from the charge that hits late accounts, which is where the confusion starts.
Late accounts or a late confirmation statement — which penalty regime applies?
Companies House runs two separate penalty regimes, and almost every guide on this topic blurs them into one. Directors search for "late confirmation statement penalty", find the £150–£1,500 figures and assume they have already been fined. Those are the late filing penalties for annual accounts (gov.uk) — a different filing, on a different clock, with a different consequence:
Late annual accounts
Late confirmation statement
Penalty
Automatic and fixed: £150 (up to 1 month), £375 (1–3 months), £750 (3–6 months), £1,500 (over 6 months)
No automatic fixed penalty
Process
Applied automatically when the accounts are received late
A penalty warning notice first, with at least 28 days to respond
Way out
None once the accounts are late
Take the required action within 28 days of the notice and no penalty is issued
If it escalates
Doubled where accounts are filed late two years running
Discretionary penalty under s1132A Companies Act 2006
Also carries
Strike-off risk, criminal offence
Criminal offence, strike-off risk
The practical reading: an overdue confirmation statement is more recoverable than overdue accounts, but the tail risk is worse, because strike-off removes the company rather than charging it. If your accounts are also behind — and for many directors the two slip together — that is the side with an automatic charge already running; our guide to limited company accounts and tax returns sets out those deadlines. Our free guide maps every filing a director owns onto one calendar, so neither clock catches you again.
How do you file an overdue confirmation statement?
You file it exactly as you would have filed it on time — there is no separate late form and no surcharge on the filing itself. Online it costs £50; by paper form CS01 it costs £110 (gov.uk). Online is cheaper and lands on the record sooner, which is what you want when a clock is running.
Find your review date. Your review period runs 12 months and the statement is due within 14 days of the end of it. Your Companies House record shows the date it was due, so you can see how far behind you are.
Check every detail you are confirming. The statement covers your registered office address, your directors (and company secretary, if you have one), your people with significant control (PSCs), your SIC codes and your statement of capital and shareholders.
Confirm the two newer items. Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, every company must supply a registered email address, and the statement carries a lawful purpose statement — a declaration that the company's intended future activities are lawful (gov.uk).
Report anything that has actually changed. A new director or a moved registered office goes to Companies House on its own form when it happens; the statement is the annual backstop confirming everything else is still correct. Our explainer on what a confirmation statement is walks through each field.
Pay and submit, then check the record. Once accepted, the overdue flag comes off and your next review date is set.
If a penalty warning notice has already arrived, do this inside the 28 days beginning the day after the notice date — that is the difference between no penalty and a discretionary one.
What if the company has already had a strike-off notice?
Treat it as urgent rather than terminal. A strike-off notice means Companies House has begun removing your company from the register, and until that completes there is still a window in which the position can be put right. Filing the outstanding statement is normally the first step, but a strike-off runs to its own timetable and the right response depends on how far it has gone.
If the company has already been dissolved, restoration is a separate legal route with its own conditions and costs — not something to attempt from a blog post, and not something we set out here. Get proper help quickly, because the options narrow with time. Closing a company deliberately is a different matter: see how to close a limited company.
A strike-off notice against a company you still want to trade with is the point to stop reading and start phoning. We can match you with a partner accountant who will file what is outstanding and deal with Companies House directly.
Two habits close this off, and neither costs anything. The first is knowing your review date rather than guessing at it — put it in a calendar with a reminder two weeks earlier, because the filing window is only 14 days and short enough to miss over a holiday. The second is making sure your registered email address is an inbox someone reads. It is a required detail and it is how Companies House reaches you; a filing that goes overdue because the warning went to a dead address is an avoidable one.
Most directors who miss this filing are not disorganised — they are busy, and the statement is small enough to slide down the list all year. Our guide on whether you need an accountant for a limited company weighs the cost against what it removes, and our accountancy overview explains how the partner introduction works. The £50 filing is never the expensive part — the strike-off you did not choose is.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an automatic fine for a late confirmation statement?
No. The automatic, fixed penalties of £150 to £1,500 apply to annual accounts, not the confirmation statement. Companies House issues a penalty warning notice first and gives you at least 28 days to respond; take the required action within 28 days beginning the day after the notice date and no penalty is issued.
How late can a confirmation statement be before Companies House acts?
It is due within 14 days of the end of your review period and shows as overdue from then, with no published grace period. Companies House may issue a financial penalty and may strike the company off if you do not file, so file as soon as you notice — and immediately if a warning notice has arrived.
What happens if you don't file a confirmation statement at all?
It is a criminal offence, and Companies House can strike the company off the register, dissolving it and ending its ability to trade. It can also impose a discretionary penalty under section 1132A of the Companies Act 2006, from £250 up to £2,000 depending on the seriousness of the breach and how many offences precede it.
How much does it cost to file an overdue confirmation statement?
The same as an on-time one: £50 online, or £110 by paper form CS01. No late surcharge is added to the fee. A financial penalty, if one is ever imposed, is separate and only follows a warning notice you did not act on.
Can you challenge a confirmation statement penalty warning notice?
Yes — make representations by emailing enquiries@companieshouse.gov.uk within 28 days of the date on the notice. Usually the faster route is to file the outstanding statement inside that same 28-day window, because doing so means no penalty is issued at all.
A late confirmation statement does not trigger an automatic fine — the £150 to £1,500 late filing penalties directors panic about apply to annual accounts, not to the confirmation statement. What Companies House does instead is issue a penalty warning notice, and that notice gives you at least 28 days to respond. Take the required action within 28 days beginning the day after the date on the notice and you receive no penalty at all (gov.uk). Ignore it, and Companies House can impose a discretionary financial penalty under section 1132A of the Companies Act 2006 — between £250 and £2,000 depending on how serious the breach is and how many times you have been here before — and can begin striking your company off the register. Not filing a confirmation statement is also a criminal offence. So the overdue notice on your desk is a deadline, not a bill: file the statement, pay the £50, and it usually ends there.
Figures and process here are sourced to gov.uk and Companies House and are correct for filings made now. General guidance for directors, not personal or legal advice.
What happens the day after you miss the confirmation statement deadline?
Nothing is taken from your bank account and no charge is raised — but your company record changes, publicly. Your confirmation statement is due within 14 days of the end of your review period (gov.uk). Miss that window and the filing shows as overdue on the register, where anyone looking your company up can see it: a client running due diligence, a lender assessing an application, a supplier setting your credit terms.
The formal consequences sit behind that flag rather than arriving with it. Companies House puts it plainly: it "may issue a financial penalty and your company may be struck off the Companies House register if you do not file your confirmation statement", and failing to file accounts or confirmation statements is a criminal offence (gov.uk). Both are real risks. Neither lands automatically on day 15.
That gap between overdue and penalised is where you still have control. If a notice has arrived and you are not certain which filing it refers to, get it read properly before you reply — we can match you with a partner accountant who handles Companies House correspondence every week.
Is there an automatic fine for a late confirmation statement?
No — and this is where most articles on the subject go wrong, because the figures they quote belong to a different filing altogether. There is no fixed, automatic penalty for filing a confirmation statement late.
What exists instead is a warning process. Before imposing a financial penalty, Companies House issues a penalty warning notice setting out what it believes has gone wrong, and gives you at least 28 days to respond. Read the next part twice: take the required action within 28 days beginning with the day after the date of the warning notice and no penalty is issued at all (gov.uk). Not reduced, not deferred — not issued. For a confirmation statement, the required action is the simplest thing on your list: file it.
If you think the notice is wrong, you can make representations by emailing enquiries@companieshouse.gov.uk within 28 days of its date. Only where the breach is not put right does Companies House move to a financial penalty under section 1132A of the Companies Act 2006. The amount is discretionary and turns on how seriously the breach is viewed and how many offences precede it:
Seriousness
1st offence
2nd
3rd
4th or more
Minor
£250
£500
£750
£1,000
Serious
£500
£750
£1,000
£1,500
Very serious
£750
£1,000
£1,500
£2,000
Even at the top of that scale, the penalty follows a warning you had 28 days to answer. That is a different animal from the charge that hits late accounts, which is where the confusion starts.
Late accounts or a late confirmation statement — which penalty regime applies?
Companies House runs two separate penalty regimes, and almost every guide on this topic blurs them into one. Directors search for "late confirmation statement penalty", find the £150–£1,500 figures and assume they have already been fined. Those are the late filing penalties for annual accounts (gov.uk) — a different filing, on a different clock, with a different consequence:
Late annual accounts
Late confirmation statement
Penalty
Automatic and fixed: £150 (up to 1 month), £375 (1–3 months), £750 (3–6 months), £1,500 (over 6 months)
No automatic fixed penalty
Process
Applied automatically when the accounts are received late
A penalty warning notice first, with at least 28 days to respond
Way out
None once the accounts are late
Take the required action within 28 days of the notice and no penalty is issued
If it escalates
Doubled where accounts are filed late two years running
Discretionary penalty under s1132A Companies Act 2006
Also carries
Strike-off risk, criminal offence
Criminal offence, strike-off risk
The practical reading: an overdue confirmation statement is more recoverable than overdue accounts, but the tail risk is worse, because strike-off removes the company rather than charging it. If your accounts are also behind — and for many directors the two slip together — that is the side with an automatic charge already running; our guide to limited company accounts and tax returns sets out those deadlines. Our free guide maps every filing a director owns onto one calendar, so neither clock catches you again.
How do you file an overdue confirmation statement?
You file it exactly as you would have filed it on time — there is no separate late form and no surcharge on the filing itself. Online it costs £50; by paper form CS01 it costs £110 (gov.uk). Online is cheaper and lands on the record sooner, which is what you want when a clock is running.
Find your review date. Your review period runs 12 months and the statement is due within 14 days of the end of it. Your Companies House record shows the date it was due, so you can see how far behind you are.
Check every detail you are confirming. The statement covers your registered office address, your directors (and company secretary, if you have one), your people with significant control (PSCs), your SIC codes and your statement of capital and shareholders.
Confirm the two newer items. Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, every company must supply a registered email address, and the statement carries a lawful purpose statement — a declaration that the company's intended future activities are lawful (gov.uk).
Report anything that has actually changed. A new director or a moved registered office goes to Companies House on its own form when it happens; the statement is the annual backstop confirming everything else is still correct. Our explainer on what a confirmation statement is walks through each field.
Pay and submit, then check the record. Once accepted, the overdue flag comes off and your next review date is set.
If a penalty warning notice has already arrived, do this inside the 28 days beginning the day after the notice date — that is the difference between no penalty and a discretionary one.
What if the company has already had a strike-off notice?
Treat it as urgent rather than terminal. A strike-off notice means Companies House has begun removing your company from the register, and until that completes there is still a window in which the position can be put right. Filing the outstanding statement is normally the first step, but a strike-off runs to its own timetable and the right response depends on how far it has gone.
If the company has already been dissolved, restoration is a separate legal route with its own conditions and costs — not something to attempt from a blog post, and not something we set out here. Get proper help quickly, because the options narrow with time. Closing a company deliberately is a different matter: see how to close a limited company.
A strike-off notice against a company you still want to trade with is the point to stop reading and start phoning. We can match you with a partner accountant who will file what is outstanding and deal with Companies House directly.
Two habits close this off, and neither costs anything. The first is knowing your review date rather than guessing at it — put it in a calendar with a reminder two weeks earlier, because the filing window is only 14 days and short enough to miss over a holiday. The second is making sure your registered email address is an inbox someone reads. It is a required detail and it is how Companies House reaches you; a filing that goes overdue because the warning went to a dead address is an avoidable one.
Most directors who miss this filing are not disorganised — they are busy, and the statement is small enough to slide down the list all year. Our guide on whether you need an accountant for a limited company weighs the cost against what it removes, and our accountancy overview explains how the partner introduction works. The £50 filing is never the expensive part — the strike-off you did not choose is.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an automatic fine for a late confirmation statement?
No. The automatic, fixed penalties of £150 to £1,500 apply to annual accounts, not the confirmation statement. Companies House issues a penalty warning notice first and gives you at least 28 days to respond; take the required action within 28 days beginning the day after the notice date and no penalty is issued.
How late can a confirmation statement be before Companies House acts?
It is due within 14 days of the end of your review period and shows as overdue from then, with no published grace period. Companies House may issue a financial penalty and may strike the company off if you do not file, so file as soon as you notice — and immediately if a warning notice has arrived.
What happens if you don't file a confirmation statement at all?
It is a criminal offence, and Companies House can strike the company off the register, dissolving it and ending its ability to trade. It can also impose a discretionary penalty under section 1132A of the Companies Act 2006, from £250 up to £2,000 depending on the seriousness of the breach and how many offences precede it.
How much does it cost to file an overdue confirmation statement?
The same as an on-time one: £50 online, or £110 by paper form CS01. No late surcharge is added to the fee. A financial penalty, if one is ever imposed, is separate and only follows a warning notice you did not act on.
Can you challenge a confirmation statement penalty warning notice?
Yes — make representations by emailing enquiries@companieshouse.gov.uk within 28 days of the date on the notice. Usually the faster route is to file the outstanding statement inside that same 28-day window, because doing so means no penalty is issued at all.
