How to remove your date of birth from Companies House

To remove your date of birth from Companies House, you apply on form SR01 and ask for the day of birth to be taken off specific old documents. GOV.UK's SR01 guidance says this covers documents filed before 10 October 2015.

The month and year of your birth stay visible, and so does everything on documents filed after that date. So "remove date of birth from Companies House" really means "hide the day". It's still worth doing, because a full date of birth plus a name is exactly what identity fraudsters want. You can see what's currently public with our free scan.

Can you remove your date of birth from Companies House, and when?

Two dates matter. Companies House only removes personal details from documents registered on or after 1 January 2003, and the day of birth only from documents filed before 10 October 2015. Anything in between is the removable band.

We haven't found a GOV.UK page that explains why 10 October 2015 was chosen, so we won't guess. What the guidance does say is that the application is for removing "the day of your date of birth (for documents filed before 10 October 2015)". We work to that wording.

Which Companies House documents show a full date of birth?

Date of birth on Companies House documents turns up mostly in forms that introduce or update an officer: appointment forms, annual returns and the paperwork that set up a company. These forms asked for the full date, and the public copy showed it.

GOV.UK's list of documents Companies House can suppress has a date of birth column. It's described as a list of examples, so it isn't exhaustive. These are the forms we can say are marked as day-of-birth removable:

The same list marks some 2006-Act forms, such as AP01 (appointment of a director) and IN01 (incorporation), with "No" in the date of birth column. Check any specific document against the list before you rely on it, because Companies House decides what it will suppress.

Here's what one of those older forms looks like once the day is redacted. The person and company are fictional.

Notice that the same form can also hold a home address and a signature. We cover those in our guide to removing a signature from Companies House.

Why do newer filings only show month and year?

Documents filed since 10 October 2015 are outside the day-of-birth route, so the SR01 won't remove anything from them. In practice the public register shows month and year of birth for officers, which is why there's usually nothing further to hide on recent filings.

If you're not sure which camp a filing falls into, check the date on the document itself, not the date you remember filing it.

How do I know if a document qualifies?

Work through these three questions for each document.

How do I hide my date of birth on Companies House?

To hide your date of birth on Companies House, you'll file the same SR01 used for home addresses. It's a one-form process, and you can ask for the day of birth, a home address and a signature to come off the same document at once.

1. 01Find the documentsSearch your officer appointments and list each document that shows a full date of birth, with its registration date.
2. 02Pay £34 per documentPay through GOV.UK Pay first. Keep the payment reference, because an application without it is rejected.
3. 03Fill in the SR01Select the day of date of birth, give the applicant's full date of birth, list each document in Part 4 and print your name as authentication. No signature is needed.
4. 04Email itSend the completed form to dsr@companieshouse.gov.uk or post it. Turnaround is usually 2 to 6 weeks.

Our guide to the SR01 form walks through each part. If you'd rather not do the digging yourself, we scan every filing since 2003 and file it for you, including handwritten paper forms. See how to remove your home address from Companies House for what that involves and the prices (VAT included).

What should I do if my date of birth is in lots of documents?

Older directors often have a long trail of annual returns, each carrying the full date. Each document costs £34 to include, so the bill adds up. What we'd do is list every qualifying document in one application, because the form takes three documents per page and extra continuation pages for more.

Check every filing, not just the first appointment. A single missed annual return leaves the day of birth visible.

Sources

• Apply to remove your home address from the public register (SR01), GOV.UK
• How to complete the form SR01, GOV.UK
• List of documents Companies House can suppress, GOV.UK