How to remove your signature from Companies House documents

If you've ever signed a paper form for a UK company, your handwriting may be on the public register right now. To remove a signature from Companies House, you list each document on an SR01, tick "signature" and pay £34 per document. Companies House then redacts the signature and leaves your printed name.

It's one of the less obvious things the SR01 covers. Most people come to it for their home address, but the same form handles signatures, and the application is the same. The rest of this guide covers where signatures hide, which documents are off limits and how to apply.

Where does a signature on Companies House documents actually appear?

Anyone can view and download scanned filings from the register, and a scanned paper form shows exactly what was on the paper. That includes the ink.

The usual places are:

• Paper appointment and resignation forms from the 2000s and early 2010s, signed by the director or the company secretary
• Paper annual returns, which were signed by an officer
• Annual accounts signed on behalf of the board
• Older incorporation paperwork with subscriber signatures

Forms filed online usually don't have this problem. An e-filed form is authenticated electronically, so there's normally no handwritten signature to see. Check the actual document, because a scan of a signed cover sheet is still a signature.

Why does a signature on Companies House documents matter?

A clean copy of your signature, next to your full name and sometimes your address, is useful to someone who wants to forge a document in your name. Banks and other organisations still compare signatures in some situations.

We don't want to overstate this. Most people will never have a problem. But it costs £34 to take the signature off, and once the application is accepted it's gone from the public copy.

Can the signature be removed? A form-by-form view

Companies House keeps a list of the documents it can suppress, and its guidance says you can use the SR01 for most documents on the register apart from mortgage documents. This table shows how the common ones fall out.

The printed name always stays. Only the signature goes.

What does a redacted document look like?

Here's a fictional paper TM01 (termination of a director's appointment) after the signature has been removed. Everything else on the form stays as filed.

How to remove a signature from Companies House, step by step

Companies House signature removal follows the same route whether we file it or you do.

1. 01Find every signed documentGo through the filing history of each company you've been tied to. Look at appointment and resignation forms, annual returns and signed accounts.
2. 02Check each form type against the listUse the Companies House list of documents it can suppress. Leave out mortgage and charge documents.
3. 03Pay £34 per documentPay through GOV.UK Pay before you apply and keep the payment reference. Companies House rejects applications without the correct fee.
4. 04Complete the SR01Tick signature in Part 2, list the documents in Part 4 (three to a page) and print your name in Part 5. There's no signature needed.
5. 05Email or post itSend it to dsr@companieshouse.gov.uk, which is the quickest route, or post it. Turnaround is usually 2 to 6 weeks.

If you're also removing your home address, put both requests on the same SR01 and list each document once. Our how to complete SR01 guide goes through every part of the form.

Can I remove my signature, address and date of birth in one application?

Yes. The SR01 lets you ask for several personal details on the same document. A paper appointment form from before October 2015 might carry your signature, your home address and your day of birth, and you pay £34 once for that document.

The day of birth has its own rules, which we cover in removing your date of birth from Companies House. If the company has since been dissolved, the dissolved company guide explains what changes. For the full cost and service picture, see how we remove your home address from Companies House.

Not sure where your signature is?

Finding it by hand means opening every scanned filing. Our free scan reads every filing since 2003, including handwritten paper forms, and shows you what it finds as postcode districts only.

Sources

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