📅 Companies House Reforms – What’s Changing in November 2025
From 18 November 2025, major reforms to the Companies Act 2006 came into effect as part of the government’s Companies House modernisation programme.
These updates simplify how UK companies keep and make certain information available for inspection:
- Companies will no longer need to maintain internal registers of directors, secretaries, or PSCs (People with Significant Control).
- However, all companies must continue to maintain a register of members (shareholders).
- This register must be available for public inspection either at the company’s registered office or a Single Alternative Inspection Location (SAIL).
In short: your company must still make shareholder information accessible, but how and where you do that is now clearer and more straightforward.
🏢 What Is a SAIL Address?
A SAIL (Single Alternative Inspection Location) is an address that a company can nominate as the official place where certain statutory registers can be inspected by the public.
If you list Clyde Offices as your SAIL, our Glasgow address becomes the point of contact for any lawful inspection request under the Companies Act.
⚖️ The law only requires that your company registers are available for inspection at this address — they do not need to be physically stored here unless you choose to have us hold them for you.
✅ Included in All Address Packages
If you use our address as your registered office, you may also use it as your SAIL at no additional cost.
We will:
- Record your company as using our address as a SAIL;
- Receive and log any inspection requests (which are extremely rare); and
- Notify you immediately if a request is received.
🗂 Optional Record Storage (If You Want Us to Hold Copies)
Although not required by law, we can securely hold copies of your statutory registers on-site for your convenience.
| Service | Description | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| SAIL setup (optional) | We hold a physical or digital copy of your company registers | £20 one-off |
| Updates to stored records | When your shareholder information changes | £20 per update |
If your registers are updated (e.g. new shareholders), simply email us the revised version, and we’ll replace the previous copy.
🚪 Inspection Requests
If anyone ever requests to inspect your company’s registers:
- We will log and verify the request.
- We’ll notify you immediately.
- Access will be arranged in line with the Companies Act 2006.
A £20 admin fee applies per inspection event to cover staff time and documentation.
In over 10 years of providing address services, Clyde Offices has never received a single public inspection request — but we maintain the correct procedures to ensure full compliance.
If your registers are not stored with us, we will simply notify you of any request, and you will be responsible for complying with the inspection requirements.
Clyde Offices acts solely as an intermediary location, not as the record holder.
⚠️ Your Responsibilities
As a company director or officer, you are legally responsible for:
- Keeping your company registers accurate and up to date.
- Notifying Companies House (via Form AD02/AD03) if your registers are held at a SAIL address.
- Informing Clyde Offices if you are using our address as your SAIL.
- Responding promptly to any inspection requests we notify you of.
📋 Summary of SAIL Charges
| Service | Description | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Use of our address as SAIL | Included with all Registered Office and Virtual Office packages | £0 |
| Optional register storage | We hold copies of your statutory registers | £20 one-off |
| Updates to stored registers | When you change shareholder or director details | £20 per update |
| Inspection request handling | If a lawful inspection is requested (rare) | £20 per event |
🔍 FAQs
What does SAIL stand for?
SAIL means Single Alternative Inspection Location — an address nominated by a company where statutory registers can be inspected instead of the registered office.
Do my company registers need to be physically stored at the SAIL?
No. The law only requires that the records are available for inspection. You can keep them electronically elsewhere as long as they can be produced at the SAIL on request.
Do I need to tell Companies House I’m using Clyde Offices as my SAIL?
Yes — you’ll need to file Form AD02 to register the address and Form AD03 to specify which registers are held there.
What happens if someone requests an inspection?
We’ll notify you immediately and help coordinate access. A £20 admin fee applies. You’re responsible for ensuring the registers are provided within the statutory timeframe.
Have you ever had anyone request to inspect a company’s registers?
No. In over a decade of providing virtual office and registered office services, no public inspection has ever taken place at Clyde Offices.
💬 Questions or Want to Confirm Your SAIL Setup?
If you intend to use our address as your company’s SAIL, or you’d like us to hold a copy of your registers, please contact by email:
One Address – Unlimited Uses
We provide a Glasgow city centre address ideal for personal or business use. The address can be used for company registration, google maps, banks and 1000’s of other uses.
One Address – Unlimited Uses
We provide a Glasgow city centre address ideal for personal or business use. The address can be used for company registration, google maps, banks and 1000’s of other uses.
Great reasons to choose Clyde Offices:
We have been trading for 15 + years
Manned reception to accept deliveries
Address confirmed instantly after sign up
You can collect, or we can forward to scan mail
We are the owners of our Glasgow office
No long term contracts cancel anytime
Call Answering service available
Price includes use for HMRC & Companies House
Get a 75% discount off our mailing address today
Enter your email below to access our discounted pricing
In a time of stress at the closing of the Blue Square, Clyde Offices have come to the rescue with a super easy sign up. I purchased a registered office address set up without any drama.I'm good to go.Thanks Clyde Offices
Very easy to set up. The team are amazing, addressing all questions I had. Would highly recommend.
Have just transferred by virtual office over and the whole process was quick and efficient. Communication is excellent.
Fantastic value for money and professional. If you're looking for a mailing address or business address they're worth it.
Fast and easy process to setup at registered office address with Clyde Offices. Affordable and would highly recommend.
Extremely good package of support for a very good price. 2 names and 2 named individuals is really helpful and future proofs management and the ability to work around succession planning.
The whole process was really smooth and we found the packages available really competitive. Since working with Clyde Offices they have been very professional and answered any queries we’ve had promptly. A+ service.
This has been the BEST virtual office service I’ve had in Glasgow. Super grateful for all the support, assistance and help I’ve received over the last 10 years. Thank you guys 🙏🏼
Only a month into using the service, but it was well priced, convenient and a painless setup. Look forward to working with them for years to come.
I would definitely not recommend. They run a promo offering a free 1-month extension in exchange for 5-star reviews so that's probably where most of these reviews come from, but the service is terrible. My own experience: they messed up my subscription expiry date, failed to respond when I queried it; they have also emailed me a scan of some correspondence addressed to another person and failed to cancel my alleged "renewal" when I asked them to, even though they confirmed by email they had cancelled it.
Clyde offices have made my life infinitely better being able to receive things at an address in Scotland. I am a digital nomad and need to have a place to receive post and parcels. Very happy with the service.
Clyde Offices is the best solution—transparent, fast, clear, and affordable. It works like a fine gold watch. Highly recommend it for everyone!
Very easy and simple process to set up and great communication. I can highly recommend.
So easy to set up and very impressed with the service. No issues whatsoever
Really Simple to setup and implement. Now have a registered Office address for my Company.I would recommend to others needing a separate mail address for correspondance.
I'm delighted with the service I've received from Clyde Offices so far. The team has been helpful and communicative.
Just signed up with Clyde and happy with the service and price so far - an absolute steal with their 75% off introductory discount. Thank you, Clyde Offices - looking forward to working with you.
Been using Clyde offices for 1 year, brilliant service just renewed for another year.
Very easy set up process, great address for buisness , looks better than a home address in my opinion
Very pleased so far with Clyde offices. very quick and easy to set up and they keep you informed of any developments.
Very efficient and friendly service. Excellent value for money. Strongly recommend this service. Have used this service as my ltd company registered address and hence get correspondence forwarded to my home address.
Very easy sign up, clear and fast communication with competitive pricing. Just joined and hoping the service is as good as the sign up process.
Great service, great rates and quick admin staff replying to emails and sending through stuff very quickly. 10/10 would recommend if looking for a virtual address in Glasgow for business or private company purposes.
I recently signed up to Clyde Offices and so far I couldn't be happier with the experience. From the moment I initially enquired about their services to signing up, their communication has been prompt and efficient. The sign-up process was incredibly easy and straightforward.
Recently joined Clyde Offices and the whole process has been so easy. From signing up to the initial engagement from the team, the whole process couldn't have been better. would highly recommend.
I would like to recommend Clyde Office for friendly and professional service. The set up process was easy and straightforward.
Only recently joined, however, I am really pleased with the ease of joining, the promptness of engagement and the general engagement received. Thank you.
Setting up a new registered address for my business was so stressful with all the other challenges a new business faces. Clyde Offices took all the stress out of it. The service was so simple to use and we're very happy with the ongoing relationship.
The registration with Clyde Offices was easy and efficient and the fee was very reasonable. I've been with them for a few weeks now and have been very happy with the service. Responses to a couple of queries I had were prompt and resolved easily. I would happily recommend this service.
Really happy with the service so far very proactive and happy to help us with whatever we need
I am totally enjoying the services. This is one of my best decisions I made beginning of 2024.
Not long started using this s service and so far amazing. Easy set up and very fast.
Very fast service , address sent via email immediately after purchase. Attentive staff and customer service
Found these guys, easy to follow online instructions. Quick to set up. Very fast response times to welcome us on board. Not yet used their services, but I'm sure they will be great!
Quick and easy to set up, very competitively priced with good support and friendly follow-ups.
Clyde Offices provided us with a consistent and really good service for almost 4 years. Gerry was always at the end of the phone to help us with our queries. I would recommend Clyde Offices if you are looking to add value to your office needs, i.e. outsources answering service etc.
I was looking for a mailbox provider as I am studying and I live abroad. I found Clyde Offices and they were very helpful in answering my questions. Very reasonably priced and would allow me to receive a few parcels. I highly recommend them and I will be using them for many years. The staff were very attentive and friendly.
This is a great idea if you have your own business but would like an address in the city centre on top of, or instead of your own address or other location.Allows you to advertise as being based in the city centre.Anytime I had to contact the offices the staff were great and very helpful. I didn't need to contact them much at all because the process is so easy and straightforward.
Can't fault the service; long may it continue. A good choice for most I would think
Clyde Offices were very helpful and informative when setting up an account with them, they provide the full service at competitive prices and no additional fees.
Setting up my virtual business address with Clyde Offices was so quick and easy to set up in minutes. They also were in email contact to make sure everything was ok and if I needed any other services from them just to make contact with them. I couldn't be happier with the service I received. Thank you
Very good experience working with the team at Clyde Offices. They have been helping us out for over 5 years now and couldn't survive without them.
A vastly superior service from Clyde Offices than any of the corporate virtual offices I have used in the past. A fab team, very efficient and friendly, always very helpful. I would recommend them one hundred percent. Great Central Glasgow location if you ever need to visit.
I hired a mailing address through Clyde Offices for two months and the service was hugely helpful during that time. I rented some camping equipment for my hiking trip and could only find it for mail delivery; because I flew in from the USA, I needed an address in Glasgow and it so happens their office is very near the train station so this plan worked out perfectly as I set out Monday morning for my trip via train. In addition to easy communications and set up, the service worked with me on my order so that delivery time and pick up were arranged and I had no issues arriving and picking up as planned despite an awkward delay between delivery and pick up. My box was also large, which was certainly an inconvenience for them to hold for a week, but they understood my situation. I recommend Clyde Offices if you are seeking a mailing address in Glasgow.
I have found Clyde Office to be 100% committed to all work that they carry out for people. Very helpful polite and trustworthy.
Alan and the team have been a real find for me. They do my reports and deal with all my mail for me. They automatically scan my mail over to me so that I can pick it up on the go, I could not recommend them enough for a small business like me. It's true what they say if you don't have an admin person then you are the admin person!
Clyde Offices provide me with an incredible service that is invaluable. They help me manage my business. I use for call answering, mailing address and also they help with some of my admin via the virtual assistant service. 5 stars for sure.
Sign up was straightforward, and got a virtual mailing address confirmed within minutes. Would recommend.
Amazing service for a new startup. Understands my business needs and always happy to offer solutions. Professional staff at the end of the phone every time.
The staff are professional and timeous in their communication to customers.They give you confidence to work anywhere in the world and they handle your administration in a fantastic way.....keep it up...
