How to fill in form AP01 — notifying Companies House of a new director
Form AP01 tells Companies House that a company has appointed a new director — a notice that must reach the registrar within 14 days of the appointment taking effect, under section 167G of the Companies Act 2006.
The form itself does not create the appointment: that has to happen first, under the company's own articles, before AP01 reports it to the public register — and since November 2025 the appointment can't even be registered until the new director has completed identity verification.
This walkthrough covers what goes on the public record and what stays off it, the identity-verification requirement Companies House added in November 2025, and why AP01 is not, by itself, how an executor becomes a company's director.
✓ Official source checked 23 August 2026 · GOV.UK last revised this form 18 November 2025AP01 on GOV.UK ↗
Free
United Kingdom·Informational, not legal or financial advice·Official source: GOV.UK
There is no form to download
AP01 is filed through Companies House's online service — GOV.UK does not publish a downloadable PDF version of this form.
This walkthrough takes AP01 field by field, in plain English. AP01 doesn't appoint anyone — it only notifies Companies House of an appointment that has already happened, and since November 2025 it can't do even that until the new director has completed identity verification.
The thing most people get wrong
Since 18 November 2025, the appointment cannot be registered until the new director has a Companies House personal code from completing identity verification (box A4) — a genuinely new blocker that trips up anyone working from older guidance, and one worth starting as soon as the appointment is decided, not once the form is half-filled-in.
The 14-day clock also starts on the date the appointment took legal effect — the board or shareholder decision — not the date anyone gets around to filing, which matters when bereavement admin is running behind.
The form, in summary
Valoren
AP01·5 pages·24 fields guided
With Valoren10 minutes
Without Valoren20–30 minutes
once the underlying appointment has actually been made — longer if the new director hasn't yet completed Companies House identity verification
Deadline
14 daysfrom the date the appointment took effect
Who Files
The company— director, secretary, or person authorised
AP01 does not itself appoint a director — it notifies Companies House of an appointment that has already taken legal effect under the company's own articles of association, typically by resolution of the continuing directors or the members. An executor cannot use AP01, alone, to install themselves as a company's director: the appointment has to happen validly first, under the company's own procedure, and AP01 then reports it to the register within 14 days.
The form is for an individual director only. A company or other corporate body being appointed as a director uses form AP02 instead — the form's own front page says so under 'what this form is NOT for'.
Since 18 November 2025, the appointment cannot be registered at all until the new director has completed identity verification with Companies House and holds a personal code confirming it — box A4 did not exist before that date and is now a hard prerequisite.
·Who Files — The company files AP01 — in practice, a director, the company secretary, or a 'person authorised' under sections 270 or 274 of the Companies Act 2006 (box 6). For a family business or personal service company, this is usually the surviving directors, notifying Companies House once a replacement director has been properly appointed under the articles following a director's death.
·5 pages · 24 fields guided
·Draws from your Estate File — Business Interests & Directorships, People, Authority & Contacts
Section01
§11
Section 1
What AP01 is for — and what it isn't
AP01 is a short notification form, but it's easy to reach for it expecting it to do something it doesn't.
01
It notifies; it doesn't appoint
The appointment has to happen first, under the company's own articles of association — typically a resolution of the continuing directors, or of the members if the articles require it. AP01 then reports that appointment to Companies House; it isn't the mechanism that creates it.
An executor who assumes filing AP01 is how they 'become' a director is assuming wrong — if the underlying appointment was never properly made, the filing doesn't fix that, and can be rejected or later challenged.
02
Individual directors only
AP01 is for a natural person. Appointing a company or other corporate body as a director uses form AP02 instead — the form's own front page lists this under 'what this form is NOT for'.
03
The 14-day deadline
14 days from the date the appointment actually took legal effect (Companies Act 2006, s.167G(4)) — not from whenever the form gets filled in. In a bereavement situation, where the underlying decision and the paperwork rarely happen the same week, this is the date worth pinning down first.
04
Where almost everyone actually files this now
Companies House's own guidance directs most companies to the online filing service, not this paper form. The PDF is kept only for two situations: restoring a company to the register, or filing for a UK Societas. The fields below are the same either way — the online service asks for the same information.
AP01 is a short notification form, but it's easy to reach for it expecting it to do something it doesn't.
Companies House · AP01❦
Section02
§22
Section 2
The public record — boxes 1 to 4
Four short boxes establish which company, which date, and who's being appointed — and this is the half of the form that becomes permanently visible on the public register.
01
Box 1 — company details
Company number and company name in full. These have to match the public register exactly.
02
Box 2 — date of appointment
The date the appointment took legal effect — this is the date that starts the 14-day clock, so it needs to be right, not just close.
03
Box 3 — the new director's details
Title (optional), full forename(s), surname, any former name used for business purposes in the last 20 years (including a maiden or married name — box 7 gives extra room if needed), country or state of residence, nationality, and month and year of birth only. The full date of birth goes in box A1, on the pages that never reach the public record — the public register never shows more than the month and year.
04
Box 4 — the new director's service address
The address shown on the public register. It doesn't have to be a home address — 'the company's registered office' is a common, and simpler, answer. Put a residential address here instead and it becomes public, permanently — the two address boxes sit only a page apart and are easy to mix up.
Four short boxes establish which company, which date, and who's being appointed — and this is the half of the form that becomes permanently visible on the public register.
Companies House · AP01❦
Section03
§33
Section 3
The pages that never reach the public record — boxes A1 to A5
Companies House calls these the 'not shown on the public record' pages.
One of them, box A4, is also the new hard blocker introduced in November 2025 — read this section before assuming the appointment can simply be registered.
01
Box A1 — full date of birth
The complete date of birth. Only the month and year given in box 3 ever appear on the public register.
02
Box A2 — usual residential address
Can say 'same as service address' — unless box 4 was given as 'the company's registered office', in which case the residential address has to be spelled out in full here instead. It cannot be a PO Box, a DX number, or a Scottish LP number.
03
Box A3 — protecting the address from credit reference agencies
A single tick, under section 243 of the Companies Act 2006, for a director at serious personal risk who wants their residential address kept from credit reference agencies. Ticking it changes the filing route: the whole form then has to be posted, not filed online, to a separate address — The Registrar of Companies, PO Box 4082, Cardiff, CF14 3WE.
04
Box A4 — identity verification (new, November 2025)
A tick confirming the new director has verified their identity in accordance with the Companies Act 2006 (section 1110A), plus their 11-character Companies House personal code, issued once identity verification is complete. This box didn't exist before the November 2025 changes, and Companies House says the appointment cannot be registered without it — worth confirming early, not discovering as a last-minute blocker.
05
Box A5 — if the name given doesn't match the verified name
Optional. If the name in box 3 differs from the director's verified name, tick one reason: legally changed name, preferred name, translation or different naming convention, or prefer not to say.
Companies House calls these the 'not shown on the public record' pages.
Companies House · AP01❦
Section04
§44
Section 4
Consent, authentication, and getting it to Companies House
The last substantive page confirms the new director actually agreed to this, records who's making the filing, and sets out where it goes.
01
Box 5 — consent to act
A single tick: the company confirms the person named in box 3 has consented to act as a director. Nothing more elaborate than that.
02
Box 6 — authentication
A printed name only — no signature required. It can be signed by a director, the secretary, a 'person authorised' under sections 270 or 274 of the Companies Act 2006, an administrator, administrative receiver, receiver, receiver manager, a Charity Commission receiver and manager, a CIC manager, or a judicial factor. A UK Societas filing substitutes the relevant organ or membership for 'director' — the form has its own note covering this.
03
Box 7 — additional former names
Overflow space if box 3's former-names field wasn't enough room.
04
Companies House's own checklist
The form's last page lists what commonly gets a filing rejected: company name and number not matching the register, no date of appointment, former names of the last 20 years left out, nationality left blank, month/year of birth missing from box 3 (or the full date missing from A1), only one of the two addresses given, a PO Box/DX/LP number used where it isn't allowed, no section 243 application enclosed where one applies, identity-verification details missing, the consent box not ticked, or the form left unauthenticated.
The last substantive page confirms the new director actually agreed to this, records who's making the filing, and sets out where it goes.
Companies House · AP01❦
Section05
§55
Section 5
For a bereaved family: what AP01 does and doesn't solve
The realistic route into this form is a family business, personal service company, or an estate holding a shareholding that needs active management once a director has died.
01
The realistic use case
A surviving director of a small or family company appointing a replacement to keep the company running, or to wind up its affairs — or an executor who, as a shareholder, needs to see a new director installed once probate or letters of administration are granted.
02
Make the appointment first
Before AP01 is even relevant, the company needs a valid appointment under its own articles — usually a resolution of the continuing directors, or of the members where the articles require it, or under the model articles' default provisions where no bespoke articles say otherwise. AP01 reports that decision; it doesn't make it.
03
AP01 doesn't remove the director who died
Filing AP01 says nothing about the deceased director's own record — they stay listed as a serving officer on the public register until that's formally ended. That's form TM01. Most bereavement situations that reach AP01 need TM01 filed around the same time, for the person being replaced.
04
Start identity verification early
Because box A4 now blocks registration outright until the incoming director has a Companies House personal code, and identity verification takes some time to complete, it's worth starting that process as soon as the appointment is decided — not after the rest of the form is already filled in and the 14-day clock is running down.
The realistic route into this form is a family business, personal service company, or an estate holding a shareholding that needs active management once a director has died.
Companies House · AP01❦
Many people file AP01 themselves — that is what this walkthrough is for. If the situation behind it has stopped being simple — beyond what a careful person can safely do alone — Signum, Valoren’s own specialist desk, can take it on, and we say so plainly: it starts with a free intake, and if you do not need us, we will tell you. Prefer an independent adviser? STEP and the Chartered Institute of Taxation both keep public member directories, and neither pays Valoren a referral fee.
FAQ
AP01 questions, answered.
AP01 notifies Companies House that a company has appointed a new individual director. It has to reach the registrar within 14 days of the appointment taking effect.
No. AP01 only reports an appointment that has already happened, validly, under the company's own articles of association — typically by resolution of the continuing directors or the members.
An executor can't use AP01 alone to install themselves as a company's director; the appointment has to be made properly first.
14 days from the date the appointment actually took legal effect — not from the date the form is filled in. That's the date in box 2, under section 167G(4) of the Companies Act 2006.
Companies House added box A4: a tick confirming the new director has completed identity verification, plus their 11-character Companies House personal code. The appointment cannot be registered without it — a new prerequisite that catches anyone working from older guidance.
Only if it's put in the wrong box. Box 4's service address sits on the public register and doesn't have to be a home address — the company's registered office is a common choice.
The usual residential address goes in box A2 instead, which Companies House explicitly keeps off the public record, unless box 4 already said 'the company's registered office' — in which case A2 has to be spelled out in full.
No. AP01 is for an individual only. Appointing a corporate body as a director uses form AP02 — the form's own front page says so.
No. AP01 is free to file, whether online or by post.
Online, for almost every company — that's now the standard route. The paper form is only needed when restoring a company to the register, or filing for a UK Societas, or where box A3's address-protection exemption applies, which has to go by post to a separate Companies House address in Cardiff.
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Where this fits
AP01 is one form. The file behind it is the rest.
AP01 asks for the new director's identity, address and consent — detail that's faster to supply once it's already gathered.
The Business Interests & Directorships record holds the company itself; People, Authority & Contacts carries the incoming director's own details.