How to fill in form CH01 — changing a director's details at Companies House
CH01 lets a company director update their own details on the public Companies House register — a change of name, service address, usual residential address, nationality, or country of residence — within 14 days of the change taking effect.
It is not a form for reporting a director's death or resignation (that's TM01), and it doesn't appoint anyone new (that's AP01) — CH01 only amends the record of someone who is still a serving director.
This walkthrough covers who can sign it, the two different addresses the form asks for and why keeping them separate protects a director's home address from the public record, the 14-day clock under section 167H of the Companies Act 2006, and the two adjacent forms — TM01 and AP01 — a bereaved family more often actually needs.
✓ Official source checked 23 August 2026 · GOV.UK last revised this form 18 November 2025CH01 on GOV.UK ↗
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United Kingdom·Informational, not legal or financial advice·Official source: GOV.UK
✓Official form · always current
This is the same official CH01 file Companies House publishes on GOV.UK — the link below fetches the current version live from GOV.UK the moment you click it, so it can never go out of date.
Current version: November 2025 · confirmed on GOV.UK 23 August 2026
This walkthrough takes CH01 field by field, in plain English. The one decision worth making before you start is which address goes where — Section 5 is permanently public, and only the separate Section 5a insert keeps a director's home address off the register.
The thing most people get wrong
CH01 does not record a director's death or resignation — filing it instead of TM01 leaves a dead or resigned director listed as a serving officer on the public register, and it doesn't appoint whoever is replacing them either (that's AP01).
Section 3's date of change is a genuine trap Companies House's own printed checklist flags by name: it's the date that starts the 14-day clock, not the date you happen to be filling the form in — get it wrong and the deadline you're working to is wrong too.
The form, in summary
Valoren
CH01·5 pages·28 fields guided
With Valoren10 minutes
Without Valoren15–20 minutes
for a straightforward name or service-address change; longer if the residential address also needs updating on the separate Section 5a insert
CH01 is the mechanism a serving director — or the company secretary, or a person authorised under sections 270/274 — uses to update their own record on the public register: a name change, a service-address change, a usual-residential-address change, or a change of nationality or country of residence.
It only amends an existing, still-serving director's details. It does not remove a director who has died or resigned (that's TM01) and it does not appoint a replacement (that's AP01). A company whose director is itself a corporate body, not a natural person, uses CH02 instead — CH01's own header says so.
The form draws a sharp line between two addresses: the SERVICE address in Section 5, which sits on the public register and does not have to be the director's home (the company's registered office is a common choice), and the USUAL RESIDENTIAL address in the separate Section 5a insert, which Companies House explicitly keeps off the public record. Put a home address in Section 5 by mistake and it is permanently public.
·Who Files — The director whose own details have changed, the company secretary, or a 'person authorised' under sections 270/274 of the Companies Act 2006 — used when a company has no director or secretary able to sign, for example where an administrator, administrative receiver, receiver, receiver manager, Charity Commission receiver and manager, CIC manager, or judicial factor is in post. CH01 is not itself a bereavement form: the person filing it is a continuing officer keeping their own record straight, not someone reporting a death.
·5 pages · 28 fields guided
·Draws from your Estate File — Business Interests & Directorships, People, Authority & Contacts
Section01
§11
Section 1
What CH01 is for — and what it isn't
CH01 is a short, structured form — the risk isn't a hard section, it's reaching for it when a different form is what's actually needed.
01
What this form changes
A serving director's name, service address, usual residential address, nationality, or country of residence. Month and year of birth are shown on the form too, but only to identify which director's record is being amended — that field isn't editable here.
02
What it cannot do
CH01 does not remove a director who has died or resigned (that's TM01) and does not appoint a replacement (that's AP01). If the director being changed is a corporate body rather than a person, the correct form is CH02, not CH01 — the form's own header says so.
03
Who can sign it
The director themself, the company secretary, or a 'person authorised' under sections 270/274 of the Companies Act 2006 — used where the company has no director or secretary able to sign, such as an administrator, administrative receiver, receiver, receiver manager, Charity Commission receiver and manager, CIC manager, or judicial factor. Only a printed name is required, not a signature.
CH01 is a short, structured form — the risk isn't a hard section, it's reaching for it when a different form is what's actually needed.
Companies House · CH01❦
Section02
§22
Section 2
Sections 1–3 — the company, the director, and the date of change
Three short sections establish exactly which record is being amended, and the date that starts the 14-day clock.
01
Section 1 — company details
Company number and company name in full. These have to match the public register exactly, or the form is rejected.
02
Section 2 — the director's CURRENT details
Month/year of birth, title, full forename(s), and surname as they currently stand on the register. This section identifies WHICH director's record is being changed — it is not where the new details go.
03
Section 3 — the date that starts the clock
The single date field for when the change actually took effect. Only complete the sections below that actually apply — the instructions say so explicitly.
Three short sections establish exactly which record is being amended, and the date that starts the 14-day clock.
Companies House · CH01❦
Section03
§33
Section 3
Sections 4 and 5 — what's changing, and the address that stays public
This is where a home address can end up permanently public by accident. Two addresses, two very different treatments.
01
Section 4 — change of name
New title, forename(s), and surname — only completed if the director's name has actually changed.
02
Section 5 — the service address (public)
Building name/number, street, post town, county/region, postcode, country. This is the address shown on the public register — it doesn't have to be the director's home; the company's registered office can be entered here instead. Carries a mandatory tick-box confirming there has been no change to the residential address, required whenever only the service address is changing.
03
Section 5a — the residential address (kept off the public record)
A separate insert page, explicitly headed as not shown on the public record. Can say 'same as service address' unless Section 5 was given as the company's registered office, in which case the full residential address must be spelled out. It cannot be a PO Box, DX, or Legal Post (LP, Scotland) number — it has to be a genuine physical location.
This is where a home address can end up permanently public by accident. Two addresses, two very different treatments.
Companies House · CH01❦
Section04
§44
Section 4
Sections 6 and 7 — other details, authentication, and the checklist
The rest of the form is short: two free-text lines, a printed name, and a self-check before you send it.
01
Section 6 — nationality and country of residence
Two simple free-text lines: change of country/state of residence, and change of nationality.
02
Section 7 — authentication
A printed name only — no signature required — from whoever is authenticating the form: director, secretary, person authorised, administrator, administrative receiver, receiver, receiver manager, Charity Commission receiver and manager, CIC manager, or judicial factor. A UK Societas filer deletes 'director' and states which organ of the Societas the signatory belongs to instead.
03
The checklist before you send it
Company name and number match the register; Section 3's date is filled in; Section 5's no-change box is ticked OR Section 5a is completed; the residential address is a genuine physical location, not a PO Box, DX, or LP number; the relevant change-of-details section is completed; the form is authenticated.
04
How to file
Online, through WebFiling at gov.uk/companieshouse using the company's authentication code, is faster. Postal filing goes to the relevant Companies House office. Either way, filing CH01 is free.
The rest of the form is short: two free-text lines, a printed name, and a self-check before you send it.
Companies House · CH01❦
Section05
§55
Section 5
When you're keeping a family company's record straight after a bereavement
Worth saying plainly: Companies House doesn't present CH01 as a bereavement form, and this section is Valoren's own framing of a genuine adjacent task — not something gov.uk itself connects to a death.
01
The realistic use case
A surviving co-director of a small family or two-person company updating their own address or name after a bereavement-related move — or an executor who has themself been appointed a director, or is acting as a person authorised, once probate or letters of administration are granted and control of the company passes to them.
02
CH01 doesn't touch the deceased director's own record
Filing CH01 tidies the record of whoever is still serving — it does nothing about the director who has died. Their appointment stays listed as active on the public register until it's formally ended.
03
If you actually need to remove the deceased director
That's form TM01, not CH01. If someone is being appointed to take their place, that's form AP01. A bereaved family dealing with a small company more often needs TM01 or AP01 than CH01 itself — CH01 only becomes relevant once you, personally, are the director whose own details need correcting.
Worth saying plainly: Companies House doesn't present CH01 as a bereavement form, and this section is Valoren's own framing of a genuine adjacent task — not something gov.uk itself connects to a death.
Companies House · CH01❦
Many people file CH01 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
CH01 questions, answered.
CH01 lets a serving director update their own details on the public Companies House register — a change of name, service address, usual residential address, nationality, or country of residence.
It amends an existing director's record; it doesn't remove anyone or appoint anyone new.
No. CH01 only updates the details of a director who is still serving.
Ending a deceased or resigned director's appointment is form TM01; appointing whoever replaces them is form AP01 — CH01 does neither.
14 days from the date the change actually took effect — not from the date you file the form.
That date goes in Section 3, and it's the one field Companies House's own printed checklist singles out as commonly missed.
Only if it goes in the wrong section. Section 5's service address sits on the public register — it doesn't have to be your home; the company's registered office works fine there.
Your usual residential address goes on the separate Section 5a insert instead, which Companies House explicitly keeps off the public record.
Tick the box in Section 5 confirming there's been no change to your residential address, and leave Section 5a blank.
Skipping that tick-box isn't a formality — the form is treated as incomplete without it.
No. CH01 is free to file, whether you file online through WebFiling or send it by post.
No. Section 5a rules out a PO Box, DX number, or Legal Post (LP) number — it has to be a genuine physical address, even though it stays off the public record.
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Where this fits
CH01 is one form. The file behind it is the rest.
CH01 only needs what's already changed — a name, an address, a nationality — set against what the company record already holds.
The Business Interests & Directorships record carries the company detail; People, Authority & Contacts holds the director's own current information to check it against.