A UK company must show its registered name on all of its business correspondence, documents and websites, and must add its registered number, registered office address and part of the UK where it is registered on business letters, order forms and websites. It must also display its name at its registered office and other places of business, with limited exceptions. The rules are in Part 6 of the Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015, made under section 82 of the Companies Act 2006.

Where do the trading disclosure rules come from?

Section 82 of the Companies Act 2006 lets the Secretary of State make regulations requiring companies to display specified information at specified locations, state it in specified documents and communications, and provide it on request to people they deal with. The regulations must in every case require disclosure of the company name. The current regulations are the Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/17), which came into force on 31 January 2015. Part 6 (regulations 20 to 29) sets out the trading disclosures. Sections 82 to 85 are applied, with modifications, to LLPs by the LLP regulations of 2009.

Regulation 20 adds a simple overriding rule: every display or disclosure must be in characters that can be read with the naked eye.

Which documents must show the company’s registered name?

Regulation 24 requires the registered name, not a trading name, to appear on:

  • business letters, notices and other official publications;
  • bills of exchange, promissory notes, endorsements and order forms;
  • cheques, and orders for money, goods or services, that purport to be signed by or for the company;
  • bills of parcels, invoices and other demands for payment, receipts and letters of credit;
  • applications for licences to carry on a trade or activity;
  • all other forms of business correspondence and documentation; and
  • the company’s websites.

A company that trades under a brand can still use that brand prominently, but the registered name must appear as well. The GOV.UK invoicing guidance puts it plainly: a limited company invoice must include the full company name as it appears on the certificate of incorporation. If the name is changed, the new registered name must replace the old one everywhere; see changing a company name.

What extra details must go on letters, order forms and websites?

Regulation 25 requires every company to show the following on its business letters, its order forms and its websites:

  • the part of the United Kingdom in which it is registered (England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland);
  • its registered number;
  • the address of its registered office;
  • where it is exempt from using “limited” in its name under section 60, the fact that it is a limited company;
  • for a community interest company that is not a public company, the fact that it is a limited company; and
  • for an investment company within section 833, the fact that it is such a company.

Two further rules catch people out. If a company with a share capital chooses to mention its share capital on letters, order forms or websites, regulation 25(3) says the figure must be paid up share capital. And under regulation 26, if a business letter names any director other than in the body of the text or as the person signing, it must name every director. Showing just the managing director on the letterhead is not allowed.

Do the rules apply to emails and social media?

The regulations do not mention email by name, but they do not need to. Regulation 24(1)(g) extends the name requirement to “all other forms of its business correspondence and documentation”, and regulation 29(c) provides that a reference to any type of document includes a document in electronic form. A business email therefore needs the registered name, and an email that does the job of a business letter or an order form should carry the regulation 25 particulars too. The practical answer is a standard email footer with the registered name, number, registered office and place of registration.

For websites, regulation 29(d) says “its websites” includes any part of a website relating to the company which the company has caused or authorised to appear. That wording is wide enough to reach a company’s own shop page on an online marketplace or a business profile page it controls, so the same footer details belong there wherever the platform allows.

Where must the company name be displayed as a sign?

Regulation 21 requires the registered name to be displayed at the registered office and at any inspection place (a location other than the registered office where company records are kept available for inspection). This does not apply to a company that has been dormant at all times since incorporation, or where a liquidator, administrator or administrative receiver has been appointed and the location is also their place of business.

Regulation 22 extends the duty to every other location where the company carries on business, with three exceptions: a location used primarily for living accommodation, a location that is also the place of business of an appointed insolvency office holder, and any location of a company whose individual directors all have protection from disclosure of their information to credit reference agencies under section 243. GOV.UK guidance confirms that a business run from home does not need a sign there, and that a sign must be easy to read and see at any time, not only during opening hours.

Regulation 23 deals with shared premises. Where no more than five companies share a location, each name must be positioned so that visitors can easily see it and must be displayed continuously. Where six or more companies share it, each company must either display its name for at least fifteen continuous seconds at least once every three minutes, or make its name available for inspection on a register by any visitor. This is the rule that applies at serviced offices and formation agent addresses.

What must a company tell people who ask?

Under regulation 27, anyone the company deals with in the course of business can make a written request for the address of the registered office, any inspection place and the type of company records kept at that office or place. The company must send a written response within five working days of receiving the request. This links to the duty to keep records such as the register of members available for inspection, covered in a company’s statutory registers.

What happens if a company gets it wrong?

There are criminal and civil consequences.

  • Criminal: regulation 28 makes it an offence for the company to fail, without reasonable excuse, to comply with regulations 20 to 27. The offence is committed by the company and every officer in default, and a shadow director counts as an officer for this purpose (see shadow and de facto directors). The penalty on summary conviction is a fine up to level 3 on the standard scale, plus a daily default fine of up to one tenth of level 3 for continued contravention.
  • Civil: section 83 of the Companies Act 2006 applies where the company sues to enforce a contract made while it was in breach of the regulations. The claim must be dismissed if the defendant shows that the breach left them unable to pursue a claim of their own under the contract, or caused them financial loss in connection with it, unless the court is satisfied it is just and equitable to let the proceedings continue.

The civil rule has real bite: a customer who could not identify the true contracting company may be able to defeat a debt claim.

How does this look for a typical small company?

Illustration only. Harbour Joinery Ltd is registered in England and Wales, trades as “Harbour Kitchens”, runs a showroom and a workshop, and its sole director works from home. Its accountant runs through the checklist below.

Item What it needs Rule
Letterhead and quotation template “Harbour Joinery Ltd”, place of registration, registered number, registered office address Regulations 24 and 25
Invoices Full registered name; VAT number if VAT registered Regulation 24; HMRC VAT invoice rules
Website and email footer Registered name, number, registered office, place of registration Regulations 24, 25 and 29
Showroom and workshop Sign showing “Harbour Joinery Ltd”, visible at all times Regulation 22
Director’s home No sign needed if it is primarily living accommodation Regulation 22(3)
Registered office at accountant’s office shared by 40 clients Name on a register available to visitors, or a rotating display Regulation 23(3)

If the company later moved its registered office, every one of these items would need updating; see registered office address rules.

What are the common mistakes?

  • Using only a trading name on invoices, quotes and websites, with no registered name anywhere.
  • Leaving the old registered office address in the website footer and email signatures after a change.
  • Naming one or two directors on the letterhead without naming all of them.
  • Showing an “authorised” or nominal share capital figure rather than paid up share capital.
  • Forgetting marketplace shop pages and online profiles the company controls.
  • Assuming a formation agent’s address is exempt from the display rules; regulation 23 sets out what shared premises must do.

For the rules on choosing the name in the first place, including sensitive words, see company name rules and sensitive words.

Company directors can protect the business against the cost of an HMRC check with tax investigation insurance, which pays up to £100,000 of accountant’s fees with Solar Protect. Read how our cover works or get a quote.

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Sources

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.