Companies House will change several filing fees from 1 February 2026. The digital incorporation fee rises to £100, the digital confirmation statement moves to £50, and the digital voluntary strike‑off falls to £13. The notice was published on 30 October 2025 and updated on 5 November 2025, with a full schedule available on the official campaign site.

Where are the fees today? Official guidance lists £50 to incorporate digitally, £34 for the confirmation statement and £33 for voluntary strike‑off. The February reset therefore implies a +£50 increase to form a company, a +£16 rise for the annual confirmation, and a £20 saving when closing an eligible company.

For start‑ups and SMEs, the practical upshot is a higher up‑front cost to form new entities. Founders running multiple SPVs or testing several ideas in parallel will feel this most. Formation agents typically pass the government fee through their packages, so quotes are likely to move in step with the statutory change. If you file directly, it’s simply a larger payment on day one.

The cut to the strike‑off fee is a small win for cleaning up dormant or no‑longer‑needed companies. If the business is solvent and eligible for voluntary strike‑off, waiting until February trims the filing cost by £20 versus today. Do not use strike‑off to deal with insolvency; Companies House notes that fee income also supports The Insolvency Service’s investigation and enforcement work, including director disqualifications and prosecutions.

Mark 18 November 2025 in the diary: identity verification becomes mandatory for company directors and people with significant control. New directors must verify to incorporate or be appointed; existing directors will confirm verification alongside their next confirmation statement within a 12‑month transition. Companies House guidance warns that acting as a director without verification could be an offence.

Companies House says the revised fees help fund modernised services and tougher checks made possible by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency (ECCT) Act. Its 2024–25 annual report also notes that fees were previously increased on 1 May 2024 to help recover programme costs, including the identity verification build. This is the next step in the same programme.

A few other changes matter for finance teams. Paper confirmation statements move to £110. Registration of a charge filed digitally drops slightly to £14. For the Register of Overseas Entities, registration rises to £250 while the update fee falls to £134 and the removal application is £301. If you regularly raise debt secured on assets or manage overseas structures, adjust deal checklists and cash flows.

The planning window is clear. If incorporation is discretionary and pencilled for early 2026, consider bringing it forward before 31 January to avoid the extra £50. Conversely, if you’re closing a clean, solvent entity, filing in February saves £20 on the strike‑off fee. In every case, complete identity verification early to avoid delays once the new rules take effect.

For investors and portfolio operators, the cash impact is modest, but the compliance shift is meaningful. Verified directors and stronger scrutiny of filings should improve the quality of the register and reduce spoofed corporate identities, which ultimately helps due diligence for counterparties and lenders.

We’ll track incorporations, strike‑offs and confirmation volumes through 2026 to see how behaviour shifts around the two key dates-18 November 2025 for verification and 1 February 2026 for fees. Expect a pull‑forward of incorporations into January, a softer February, and a bunching of strike‑offs once the £13 fee applies.