Do you need one?

The Companies Act stopped requiring private companies to have a secretary in 20081. Check your articles: older companies sometimes have articles that still refer to one. If they do, you can change the articles or keep a secretary.

Without one, the directors take on the jobs a secretary would do: filing changes with Companies House, keeping the register of members and the minutes, and sending out notices of meetings.

Who can be the secretary

Anyone the directors choose: a director, a shareholder, a family member, or a firm that provides company secretarial services. A company can be the secretary too: see a company as director or secretary.

A director can also be the secretary. The one limit is that where the law needs something done by a director and the secretary, one person can’t do both parts2: a document that must be signed by a director and the secretary needs two different people.

Appointing a secretary

The directors usually appoint the secretary by board resolution. Companies House needs the secretary’s name and a service address, which is published; no date of birth or home address is needed. Report it within 14 days of the appointment3.

Since 18 November 2025 companies no longer keep their own register of secretaries: the Companies House record is the register4. Keep the board minute with the company’s records.

Check your company’s dates and set a reminder

Search the Companies House register. Your company page shows its filing dates, what to file next and a reminder you can set.

When a secretary leaves

When a secretary resigns or the board removes them, report it within 14 days3. Because a private company doesn’t need a secretary, nobody has to replace them1. The old appointment stays visible on the register, marked as resigned.

When their details change

If the secretary’s name or service address changes, report it within 14 days3. There is no home address to update: Companies House doesn’t hold one for a secretary.

Filing secretary changes

Fileyear files all three. Appointing a company secretary files form AP03 (or AP04 for a company) and prepares a board minute. Removing a secretary (TM02) and updating a secretary’s details (CH03, or CH04 for a company) are separate filings, each picking the secretary from the register: read when a secretary leaves and when a secretary’s details change.