Companies House updates suspended and ceased ACSP list

Companies House has updated its list of Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSPs) whose registration has been suspended or removed, with the latest revision dated 13 October 2026.

The published guidance covers both businesses and sole traders. Its update history does not identify which providers were affected by the latest revision or give a total number of suspended or ceased registrations.

What happened

The guidance distinguishes between suspension and cessation of ACSP status. These are separate categories, with different circumstances set out for each.

An ACSP can be suspended while the registrar investigates, or seeks further information about, its business or Anti-Money Laundering (AML) supervision. The guidance does not say that a suspension necessarily represents a completed investigation or a finding of wrongdoing.

Suspension can also relate to enquiries about an agent’s identity verification process. That provision applies where the ACSP has verified someone’s identity for the registrar.

For cessation, the reason specified in the supplied guidance is that an ACSP has said it no longer wants to remain registered. A removed registration should therefore not automatically be read as evidence of enforcement action.

The background

The supplied update history runs from 9 December 2025 to 13 October 2026. The December entry records a revision to the list; it does not establish when the list was first launched.

On 5 February 2026, a link was added to a separate list of active ACSPs. That directory contains providers that have requested publication of their details, rather than necessarily every registered agent.

The distinction limits what businesses can infer from the active directory: absence from that publication alone does not establish that an agent is unregistered, suspended or removed.

The status guidance concerns agents rather than filing methods. Separately, the registrar’s wider filing changes include software-only accounts submission from April 2028.

The detail

The guidance says the ceased and suspended list is updated with changes every two weeks. A provider whose status has recently changed can therefore take up to two weeks to appear.

No update is published when there have been no changes. A gap between publication dates does not, by itself, show that a scheduled revision has been missed.

There is also an accessibility warning attached to the file: it may not be suitable for people using assistive technology. The supplied text does not describe an alternative accessible version.

What happens next

Further revisions depend on changes to ACSP status. The guidance gives no specific date for the next publication and sets out no deadline for resolving individual suspensions.

For businesses checking an agent, the practical limitation is the publication lag. The absence of a provider from the ceased and suspended list cannot rule out a status change within the preceding two weeks.