How to remove a company secretary at Companies House

Removing a company secretary means notifying Companies House that the secretary's appointment has ended. For many small private companies this is an administrative company-record update rather than a strategic company-law problem, but the filing still needs to match what actually happened.

Private limited companies do not usually have to appoint a company secretary, so this guide focuses on ending an appointment cleanly and keeping the register accurate. It is not a substitute for legal advice where shareholder agreements, constitutional documents or internal disputes complicate the position.

GOV.UK's guidance on directors and company secretaries says changes to those appointments must be reported to Companies House. If the secretary's appointment has ended, the official Companies House TM02 route is the specific filing path for terminating the appointment.

Companies House also says to use the online filing route where available because it is normally quicker than posting paper forms. Use the paper form only when that route is genuinely needed for the circumstances.

Before you submit the update, check the exact date the appointment ended and the name of the secretary as shown on the current company record. A simple mismatch can slow the update down or make the company record look inconsistent.

If other company information is also changing, keep those tasks separate. Ending a secretary appointment is not the same filing step as changing a registered office address or updating a director's details.

Once Companies House processes the change, check the public record and your own internal notes. You want the company record, the filing history and your internal task list to say the same thing.

If the company still has other officer or register updates outstanding, deal with those separately rather than assuming one officer filing corrects everything else.