Why Am I Still on Companies House After Resigning?

You normally remain visible on Companies House after resignation because the register preserves the company’s officer history. The expected update is a change from active to resigned, with a termination date. Your name and former appointment are not normally deleted.

An entry that still says active is a different problem. Check whether the resignation took effect and whether the company submitted an accurate termination notice. A missing, rejected, pending or disputed filing needs evidence and follow-up; normal historic retention does not.

Check Companies House itself first

Search the company’s exact registered name or number on the live Companies House service. Open the officers section and filing history. Note:

• whether your status is active or resigned;
• your appointment date;
• the termination date, if shown;
• any TM01 or other termination entry;
• when the filing was received or registered; and
• the exact personal detail causing concern.

Save dated copies. A Google snippet or commercial profile may be stale, so establish what the source record says before asking for a remedy.

The result should fit one of four categories:

1. Resigned, correct date: normal former-director history.
2. Resigned, wrong date: possible filing error or underlying legal dispute.
3. Still active: possible notice or company-notification problem.
4. No genuine consent: possible misuse of personal details.

Each diagnosis leads to a different next step.

Resigned with the correct date is normal

If the officer page says resigned and gives the legally effective date, Companies House has recorded the end of office. Your name remains because the public register identifies who served and when.

Companies House says officer information stays public throughout the company’s lifetime. That includes resigned officers and officers of dormant companies.

After dissolution, current guidance says company information remains on the public register for 20 years. Companies House is reviewing that period and has paused destruction and transfer during the review. It would therefore be wrong to promise either deletion on resignation or permanent online display under an unchanging rule.

Read the overview of director details on the public register if you need to distinguish ordinary public fields from a particular exposed document.

Active status requires the resignation evidence

Collect:

• the current articles of association;
• your appointment or service agreement;
• the final resignation notice;
• proof that the company received it;
• any acknowledgement; and
• correspondence about the effective date.

The notice may not yet have taken effect, may have gone to the wrong recipient or may be disputed. Alternatively, the office may have ended but the company failed to make an accepted filing.

The guide to resigning as a UK director explains how articles, contracts, notice and delivery interact. TM01 notifies Companies House of a termination; it does not necessarily create the resignation independently or decide a contested date.

Check the company’s 14-day filing duty

Companies Act 2006, section 167G says the company must notify the registrar when a person ceases to be a director. The notice must give the cessation date and be filed within 14 days beginning with that day.

Companies House provides TM01 for ending an individual or corporate director’s appointment. An authorised presenter can use the online service or the applicable paper process.

Ask the company for:

• the cessation date it recorded;
• the submission reference;
• any rejection or query;
• details of a replacement filing; and
• confirmation that the register updated.

A submission receipt can show an attempt rather than acceptance. Always check the live entry yourself.

Follow up when the company has not updated it

Write to the registered office and appropriate officers. Attach the resignation notice and delivery proof, state the effective date you understand to apply, and ask whether the filing was never sent, rejected or submitted with different information.

Contact Companies House through an official channel if the entry remains active. It can explain filing, correction and dispute procedures. Its contact centre may not be able to decide a company-law or contractual disagreement about whether and when the resignation took effect.

Obtain independent legal advice promptly if:

• receipt of notice is denied;
• the articles and contract point to different dates;
• the company says you could not resign;
• someone proposes backdating;
• the company may be insolvent;
• a claim or investigation is underway; or
• authority to file is disputed.

Do not submit a termination in the company’s name without proper authority, and do not choose an end date simply to make the profile look right.

A wrong date and unwanted history are different issues

If the status is resigned but the termination date is wrong, compare the notice terms, delivery evidence, articles, company acknowledgement and submitted form.

Ask the company or presenter to use the appropriate correction process if the filing was erroneous. Where the company and former director disagree about the date, legal advice or a formal resolution may be needed before the public record can accurately reflect the position.

If the date is right but you want the entire appointment removed, the normal historic-record rules apply. A lawful former directorship is not usually deleted because it is inconvenient or appears in a name search.

Companies House states that statutory-register exemptions limit certain UK GDPR erasure and rectification rights. A general “right to be forgotten” request is not a substitute for a filing correction or a specific privacy procedure.

Some personal details have targeted removal routes

Since 21 July 2025, Companies House has allowed document-specific applications for certain personal details. Current categories include:

• an eligible home address used as a service or correspondence address, and some registered-office uses;
• the day of a date of birth on a document filed before 10 October 2015;
• a signature in an eligible filing; and
• a business occupation where it was required.

An application identifies each document, and a fee applies per document. Conditions may require a replacement address or a prior change to a current registered office. The process does not normally remove the director’s name or appointment dates.

Read the guide to service and residential addresses for address-specific limits, then follow the current official instructions for the exact document.

Serious-risk protection does not erase service history

A director may apply to restrict disclosure of their home address to credit reference agencies if they, or someone living with them, face a serious risk of violence or intimidation because of company activities. Specified public authorities can still request it.

Broader protection of all public PSC details is available only to qualifying people with significant control. It is not a general former-director anonymity route.

An unwanted search result does not itself satisfy the serious-risk test. If there is an immediate threat, contact the police or appropriate emergency service; a register application is not emergency safeguarding.

If you never consented, report the misuse

If you never agreed to the appointment, do not create a false ordinary-resignation history. Companies House provides an official process for reporting a company that used your personal details without permission.

Preserve:

• the company number and officer page;
• relevant filing images;
• messages or documents about the supposed appointment;
• evidence that you did not consent; and
• records of reports and responses.

Use trusted official contact details, not links sent by a suspected fraudster. Consider independent legal advice and the appropriate fraud-reporting route. Do not sign a backdated resignation merely to make the record appear routine.

Search engines and third parties can lag

If Companies House correctly says resigned but another site says active:

1. Save both URLs and note the date.
2. Compare the status and termination date.
3. Ask the third-party operator to update its copy.
4. Use an available search-engine refresh process where appropriate.
5. Keep requests and responses.

Companies House cannot control information already copied by other organisations. A source correction or privacy application does not guarantee an immediate change across every database.

Earlier responsibility remains

Resignation does not remove responsibility for acts or omissions while in office. Claims, guarantees, investigations and lawful record-preservation duties may continue. Aspects of statutory duties concerning company information, opportunities and benefits can also survive departure.

That is one reason the register displays a service period rather than pretending the appointment never occurred. A corrected status is not a release from earlier responsibility.

Two illustrative outcomes

Correct source, stale copy: Elise’s Companies House page says resigned with the right date. A commercial profile still says active. Elise should contact that operator; deleting accurate Companies House history is not the correct route.

Termination not filed: Martin has an acknowledged notice and supportable effective date, but no termination appears after the statutory period. Martin should follow up formally, contact Companies House and seek advice if the company disputes the evidence.

These are illustrative examples, not actual cases or legal determinations.

Match the action to the record

• Resigned, correct date: expect the history to remain; address only a specific incorrect or exposed detail.
• Resigned, wrong date: collect evidence and pursue the applicable correction, with advice if disputed.
• Still active: check notice effectiveness, then investigate the company’s filing.
• Never consented: use the personal-details misuse route.
• Correct source, stale copy: contact the third-party controller or search engine.

Keep your notice, delivery proof, company correspondence and dated register copies together. If the effective date or filing authority is contested, take that evidence to an independent UK company solicitor rather than relying on a promise that the record will disappear.