The situation changed in 2006.

In 2006, the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland enacted the Companies Act. This act produced many changes to rules regarding company formation in the United Kingdom. One of these changes was that private companies did not need to appoint secretaries as a matter of form. If a company still wanted to appoint a secretary, however, they could.

All that is needed then, once company formation is complete, is a sole director. People who are not aware of this change in the law brought about by the Companies Act are routinely quite surprised. After all, having a secretary was one of the most obvious aspects to the entire process for so many years. However, the law is now clear: there is no need of appointing a secretary, should they not wish to.

The role is typically an administrative one. Their responsibilities and job obligations are by no means set in stone or explicitly described by law; however, there are some general aspects to the role of Company Secretary that are usually present in all types of companies.

The following is a general overview of the different areas and duties:

•The person within a company who goes about setting up the registered office. This is a very important part of the formation process, as the official registered business address must appear on all correspondence. The address must also appear on various documents and stationary.

•Once the company formation process is complete, the company has the need for regular meetings with its officers and other interested parties. The Company Secretary is the person who sets up these meetings, making sure that everyone is aware of when and where they  Company Secretary are going to take place. Making sure that everyone attends is important, since these meetings are usually called to discuss the general direction the company is going to take. The Company Secretary also keeps detailed records of the proceedings for future reference.

•The relationship between any company and Companies House is of critical importance. The Company Secretary usually acts as the official liaison between the company and the Companies House. He or she handles all of the important correspondence that occurs between the two entities. The Company Secretary is, for instance, responsible for the timely submission of annual returns and annual accounts. Additionally, the secretary takes care of notifying Companies House in the event of changes to directorship or to the registered office or share structure.