Companies Act 2006

[F1 156A Each director to be a natural person U.K.

(1) A person may not be appointed a director of a company unless the person is a natural person.

(2) Subsection (1) does not prohibit the holding of the office of director by a natural person as a corporation sole or otherwise by virtue of an office.

(3) An appointment made in contravention of this section is void.

(4) Nothing in this section affects any liability of a person under any provision of the Companies Acts or any other enactment if the person—

(a) purports to act as director, or

(b) acts as shadow director,

although the person could not, by virtue of this section, be validly appointed as a director.

(5) This section has effect subject to section 156B (power to provide for exceptions from requirement that each director be a natural person).

(6) If a purported appointment is made in contravention of this section, an offence is committed by—

(a) the company purporting to make the appointment,

(b) where the purported appointment is of a body corporate or a firm that is a legal person under the law by which it is governed, that body corporate or firm, and

(c) every officer of a person falling within paragraph (a) or (b) who is in default.

For this purpose a shadow director is treated as an officer of a company.

(7) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction—

(a) in England and Wales, to a fine;

(b) in Scotland or Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Ss. 156A-156C inserted (4.3.2024 for specified purposes) by Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (c. 26), ss. 87(4), 164(1); S.I. 2024/270, reg. 2