UK letterhead requirements explained

Although the style and design of your company letterhead might be the obvious starting point, there are certain legal requirements outlined by The Companies Act that businesses need to take into consideration when designing and populating a company letterhead. The requirements vary depending on what type of business you have.

Information required for different types of companies

The information below will need to be included on your company letterhead, and in addition to this, you will need to include it on all order forms and on your website too.

Sole Trader

• The name of your business.
• Your own name if it is different to the name of your business.
• Your business’ registered address.

Partnership

• The name of your business.
• The names of all partners.
• A principle office address.
• If there are a lot of partners to list, you can instead state where the reader can go to find a full list.

Limited Company

• The name of your limited company.
• Your company registration number.
• Where your company is registered (England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland).
• Your company’s registered office address.

If your limited company is exempt from using the term ‘limited’ in its title, your letterhead will need to state that the company is in fact limited. This information also applies to community interest companies as well as charitable companies; if the name of the company does not include the words ‘charity’ or ‘charitable,’ then this must be noted in the letterhead.

Other things to consider

For all companies, there are other general requirements you might need to consider when looking at what to include in your business letterhead.

It is worth researching whether there are specific requirements for the industry you work in; for example, if your business is an investment company, you will need to state this fact, and if your company has chosen to make visible its share capital, the letterhead must include the paid up share capital.

It is also worth noting that the naming of all directors of a business on the letterhead is not required, but if you do name directors, you must name all of them. You might also consider displaying information about your business’ membership of a sector body as well as details about its level of membership if you think this is relevant or necessary.

Aside from the legal requirements, there is other information that it is worth including in your letterhead. This includes things like a logo, website address, contact telephone number, email address and your VAT number (if applicable). You might also want to include handles for your social media accounts and a short description of the business if it is not clear from the name.

The above information provides a starting point for populating your company’s letterhead. Before you begin, it is a good idea to conduct some research into what is specifically required for your type of business, and what might be useful additional information depending on the sector your business sits within.