The Companies Act is being amended by a Statutory Instrument coming into force on 1 October 2009. This will allow company directors to keep their personal details out of the Company Register and their company accounts.

The grounds for them to do this are a risk of serious violence, or intimidation,or for a person living at the address with them. This will allow them to apply to keep addresses etc secret.

There is supposed to be a need to have a genuine risk and not a vague possibility of them being harassed.

This will allow people to hide and keep personal details out of the public eye.

Will the Company Registrar monitor this closely? Will they be allowed to use this without any checks?

It is a dangerous step and I suspect that very many crooked, dodgy, company directors will be grinning at the prospect. Then there are those who should be named and shamed.