Appointing new company secretary?

[PropertyCrashUK]

Hi,

My partner passed away recently after having been my Company Secretary for 10 years. I am a one man limited company, the sole director and my partner was the Company Secretary.

I now have to appoint a new Company Secretary and I want to know if anyone knows if I can be both the sole Director and the Company Secretary - it has been a long time since I set up my company and I knew back then you had to have two people in a limited company so... any advice, ideas? Btw, I have no other relatives.

Please, no abuse as this is a very raw moment in my life - just constructive comments and advice please.

Thank you.

[milanbenes]

ask an accountant

Milan.

[PRC1964]

As far as I know, you can't be the Company Secretary.

http://www.winters.co.uk/factsheets/company_sec.html

As Milan says, you should get an accountant to confirm this.

[PropertyCrashUK]

Thanks - I dropped an email to my accountant this morning, awaiting his reply but you have pretty much confirmed my suspicions.

[swamp]

Some accountants offer a company secretary service (for a fee).

However, I believe the DTI are planning to abolish the need for a company secretary in the Company Law Reform Bill:

http://www.dti.gov.uk/cld/Comp_Law_Reform_bookmark.pdf

Not sure when this is coming in though, or indeed if it will include the abolition of company secretaries.