Business surface intelligence for UK companies
What a UK limited company must put in its website footer
A UK limited company's website must show four things by law: its registered name, the part of the UK it is registered in, its registered number and its registered office address. If it sells or offers anything online, it must also make available a geographic address, an email address and, if VAT registered, its VAT number. Everything else people put in a footer is either required by a different law for a different reason, or is convention.
Key facts
- Registered name on every website (Names and Trading Disclosures Regulations 2015, regulation 24(2)).
- Place of registration, registered number and registered office on websites (regulation 25).
- Readable with the naked eye (regulation 20).
- Online businesses: name, geographic address, email, register and registration number, VAT number if applicable, and prices shown clearly with tax and delivery indicated (E-Commerce Regulations 2002, regulation 6).
- Nothing requires directors' names, a phone number, a company logo, a copyright line or a disclaimer on a website.
Required by company law
| Item | Example wording | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Registered name | Example Trading Limited (or Ltd) | Reg 24(2) |
| Part of the UK | Registered in England and Wales | Reg 25(2)(a) |
| Registered number | Company number 01234567 | Reg 25(2)(b) |
| Registered office | Registered office: 1 Example Street, Exampletown, EX1 2MP | Reg 25(2)(c) |
| "A limited company", only if the name is exempt from "limited", or the company is a CIC that is not a plc | Example Foundation is a limited company | Reg 25(2)(d), (e) |
| Paid-up share capital, only if share capital is mentioned | Paid-up share capital £100 | Reg 25(3) |
The registered name is the name on the register. The Act lets a private company's name end with either "Limited" or "Ltd", and "Ltd" for a company registered as "Limited" is accepted in practice. A trading name on its own does not satisfy the rule; put the trading name first if you want, then the registered name.
The registered office is the address on the register, which is often an accountant's or a formation agent's address. The law wants that address, not the one you trade from. Showing both is good practice.
Required for online businesses
The E-Commerce Regulations 2002 apply to any "information society service", which in practice means almost any business website that offers goods or services, takes orders, or is funded by advertising. Regulation 6 requires the provider to make available, in a form that is easily, directly and permanently accessible:
- the name of the service provider;
- the geographic address at which it is established;
- contact details, including an email address, that allow rapid and direct communication;
- where the provider is on a public register, the register and the registration number (for a company, Companies House and the company number);
- where the activity is subject to VAT, the VAT number;
- for regulated professions, the professional body, title and applicable rules.
Regulation 6(2) adds that where prices are shown, they must be clear and say whether they include tax and delivery.
Two consequences follow. A contact form alone does not meet the email requirement; an address is needed. And a sole trader or partnership, which has no company number, still has to show a name and a geographic address on a commercial website under this regulation, even though the Companies Act website rules do not apply to it.
Required by other rules, in some cases
- VAT number. Required on the site by the E-Commerce Regulations if you are VAT registered, and on VAT invoices by the VAT Regulations 1995.
- FCA status. Authorised firms must make the required status disclosure; appointed representatives must say who their principal is. The FCA's rules, not company law.
- Charities. A charitable company whose name does not include "charity" or "charitable" must state that it is a charity on its documents; charity law adds the charity number in practice.
- Privacy notice. Required by UK GDPR when you process personal data; it must be easy to find. Most sites link it from the footer.
- Cookie information. Required under PECR if the site sets non-essential cookies. A site that sets none needs no banner.
Not required, whatever the template says
A copyright line, directors' names, a phone number, "all rights reserved", a disclaimer, a logo, links to social profiles. None is required on a website by UK law. The copyright line is worth keeping for one reason: written as "© 2026 Example Trading Limited" it repeats the registered name in a place readers and software expect to find the operator, which is useful evidence that the site is yours.
A footer that does all of it
Example Trading Limited, registered in England and Wales, company number 01234567. Registered office: 1 Example Street, Exampletown, EX1 2MP. VAT number GB123456789. Email: hello@example.co.uk.
One line, text not image, on every page, readable without zooming. The template page has versions for Scotland and Northern Ireland, LLPs, sole traders, CICs and regulated firms.
How Observes reads this
When Observes attaches a website to a company, the footer is where the evidence usually is: a company number (the strongest kind), or a registered name next to the registered postcode (the next strongest). A footer that carries the number, the registered name exactly as on the register, and the registered office is one that any checker, human or automated, can confirm in seconds. A footer with a trading name and a phone number cannot be confirmed by anyone. How the evidence classes work.
This page is general information about UK company law, not legal advice. The regulations were checked on the date shown below; check legislation.gov.uk for changes after that.
Questions
Does the footer have to be on every page?
The law requires the information 'on its websites' and, for online businesses, 'easily, directly and permanently accessible'. A footer on every page satisfies both without argument; a single legal page can, if it is clearly linked from everywhere, but it is a weaker answer.
Do I need to name the directors?
Not on a website. Regulation 26 applies to business letters: if a letter names any director other than in the text or as a signatory, it must name all of them. There is no equivalent website rule.
Is a privacy notice legally required in the footer?
A privacy notice is required by UK GDPR if you collect personal data, and it must be easy to find, but no rule says it has to be in the footer. The footer is where people look for it, which is reason enough.
What if my registered office is my accountant's address?
Then that is the address the law requires you to show, because it is the registered office. Add your trading address alongside it if you like; it helps people match your site to you.
Make your company easy to verify.
- Put the registered name, company number, place of registration and registered office on every page: the footer template.
- Check the rest of the disclosures against the checklist.
- Keep them matching the register when anything changes.
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Sources
- The Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015, Part 6: regulations 20, 24, 25, 26, 28 and 29
- The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, regulation 6: regulation 6(1) and 6(2)
- Companies Act 2006, section 83: civil consequences
- Companies House: incorporation and names, section 10 (trading disclosures): official guidance