# Simplif-i vs. Inform Direct: Companies House Handshake vs. Static Admin **Category:** COMPANY-SECRETARIAL **Author:** John Hotham **Published:** 2026-05-26 **Read Time:** 8 min read ## Summary Inform Direct files your forms. Simplif-i connects your corporate governance to your risk register, your contracts, and your board calendar. One is a filing cabinet. The other is a nervous system. ## Full Content ## What Is a Companies House Handshake? **Definition:** A **Companies House Handshake** is a live, bidirectional connection between your corporate governance platform and Companies House that ensures statutory data flows in real time, filings are triggered by governance events (not calendar reminders), and your corporate register is always current without manual intervention. **Static admin**, by contrast, is the traditional model where a company secretary (or their software) manually initiates filings based on reminders, updates registers after the fact, and treats Companies House as a destination rather than a live partner. The difference matters more in 2026 than ever before. ECCTA identity verification is live. Software-only filing is coming (April 2027). Companies House has enhanced powers to query, reject, and annotate filings. Static admin is becoming a compliance risk in itself. ![Companies House Handshake vs Static Admin](https://static.prod-images.emergentagent.com/jobs/26992fe9-5faf-46a6-964a-18031c56d2c1/images/e8ecea5173d6e415d816774ca290752fe398357fefcaa7d7c5c624a9128b9cfb.png) ## Why Is Inform Direct a Static Admin Tool? Inform Direct is well built for what it does. Statutory registers, pre-populated forms, electronic filing where Companies House permits it, document storage. For a small practice filing confirmation statements and managing simple company structures, it works. But it is static. It does not know about your risk register. It does not know which directors sit on project steering committees. It does not connect filing deadlines to board agendas. It does not route governance signals to your compliance framework. Inform Direct treats company secretarial as an administrative function. File forms. Update registers. Store documents. That was sufficient when Companies House was a passive registry. It is not sufficient when Companies House has become an active regulator. ## What Does Simplif-i Do Differently? Simplif-i treats company secretarial as a governance function connected to everything else. Director appointments route into project governance (who sits on which steering committee). PSC changes connect to your risk register (has the control structure changed in a way that affects obligations?). Filing deadlines appear in the board calendar alongside audit dates and contract renewals. When ECCTA identity verification requirements land, they do not arrive as a separate admin task. They appear within the governance workflow that already manages your director appointments, your share register, and your compliance posture. ## Simplif-i vs. The Field: CoSec Comparison Table | Dimension | Simplif-i (Companies House Handshake) | Inform Direct (Static Admin) | |---|---|---| | Core philosophy | Corporate governance connected to operational governance | Statutory administration with electronic filing | | Companies House integration | Live handshake. Filings triggered by governance events | Electronic filing for permitted forms. Manual initiation | | Risk register connection | Native. PSC changes and structural events route to risk | None. Separate system entirely | | Board calendar integration | Native. Filing deadlines sit alongside audit and contract dates | None. Separate calendar management | | Director governance | Connected to project steering, compliance roles, and obligations | Static register. Names and dates only | | ECCTA readiness | Built into governance workflow. Identity verification is a governance event | Supports filing compliance. Identity verification is admin task | | Multi-entity support | Portfolio view across group structures with cross-entity governance | Supports companies, LLPs, and guarantees. Entity-by-entity | | Contract connection | Native. Change of control clauses trigger when structure changes | None. Contract management is a separate world | | PMO connection | Native. Director changes reflect in project governance | None. PMO is a separate discipline | | Pricing | £149/month (Founding Member, all modules included) | From circa £33/year per company (small practice pricing) | | Target user | COO, CFO, Company Secretary who needs governance visibility | Accountancy practices and business owners managing statutory compliance | | Audit trail | Immutable, cross-module, compliance-grade | Activity log for filing history | ## What Changes Under ECCTA? The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act fundamentally changes the relationship between companies and Companies House. Identity verification for directors and PSCs is live. The failure to prevent fraud offence creates board-level liability. Filing integrity requirements will tighten further as software-only filing becomes mandatory from April 2027. In this environment, treating CoSec as static admin is a governance gap. You need to know that your director appointments are verified, your PSC register is accurate, your filing deadlines are met, and your structural changes are reflected across your entire compliance and contract portfolio. Inform Direct can file the forms. But it cannot tell you whether the structural change you just filed has triggered a change of control clause in your largest contract, or whether the new director needs to be added to a project steering committee with compliance obligations. ## What Are the Signs of Static Admin CoSec? 1. Your company secretary does not know which contracts contain change of control clauses. 2. A director appointment was filed but the project governance structure was not updated for three months. 3. Your confirmation statement was filed on time but your PSC register has not been reviewed since last year. 4. You have no visibility on ECCTA identity verification status across your directors. 5. Your filing deadlines live in a separate calendar from your board meetings and audit dates. If CoSec exists as a standalone admin function, disconnected from your commercial governance, you have static admin. In 2026, that is a risk. ## The Verdict Inform Direct is a good tool for its category. Small practices managing simple statutory compliance will find it useful and affordable. If you need corporate governance connected to your risk register, your contracts, your projects, and your board, you need a handshake with Companies House that flows into everything else. You need Simplif-i. Founding Member access: **£149 per month**. Company secretarial connected to your entire operational stack. [Start your free trial](https://simplif-i.com/signup) | [View Founding Member pricing](https://simplif-i.com/pricing) --- --- Source: https://simplif-i.com/api/blog/readable/company-secretarial/simplif-i-vs-inform-direct-companies-house-handshake-vs-static-admin-2026 Web Version: https://simplif-i.com/blog/company-secretarial/simplif-i-vs-inform-direct-companies-house-handshake-vs-static-admin-2026 © Simplif-i - Unified Business Management Platform