Once a year the FCA asks you to confirm the information it holds about your firm is still accurate. Separately, and more importantly, it expects to hear from you whenever something material changes — not twelve months later.
The annual attestation
Every authorised firm confirms annually that its standing data — the details the FCA holds about the firm — remains correct. It is a short exercise. What it is really doing is putting the responsibility on you to notice that something has changed and not been reported.
Treat it as a genuine check rather than a formality. Firms have been caught out attesting that details are correct when they had moved premises months earlier.
What to check
- Registered office and principal place of business
- Trading names — including any you have quietly stopped or started using
- Contact details, especially the address FCA correspondence goes to
- Directors, partners and controllers
- The individual holding the SMF29 limited scope function
- The activities you actually carry on, against the permissions you hold
Changes you notify during the year
The attestation is annual; the duty to notify is not. Material changes are reported when they happen, not saved up. In practice the ones that matter for a small limited permission firm are:
- Moving premises. Both your registered office and your principal place of business, if they differ.
- Changing the person holding SMF29. This needs a Form A for an incoming individual or a Form C when someone ceases to hold the function — not just an update to your records.
- A change in control. If someone acquires or increases a controlling interest in your firm, that is a formal notification with its own regime, and it must happen before the change takes effect.
- Changing your legal structure — incorporating a sole trader business, for example. This often means a fresh application rather than an amendment, because the authorised entity is a different legal person.
- Changing your accounting reference date, which moves your reporting deadlines with it.
The one that catches people out: incorporating. If a sole trader with a permission forms a limited company and moves the business into it, the permission does not travel with it. The company is a different legal person and needs its own authorisation — and the gap between the two is a period of trading without permission.
When a notification isn't enough
Some changes need a variation of permission rather than a notification — most obviously, starting an activity your current permission doesn't cover. A firm with limited permission for credit broking that begins lending its own money has moved outside its permission, and telling the FCA afterwards does not fix that.
If you are unsure which category a change falls into, the safe order is to ask before making the change rather than to report it afterwards.
Why this matters more than it looks
Standing data is how the FCA reaches you. A firm whose registered correspondence address is out of date does not stop receiving obligations — it stops receiving reminders about them. Most of the firms that miss a return deadline and pay the £100 fee were not ignoring the FCA; they simply were not being reached.
Our guide to ongoing obligations after authorisation covers the full annual cycle, including the CCR007 return and the annual invoice.
Frequently asked questions
- What is standing data?
The information the FCA holds about your firm: addresses, trading names, contacts, directors and controllers, the individual holding SMF29, and the activities you carry on.
- How often do I confirm my firm details?
Annually, through an attestation. Material changes are notified when they happen rather than saved for the annual confirmation.
- Do I need to tell the FCA if I move office?
Yes. Both your registered office and your principal place of business, if they differ, form part of your standing data and should be notified when they change.
- What if I incorporate my sole trader business?
The permission does not transfer. A limited company is a different legal person and needs its own authorisation, so this is usually a fresh application rather than an amendment. Plan it so there is no period of trading without permission.
- What is the difference between a notification and a variation of permission?
A notification tells the FCA something has changed within your existing permission. A variation changes the permission itself, and is needed when you start an activity your current permission does not cover.
This guide is general information about FCA regulatory reporting, not regulated advice. Fee and deadline figures are for the 2026/27 FCA fee year as set out in FCA policy statement PS26/14, and we review them each July when the FCA publishes new rates. Your firm remains responsible for its own regulatory obligations. CreditLicence is a trading name of Regetus Ltd.