Service Address vs Registered Office: Key Differences For Officers And PSCs

Service Address An address shown on the Companies House register for specified company officers or persons with significant control.

This article distinguishes the service address from a company’s registered office and explains the operational, legal and privacy implications for officers and people with significant control. Both addresses appear in Companies House processes but serve different purposes: one identifies a company’s legal address, the other identifies how to contact named individuals associated with the company.

Core Functional Differences

The registered office is the official address of the company — the location to which statutory notices for the company are sent and the address at which legal documents may be served on the company itself. The service address is the official contact address for an individual officer or PSC, not the company as a corporate entity. While the registered office relates to the company record, the service address relates to a person’s record on Companies House.

Public Visibility And Privacy

Both the registered office and service address are shown on the public register. A residential address, by contrast, is often suppressed from public view for safety and privacy reasons and is available only to authorised bodies. The registered office is inherently public — it is the company’s public-facing address — whereas the service address is used when an individual prefers not to list a residential address publicly.

Who Controls Each Address

The company controls its registered office: the board decides and files changes. The service address for an officer or PSC is provided as part of the individual’s appointment or declaration information. In practice, companies often provide the registered office as the service address for officers when individuals want to avoid using a personal address.

• Registered Office: The company’s legal address for statutory notices and corporate filings.
• Service Address: The official contact listed for a named officer or PSC on the public register.
• Residential Address: A private address supplied to Companies House but generally not publicly displayed.

Legal And Practical Consequences

Legal service delivered to the registered office is effective on the company. For an officer or PSC, service made to the recorded service address is treated as official for communications targeted at the individual in that role. Choosing the appropriate address affects how and where legal notices and statutory correspondence are sent and determines who will receive them in practice.

Use-Case Examples

Example 1: A small trading company uses its office address as the registered office. The founder also listed that same office as their service address so the founder does not have their home published.

Example 2: An investor serves as a PSC but lives abroad; the investor provides a UK-based corporate services provider’s address as their service address to ensure UK-based legal notices can be received and handled.

Practical Checklist For Choosing Between Them

• Purpose: Decide whether the address should serve the company (registered office) or an individual (service address).
• Visibility: Accept that both appear publicly; use a commercial address if privacy is a priority.
• Receivability: Ensure chosen addresses can reliably receive statutory mail and legal process.

In short, the Service Address is the person-level contact listed on Companies House for specified officers and PSCs; it differs from the company’s registered office because it identifies where an individual—not the company—should be contacted for statutory and legal correspondence.