From 1 April 2028 every UK company files through software in iXBRL — and small and micro entities lose the option to withhold a profit and loss account.
The date moved a year and the scope grew. This stopped being a filing-route problem and became a disclosure one.
Who it binds
- Every company registered in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. No size exemption. Dormant companies included.
- Small companies and micro-entities must file a profit and loss account. Abridged accounts are abolished. Small and micro entities may opt out of public disclosure of the P&L; the mechanism is to be confirmed.
- Directors claiming audit exemption must state which exemption is claimed and confirm the company qualifies for it.
- Report and accounts components must be filed together. Removal of the directors' report requirement is expected; medium and large companies retain the strategic report.
- Restrictions on shortening an accounting reference period, to follow by secondary legislation.
What it actually demands
- Accounts production software capable of filing to Companies House in iXBRL, for every entity in the group.
- Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.
Two things. Groups plan this for the trading entities and forget the shells — a dormant subsidiary with no accounting system, no software licence and no owner is the one that misses the deadline, and late filing penalties are per company. And the date is still widely quoted as April 2027. It moved to 1 April 2028 by written ministerial statement (HCWS94, 9 June 2026), after the April 2027 implementation was dropped earlier in the year, with a commitment to at least 21 months' notice before any further change.
What it means for the estate
Small enough to be a workstream rather than a project — but it needs an owner and an entity list, and the entity list is usually less complete than anyone expects.
The disclosure change is the part that warrants a board conversation. Filing a profit and loss account for every small subsidiary puts entity-level margin into the public record for the first time, and where that is commercially sensitive the remedy is structural rather than technical. Two years is enough time to act on it; three months is not.
Worth sequencing with any group-structure or consolidation work rather than running it standalone.
Caveat
The iXBRL requirement was flagged here as unverified until June 2026. It is now confirmed on the government's Changes to UK Company Law site, and the caveat has been withdrawn. This change arrived by ministerial statement rather than an edit to the previously cited guidance page — the campaign site below is the canonical tracker for ECCTA-derived changes.
Run the exposure check — three minutes, free, and it will tell you which of the other 11 dates catch you as well and in what order they have to be done. Sequencing is most of the cost on these programmes.