Companies House to close two ageing online portals in push to make web services more accessible
Companies House has confirmed that it will close two of its online web portals, with a view to focusing on its main web service.
In a statement, Companies House said it would be closing its Companies House Direct (CHD) and WebCHeck services, as it urged users to use its Find and update company information service instead.
Companies House noted that CHD has already replaced most of the functions that the other legacy services previously fulfilled.
The decision comes after Companies House said in a blog posted on its website from 2020 that “Companies House Direct (CHD) and WebCHeck are, by modern standards, fossils,” as it argued that “accessibility standards have moved on.”
In its blog, Companies House said trying to fix those services would be a “mammoth undertaking” as it said it instead planned to replace “ageing systems” with newer ones, as part of a five-year strategy.
The decision comes after the government put in place new accessibility regulations, requiring public sector organisations to make sure their website and mobile apps meet minimum accessibility requirements.
A Companies House spokesperson said: “We announced the closure of CHD and WebCHeck in October 2020 as they are dated services that no longer fit current standards and accessibility requirements.”
“The closure of CHD and WebCHeck is to avoid the inefficiencies of running multiple historic services that are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. We recognise that customers may need time to switch to the new service and we have been liaising closely with them to ensure the new service satisfies their needs.”