SECR deadlines · filing
SECR deadlines: when SECR reports are due
The SECR deadline is not SECR’s: the disclosures sit inside the directors’ report, so they are due when the accounts are, under section 442 of the Companies Act 2006.
That is nine months after the year end for a private company or an LLP, and six for a public company.
Companies House applies it to the exact day, and a weekend does not move it.
The one thing to get straight first
SECR has no deadline of its own
There is no SECR form, no SECR portal, and nobody at Companies House processes a “SECR filing”.
SECR is not a separate filing: it sits inside the directors’ report, which forms part of a company’s annual accounts and reports.
Section 441 sets the duty to deliver the accounts and reports, and section 442 sets the period, so the deadline comes from company law and not from SECR’s own 2018 regulations.
A large LLP delivers its energy and carbon report with its accounts, and regulation 17 of SI 2008/1911 gives it nine months.
Public companies get six months under section 442(2)(b); the period follows the company’s type, private or public, not its SECR population.
The disclosure obligation itself, rather than its timing, is set out on SECR reporting, and whether it applies to you at all on SECR thresholds.
Worked dates
SECR deadlines for common year ends
| Year end (accounting reference date) | Private company or LLP — 9 months | Public company — 6 months |
|---|---|---|
| 31 December 2025 | 30 September 2026 | 30 June 2026 |
| 31 March 2026 | 31 December 2026 | 30 September 2026 |
| 4 April 2026 | 4 January 2027 | 4 October 2026 |
| 30 April 2026 | 31 January 2027 | 31 October 2026 |
| 30 June 2026 | 31 March 2027 | 31 December 2026 |
| 30 September 2026 | 30 June 2027 | 31 March 2027 |
| 31 December 2026 | 30 September 2027 | 30 June 2027 |
A 31 December 2025 year end gave a private company until 30 September 2026.
A 4 April year end is not a month end, so the deadline is the corresponding date: 4 January for a private company, 4 October for a public one.
A 30 April year end is a month end, so it runs to the last day of the target month: 31 January, not 30 January.
Work it out
Private and public companies land on different dates
Pick your entity type and your accounting reference date.
The arithmetic follows section 443: the period ends on the date in the target month that corresponds to the year end.
If the year end is the last day of a month, the period ends on the last day of the target month, whether or not that is the corresponding date.
If the year end is the 29th or 30th and the target month is February, the period ends on the last day of February.
Companies House states the weekend rule without qualification in its late filing penalties guidance: “It does not matter if your filing deadline expires on a Sunday or Bank Holiday - you must still file your accounts by this date.”
What matters is the date acceptable accounts arrive at Companies House, not the date you send them.
Deadline calculator · CA 2006 ss.442–443
Accounts, with the SECR disclosures, due by
Computed as 9 months after the accounting reference date, running month end to month end.
Companies Act 2006 s.442(2)–(3) and s.443; LLPs under SI 2008/1911 reg 17. Does not apply a shortened period (s.442(4)) or an extension (s.442(5)).
The exceptions
First accounts, shortened years and extensions
| Situation | Deadline | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| First accounts, first period over twelve months | Nine or six months from the first anniversary of incorporation, or three months after the period ends — whichever expires last | CA 2006 s.442(3) |
| Accounting reference period shortened | The normal period, or three months from the date of the notice, whichever expires last | CA 2006 s.442(4), s.392 |
| Extension granted | As extended — never beyond twelve months after the period ends | CA 2006 s.442(5)–(5A) |
The nine- and six-month rule assumes a normal, roughly annual accounting period.
A company’s first accounts, where the first period runs over twelve months, are due at whichever of two dates expires last.
Shortening the accounting reference period under section 392 can bring the deadline forward, but never inside three months from the notice.
The Secretary of State may extend the period for a special reason, but the extension can never run past twelve months after the period ends.
There is no separate SECR extension, and no separate SECR penalty.
Once your deadline is confirmed, SECR reporting covers what the section itself has to contain.
When it is late
The penalty is the accounts penalty
SECR carries no penalty regime of its own.
Late filing of the SECR-bearing accounts triggers the ordinary section 453 civil penalty on the company, with the bands set by regulation 4(2) of SI 2008/497.
The bands rise steeply, and they are set separately for private and public companies.
Companies House says the penalty “will be doubled if accounts are filed late in 2 successive financial years”, for years beginning on or after 6 April 2008.
So a private company’s worst single-year penalty of £1,500 becomes £3,000 if it was also late the year before.
That is a different thing from the section 419 offence, which a director commits by approving a directors’ report that does not comply, knowing or reckless, without taking reasonable steps.
A company can file a compliant SECR report late, or an on-time report that does not comply: different provision, different liable party, different kind of penalty.
How the non-compliance side is enforced is on SECR enforcement.
A late filing shows on the public record at Companies House, for anyone who looks.
Persistent default in filing obligations can support a disqualification order under section 3 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, for up to five years.
| How late | Private company or LLP | Public company |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1 month | £150 | £750 |
| 1 to 3 months | £375 | £1,500 |
| 3 to 6 months | £750 | £3,000 |
| More than 6 months | £1,500 | £7,500 |
Planning backwards
Work back from the deadline, not forward from the year end
Our indicative suggestion for a first report — not a regulator’s timetable: allow at least six months before the filing deadline, and more across many sites.
Before the year end
Confirm scope against the current Schedule 7 figures; set up monthly energy data collection; choose the methodology.
Year end to month three
Complete the energy data; calculate emissions with the right year’s conversion factors; draft the energy efficiency narrative.
Months three to six
Build the intensity ratio and comparatives; embed the section in the directors’ report; management review.
Before filing
Board approval and signature of the directors’ report; file the accounts, with SECR inside them, before the deadline.
First-time reporters have no prior-year comparative to give in the first year, but should build the data so that one exists for the second.
A group needs to decide early which entities are in scope and whether subsidiaries will be covered by a group report.
The step-by-step method is on SECR guidance.
What is and is not changing
Filing changes in 2028; the periods stay in statute
SECR itself began with SI 2018/1155, in force on 1 April 2019 for financial years beginning on or after that date.
Companies House announced on 9 June 2026 that from April 2028 all accounts must be filed as iXBRL through commercial software.
The same announcement removes abridged accounts, requires the parts of the accounts and reports to be filed together, and reduces how often a company can shorten its accounting reference period.
Those are changes to how and what is filed; the nine- and six-month periods are in section 442 itself.
The government’s modernising corporate reporting consultation, open until 30 November 2026, proposes abolishing the directors’ report, which would move where SECR disclosures sit — a proposal, not law.
For listed companies, the FCA’s final rules (PS26/19) require reporting against UK SRS on a comply-or-explain basis for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, with first reporting in 2028.
That finalises CP26/5, and it sits beside SECR: a quoted company’s SECR deadline is unchanged.
The complete picture — thresholds, disclosures, and how SECR sits alongside UK SRS — is in the complete SECR guide.
Our sister reference, uksrs.org.uk, covers the UK SRS side, and keeps its own SECR overview and SECR requirements page.
Frequently asked
Questions people ask
When is the SECR deadline in 2026?
SECR has no deadline of its own. The disclosures sit in the directors’ report (for an LLP, the energy and carbon report), which is filed with the annual accounts, so the SECR deadline is the accounts filing deadline: nine months after the year end for a private company or an LLP and six months for a public company. A 31 December 2025 year end gave a private company until 30 September 2026 and a public company until 30 June 2026.
When are SECR reports due?
With the annual accounts, at Companies House, by the filing deadline in section 442 of the Companies Act 2006. For a 31 March 2026 year end that is 31 December 2026 for a private company or LLP and 30 September 2026 for a public company.
Does the SECR deadline move if it falls on a weekend or bank holiday?
No. Companies House says: "It does not matter if your filing deadline expires on a Sunday or Bank Holiday - you must still file your accounts by this date." The deadline is met by accounts that arrive by that date, not by accounts posted by it.
What is the penalty for filing SECR late?
There is no separate SECR penalty. Late accounts attract the ordinary civil penalty under section 453 of the Companies Act 2006: £150, £375, £750 or £1,500 for a private company or LLP and £750, £1,500, £3,000 or £7,500 for a public company, rising with lateness, and doubled if the accounts were also filed late the previous year.
How is a month-end year end calculated?
Month end to month end. Under section 443, where the year ends on the last day of a month the period ends on the last day of the target month, so a 30 April year end gives a private company until 31 January, not 30 January.
When is the deadline for a company’s first accounts?
Where the first accounting reference period runs over twelve months, section 442(3) gives nine months (private) or six months (public) from the first anniversary of incorporation, or three months after the period ends, whichever expires last.
Can the SECR deadline be extended?
Only as part of the accounts deadline. The Secretary of State may extend the filing period for a special reason, by notice, but never to more than twelve months after the end of the accounting reference period. SECR has no extension of its own.
Do LLPs have the same SECR deadline?
Yes, nine months. Regulation 17 of SI 2008/1911 applies section 442 to LLPs as "nine months after the end of the relevant accounting reference period", and the energy and carbon report is delivered with the accounts.
When did SECR start?
SI 2018/1155 came into force on 1 April 2019 and applies to financial years beginning on or after that date, so the first SECR reports covered years starting from April 2019.
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner. Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 441 — duty to file accounts and reports
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 442 — period allowed for filing accounts
s.442(2) nine and six months; (3) first accounts; (4) shortened periods; (5) extensions.
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 443 — calculation of period allowed
Month end to month end; the 29th and 30th into February.
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 392 — alteration of accounting reference date
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 453 — civil penalty for failure to file accounts and reports
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/497, regulation 4(2) — the late filing penalty bands
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 419 — the directors’ report offence
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/1911, regulation 17 — LLP filing (modified ss.441–444)
Nine months for LLPs.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2018/1155 — in force 1 April 2019
- legislation.gov.ukCompany Directors Disqualification Act 1986, section 3 — persistent default
Three defaults in five years is conclusive; maximum five years.
- Companies HouseLate filing penalties (updated 16 January 2026)
The penalty table, the doubling rule and the weekend statement.
- Companies HouseLate filing penalties — the same guidance at a second GOV.UK address
- Companies HouseCompanies House to bring in changes to accounts filing from April 2028 (9 June 2026)
- Department for Business, Innovation, Science and TradeModernising corporate reporting — consultation (7 September 2026)
¶149: SECR disclosures would move with the directors’ report; a proposal only.
- Financial Conduct AuthorityPS26/19 — UK SRS for listed companies, comply-or-explain from 2027
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S1 and UK SRS S2 (25 February 2026)