Now do you see why we are so picky?

I was supposed to be working last night, reviewing debt advice phone calls has to be done in real time and takes ages, headphones on, sober, concentrating. During a break I dipped into twitter and saw yet more of the media flurry around this week’s case where Companies House were ordered to pay substantial compensation after the mis-posting of an insolvency notice led to the failure of an established business.

For those of you not familiar with the case, the error that Companies House made was to place a notice about one company on the record of a company with a single different letter. The company, according to the summaries I have seen, was struggling but viable until that notice triggered bank and supplier problems. Even though the notice was promptly removed, it had already found its way into other online platforms and the company subsequently failed.

I saw people refer to it as “a shocking error”, “an inexcusable mistake” and similar comments and I did rather wonder at how reactions differ depending on how people view something. After all, most of the comments that we have received about Companies House (and that we have made if we are fair about it) have moaned about how picky they are. We and many clients struggle to see why a particular form had to be used, or a notice was returned because of a minor clerical error. I suppose that it sometimes takes an extreme case like this to make us appreciate the care that they usually take.

I am not going to start defending Companies House. The error should not have been made and although the single letter was incorrect, someone should have noted the different registered number. However, I do have a greater respect for the job that they carry out in every other case. The fact that they carry out so many transactions with such precision is to be acknowledged and celebrated.

It also leads to a warning. Every now and again, someone has a gentle nudge at us for being too detailed, or too picky. We always point out that we are being extra careful to try and protect our clients from the unexpected extremes. Cases like this remind us that the extra care and attention to detail is worthwhile, and that even a day late sending a notice, or a letter missed in a document can have a catastrophic knock-on impact. If you ignore us and cut corners or gloss over errors, you will usually suffer no harm and notice no ill effects, but this case reminds us that it can be more significant on some occasions and we probably all need to thank our lucky stars that we were not at Companies House on that day, at that moment, with such an awful result.