What is a company virtual office? Virtual offices in England

The costs of renting office space can be overwhelming, especially for a business in a phase of rapid growth. As an owner or manager, you would rather put your money into growing the company than into rent, and that is completely understandable. You will no doubt be pleased to hear that a virtual office may be the answer to your wishes. What is a virtual office, and how do you set one up in the United Kingdom? Let’s take a look.

Summary & key takeaways

Every Ltd company must have a registered office address in the United Kingdom.
A virtual office gives your company a physical address without renting office space.
A basic virtual office package in England costs around a hundred pounds a year.
Packages include mail handling and scanning and access to a meeting room.
It suits businesses run remotely that do not need a regular office presence.

The rules on having an office

UK law requires every Ltd company to have a correspondence or registered office address in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, a PO box cannot be used for this purpose. A company with an address also automatically becomes a British tax resident, which means an opportunity to optimise the costs of running the business. Everyone setting up a business in the UK needs an address when registering with Companies House. You can of course give your home address, but if you do not live in the United Kingdom, things become considerably more complicated. In that case, it is worth considering the highly economical option of a virtual office.

What is a virtual office?

The virtual office is something of a newcomer to the office market and works mainly on the principle of outsourcing a company’s office support without the need for a physical presence in the workplace. The provider of this kind of service gives you a physical office address that you can use in your registration documents. Virtual offices can now be found all over the world, including in the British Isles. What may surprise you even more is that these days, beyond simply providing an address, by using a virtual office you can count on comprehensive office support for your business.

What can you expect when renting a virtual office?

What you get when you rent a virtual office in the UK depends on the package you decide to buy. A virtual office in England costs around a hundred pounds a year for the basic package. When you buy this kind of service, you can usually count on receiving:

a correspondence address for the Ltd company,
a correspondence address for the company’s directors,
access to a conference room,
collection of correspondence, plus scanning and forwarding it by email or traditional post.

A virtual office - who is it for?

A virtual office is the perfect solution for people running a business that does not require a regular presence in an office. Virtual offices are most often used by IT professionals, startup owners, people in the broadly defined creative industries, and those who work remotely on a daily basis. Such an office also comes in handy when running a company from a distance.

The advantages and disadvantages of a virtual office

Like every form of office support on the market, the virtual office has both drawbacks and advantages. A Ltd company in England can count on a whole range of benefits from using a virtual office. These include:

the convenience and flexibility of this solution,
a reasonable price, meaning the chance to reduce the company’s fixed costs,
handling of post, including correspondence with official bodies,
document archiving,
handling of official inspections (not all virtual office providers include this service),
the ability to register the company at a prestigious location, raising the company’s credibility and appeal.

As you can see, there are quite a few advantages, but virtual offices also have a few drawbacks. It is certainly not a solution for people who need to show up at an office fairly regularly. A virtual office will also not work when, for example, you need quick access to your post, or when you cannot plan board meetings in advance.

Virtual offices in the UK

The United Kingdom is quite a popular place to do business in Europe. Despite Brexit, more and more entrepreneurs are choosing to run their businesses in the United Kingdom. When relocating or setting up a company there, business owners often use the services of experienced advisory firms that help not only with registration but also with running the business in the UK. Such firms will often arrange a virtual office as well. With one intermediary, you can therefore deal with all your problems and organisational matters at once.

Virtual offices are a chance to take some of the load off owners and employees when it comes to the formalities of running a business. They can also become a source of savings, letting you avoid the costs of renting an office and hiring additional staff. So if you are planning to set up a company in the United Kingdom or move your business there, be sure to consider the virtual office option.

Looking for an address for your company, or perhaps you already run a Ltd company in the United Kingdom but are thinking about changing its address? Get in touch with a PolAccount adviser. We will be happy to walk you through the options and help with the formalities of setting up a virtual registered office.