Companies Act 2014 section 495

Inspection of documents

Section 495 sets out the requirements for companies involved in a division to make key division documents available for inspection by their members, either at the registered office or on the company's website.

• Each company in the division must make specified documents — including the common draft terms, financial statements, directors' explanatory reports, expert reports and division financial statements — available free of charge for member inspection at its registered office during business hours for at least 30 days before the resolution on the division is voted on
• Where a company has traded for fewer than three financial years, only the financial statements for the years it has traded need be provided; if a newly incorporated company has not yet been required to prepare its first financial statements, that requirement is disregarded entirely
• A company may satisfy these inspection obligations by publishing all the required documents free of charge on its website for a continuous period of at least two months, starting at least 30 days before the general meeting and ending at least 30 days after it, removing the need for physical inspection at the registered office
• If website access is disrupted for a continuous period of at least 24 hours, or for separate periods totalling at least 72 hours, the required publication period is extended by a corresponding amount to compensate for the downtime