The Companies Act 2006 (originally introduced in the House of Lords in November 2005 as the Company Law Reform Bill, original version of 1st November 2005) amounts to a massive re-write of statutory company law - there are 1,300 sections and 16 schedules. Even the explanatory notes to the Companies Act 2006 are 275 pages long.

The general purpose is to amend and restate many of the provisions of the Companies Act 1985 - approximately two-thirds of the 1985 Act is repealed. It also codifies many provisions of case law. It extends company law to the whole of the UK, so that companies will be UK companies rather than GB companies or Northern Ireland companies (Companies Act 2006 s.1284).

In general the Act does not affect employment law. However it contains some employment related provisions, notably in Part 10 (sections 154 to 259), headed "A Company's Directors". Provisions concerning the requirement on directors to have regard to the interests of employees in promoting the success of their company (Companies Act 2006 s.172 (directors duty to promote success) ), on directors' conflicts of interest (notably in Companies Act 2006 s.175 (directors' conflicts of interests) and Director's service contracts (Companies Act 2006 ss.227 to 230 (directors' service contracts) are of special relevance.

There is official a BERR guidance on Directors' Duties under Companies Act 2006, published June 2007 on the BERR (formerly DTI) website. Another useful source of general information is the Companies Act FAQ's section on the Companies House website.

The Government announced in November and December 2007 that the commencement date for most of the provisions due to be commenced on 1st October 2008 would be put back to 1st October 2009. This includes provisions relating to company formation, internal constitution, directors' residential addresses, company names and company share capital .

See also generally notes at Company Directors .