How to Get Company Information Free from Companies House: Complete UK Search Guide
Updated 17.09.2025
For anyone conducting business in the United Kingdom, the ability to obtain accurate, up-to-date company information is not simply a convenience — it is a cornerstone of transparency, due diligence, and informed decision-making.
The UK’s official registrar, Companies House, maintains one of the most accessible corporate databases in the world, offering the public a remarkable depth of data at no cost.
Whether you are an investor assessing a potential acquisition, a supplier considering a new contract, a compliance officer performing know-your-customer (KYC) checks, or an individual curious about a business’s history, Companies House provides a way to search company records quickly and without charge. From company registration numbers and registered office addresses to directors’ histories, mortgage charge data, insolvency records, and previous company names, the service is an essential tool for professionals and the public alike.
This guide offers a comprehensive, step-by-step overview of what information you can access for free, how to use Companies House’s search and alert tools, and how to make the most of the data — while understanding its limitations.
Table of Contents
The Types of Free Information You Can Access
Registered Office Address and Incorporation Date
Company Number and Status
Current and Resigned Officers
Persons with Significant Control
Document Images and Filing History
Mortgage Charges and Secured Loans
Previous Company Names and Rebranding History
Insolvency Records
1) Why Search Companies House?
In a business environment where trust is essential, the ability to verify company details is invaluable.
Companies House serves as the official register for all UK companies — including private limited companies (Ltd), public limited companies (PLC), limited liability partnerships (LLPs), and certain overseas companies with a UK presence.
A Companies House search can help you:
Confirm a business exists and is legally registered.
Check if a company is active, dormant, or dissolved.
Review a company’s filing history and compliance record.
Identify current and past directors and company secretaries.
Investigate possible financial risks, such as outstanding charges or insolvency proceedings.
Unlike many jurisdictions, the UK provides this information free of charge, making it a powerful tool for due diligence, risk assessment, and market research.
2) The Types of Free Information You Can Access
When you search for a company in the UK using Companies House, you will find a range of details available at no cost. These can be grouped into several categories.
Registered Office Address and Incorporation Date
The registered office address is the official legal address for the company — where statutory documents must be sent. You will also see the date of incorporation, which indicates how long the company has been established.
Company Number and Status
Every UK company is assigned a unique company registration number. Alongside this, Companies House lists the company’s current status — active, dormant, dissolved, or in liquidation.
Current and Resigned Officers
The register provides the names of current directors, company secretaries, and sometimes designated LLP members. Resigned officers are also listed, allowing you to build a picture of a company’s leadership history.
Persons with Significant Control (PSC)
A PSC is an individual or entity that owns or controls more than 25% of a company’s shares or voting rights, or otherwise has significant influence. PSC details are searchable and include name, nationality, and the nature of their control.
Document Images and Filing History
Companies House scans and publishes most filings as PDFs. These can include:
Incorporation documents
Confirmation statements
Annual accounts
Director appointments and resignations
Changes to share capital
Mortgage Charges and Secured Loans
If a company has secured borrowing against its assets, these are recorded as charges. You can see details such as the lender’s name, the date of creation, and whether the charge is satisfied.
Previous Company Names and Rebranding History
Companies that have changed names will have a record of all past names and the dates of each change. This is especially useful for identifying rebranding or tracing corporate lineage.
Insolvency Records
If a company has entered liquidation, administration, or another insolvency process, this is shown in its filing history.
3) How to Search for a Company
To find a company, use the “Find and update company information” tool on the Companies House website:
Enter the company name or registration number.
Select the correct entry from the search results.
Browse through the tabs for overview, filing history, people, charges, and insolvency.
Advanced search features allow filtering by company type, location, and status.
4) Searching for Directors and Officers
Companies House is not just a register of corporate entities; it is also a detailed record of the individuals who run them. This makes it an invaluable resource for tracing a director’s career history, identifying connections between businesses, and assessing the calibre of a company’s leadership.
When you search for a company, the “People” section will display the names of current directors and company secretaries, alongside their month and year of birth, nationality, and the date they were appointed. Resigned directors are also listed, providing historical context and allowing you to see patterns of turnover or continuity in leadership.
You can also perform an officer search by entering an individual’s name into the database. This is particularly useful if you wish to see whether a person holds directorships in multiple companies, or if they have a track record of involvement in dissolved or insolvent businesses. For journalists, compliance officers, and investors alike, such insights can inform both risk assessments and deeper investigative work.
Importantly, officer search results can also reveal potential conflicts of interest or interconnected company structures, particularly when the same individuals appear repeatedly across related entities. In regulated industries, this level of transparency is critical for understanding beneficial ownership and corporate control.
5) Setting Up Free Email Alerts
One of the most underused but powerful features of Companies House is its free email alert system. By creating a user account and “following” a company, you can receive notifications every time it updates its records. This is a low-effort way to keep track of important changes without having to manually check the register.
Alerts can be triggered by events such as:
A change in registered office address.
The appointment or resignation of a director.
The filing of annual accounts or confirmation statements.
Updates to the company’s legal status — for example, moving from active to dissolved, or entering administration.
For professionals overseeing large supplier networks, lenders monitoring borrowers, or investors keeping an eye on portfolio companies, these notifications provide a real-time view of corporate developments. In competitive markets, the ability to spot a competitor’s structural change or expansion plans as soon as they are officially recorded can offer a significant informational edge.
Even for smaller businesses and sole traders, following your own company and that of key partners can act as a safeguard against errors in the public record. Prompt awareness of incorrect filings means they can be addressed before they cause reputational or legal issues.
6) Using Companies House Data for Due Diligence
Due diligence is a process that thrives on facts, and Companies House is a primary source of such facts in the UK corporate landscape. Whether you are considering an investment, entering into a contract, or assessing a potential client, the register can help answer fundamental questions about legitimacy, stability, and risk.
For example, before signing a contract with a new supplier, a company might check the supplier’s filing history to see whether its accounts are consistently submitted on time. Late filings, while not always a sign of distress, can indicate administrative weakness or financial pressure. Similarly, a review of mortgage charges may reveal whether the business has significant debts secured against its assets.
In mergers and acquisitions, the register can be used to verify ownership structures, ensuring that those claiming to represent a company are indeed authorised to do so. It can also highlight historical name changes, which may point to rebranding following poor performance or reputational damage.
For lenders, the Companies House search is often one of the first steps in assessing an applicant’s creditworthiness. For compliance teams, it serves as a crucial cross-reference against client-supplied data. And for private individuals, it is a way to confirm that a company exists and is operating within the legal framework.
The key advantage is that all of this information is accessible to anyone, free of charge, making it one of the most democratic due diligence resources available.
7) Market Research and Competitive Analysis
Beyond compliance and legal checks, Companies House data is a rich resource for those seeking to understand market dynamics. Entrepreneurs, analysts, and corporate strategists frequently turn to the register to gauge the size and competitiveness of a sector. By reviewing incorporation trends, tracking the number of active companies in a specific industry code, and studying the filing patterns of leading players, you can build a clearer picture of market growth or contraction.
For example, a retail investor considering a stake in a growing hospitality chain can track its incorporation date, growth in share capital, and appointment of experienced directors — all visible on the public record. Similarly, a start-up in the technology sector might analyse the corporate filings of established competitors to identify when they expanded into new regions, took on secured borrowing, or underwent rebranding.
This form of market research is particularly valuable because it is based on official filings, not promotional materials. It allows decision-makers to compare stated corporate strategy against tangible actions and statutory obligations, providing an unvarnished view of business development.
8) AML, KYC, and Regulatory Compliance
For regulated industries — particularly financial services, accountancy, and legal practices — Companies House is an indispensable tool for anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) checks. The UK’s regulatory framework obliges firms to verify the identity and legitimacy of clients before engaging in transactions. Access to the official register allows compliance teams to cross-reference client-provided details against the legal record.
For instance, a solicitor onboarding a new corporate client might search the Companies House register to confirm the company’s registration number, its directors, and its Persons with Significant Control. Any discrepancies between the client’s declaration and the official data could warrant further investigation. Likewise, financial institutions may monitor the status of high-risk corporate clients to detect sudden changes — such as a director resignation or a shift in registered address — that could indicate heightened compliance risk.
By integrating Companies House monitoring into routine onboarding and periodic reviews, regulated firms can meet their legal obligations while reducing the risk of association with fraudulent or shell companies.
9) Limitations and Accuracy Considerations
While the UK’s open corporate register is widely praised for its transparency, it is not without flaws. One key limitation is that Companies House largely relies on self-reported information submitted by companies and their officers. Although there are penalties for knowingly providing false data, errors and inaccuracies can still find their way into the record.
For example, smaller private companies may file abbreviated accounts that provide little insight into their financial health. Addresses may also change frequently — particularly for businesses that use virtual office services — making it harder to confirm a physical operating location. In some cases, the information might be outdated if filings have not yet been processed.
These limitations mean that while Companies House is an essential starting point for due diligence, it should not be the sole source of truth. Cross-referencing with credit reports, trade references, or other government databases can help fill in gaps and validate findings.
10) Best Practices for Effective Searches
To make the most of Companies House data, it is worth approaching your search methodically. Always start by confirming the company registration number, as names can be misleading or easily confused with similar-sounding entities. This is especially important in industries where multiple businesses operate under brand variations.
When reviewing filing history, pay attention not just to the documents themselves but also to the pattern of submissions. Consistently late filings could signal organisational or financial instability. Charges and mortgages should be examined to understand a company’s borrowing habits and whether debts have been satisfied.
Setting up free email alerts is an efficient way to track developments without constant manual searches. For those monitoring multiple entities — such as suppliers, partners, or portfolio companies — this automated oversight can be an invaluable risk management tool.
The Companies House register remains one of the most open corporate databases in the world, offering an extraordinary level of transparency at no cost to the user. From verifying a company’s legal standing to understanding its history, leadership, and financial commitments, the ability to access this data empowers a wide range of stakeholders — from investors and suppliers to journalists and compliance professionals.
Used in isolation, the register provides a strong foundation for assessing a company’s structure and obligations. Used alongside other resources, it becomes a powerful part of a due diligence toolkit. In an era when corporate accountability is under greater scrutiny than ever, knowing how to effectively navigate Companies House is more than a business skill — it is a competitive advantage.
The Best Places to Live in London for Families with Children
For families seeking a particular kind of urban gentility—a life that is both richly stimulating and serenely grounded—London offers a handful of neighbourhoods that rise above the fray. We wander through five of the capital’s most beloved enclaves for families: Richmond, Hampstead, Hyde Park and Holland Park, Dulwich Village, and Highgate.
The Cost of Living in the UK in 2025
From London’s soaring rents to the quiet affordability of Cardiff and Belfast, discover how much it really costs to live across the UK in 2025. Our in-depth guide breaks down rent, transport, food, schooling, and salaries—region by region and city by city—for international expats planning their next move.
Companies House Identity Verification 2025–26: Deadlines, Personal Code & How to Verify
From 18 November 2025, all UK company directors and Persons with Significant Control must verify their identity with Companies House. Find out who’s affected, key deadlines, and how to complete the process.