What Is the UK Company Register?
The UK company register is the official public record of every company incorporated in the United Kingdom. It is maintained by Companies House, an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade.
As of mid-2025, the register holds records on over 5.44 million active companies. That includes private limited companies (Ltd), public limited companies (PLCs), limited liability partnerships (LLPs), community interest companies, and overseas entities with a UK establishment.
Every business that incorporates in the UK must file certain documents with the register. This information is then made publicly available. The register exists to provide transparency and accountability in the UK business environment — helping consumers, investors, regulators, and other businesses make informed decisions.
The register records data including:
- Company name and registration number (CRN)
- Registered office address
- Company status (active, dissolved, in liquidation)
- Directors and secretary details
- People with significant control (PSCs)
- Filing history and annual accounts
- Charges (mortgages and securities)
- SIC codes describing business activity
Companies House covers UK-incorporated entities only. If you need to verify companies, trace ownership, or run compliance checks across borders, Global Database connects directly to 400+ government registries in 200+ countries — covering 600 million+ companies from a single platform. All data is sourced first-party from official registries, not scraped or aggregated. For a detailed look at how company registries work across the continent, see our full directory of official company registries in 44 European countries.
How to Perform a UK Company Number Search
Every UK company receives a unique Company Registration Number (CRN) at incorporation. This is the fastest, most accurate way to find a specific company on the register.
Step-by-Step Search Process
- Go to the official service. Visit the Find and Update Company Information service at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk.
- Enter the company number or name. Type the 8-digit CRN into the search bar. You can also search by company name or officer name.
- Review the company profile. The results page shows the company overview, including status, incorporation date, registered address, SIC codes, and previous company names.
- Explore the tabs. Navigate through Filing History, People (directors and PSCs), and More for charges, insolvency data, and overseas entity information.
- Download documents. Filing history includes downloadable PDFs of accounts, confirmation statements, and other filings going back to 2003.
You do not need to create an account or pay a fee. The service is free for everyone.
If you only have a company name, use the Advanced Company Search feature to filter by location, incorporation date, company type, and status. This is especially useful for common company names where dozens of results appear.
Instead of manually searching Companies House and downloading PDFs, you can use Global Database's UK company search to get enriched company profiles instantly — including financial statements in structured format, credit scores, ownership chains, and contact details for decision-makers. Data is sourced directly from the UK Companies House registry and enriched with proprietary intelligence. Over 17 million UK company profiles available.
UK Companies House Register Explained
Companies House is not a single entity in the legal sense. The UK actually has three separate registrars:
- Registrar of Companies for England and Wales (headquartered in Cardiff)
- Registrar of Companies for Scotland (headquartered in Edinburgh)
- Registrar of Companies for Northern Ireland (headquartered in Belfast)
“Companies House” is the shared brand used by all three. When people refer to the “UK Companies House register” or the “UK corporate registry,” they mean the combined data held across all three registrars.
What Companies House Does
Its core functions include incorporating and dissolving limited companies, registering company information required by law (the Companies Act 2006 and related legislation), and making that information available to the public. Companies House registered over 800,000 new companies in the financial year 2024-25 alone.
2025–2026 Reforms: ECCTA Changes Everything
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) is transforming Companies House from a passive document repository into an active gatekeeper. Here is the implementation timeline:
These reforms mean the data on the register is becoming more reliable over time. But the transition is still in progress. Self-reported data remains the norm for now, and full IDV enforcement won't begin until the end of 2026.
England Company Register vs United Kingdom Company Registry
This distinction trips up many people. The short answer: there is no separate “England company register.” England and Wales share one registrar, based in Cardiff. Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own.
When someone searches the UK company register online, they are searching all three registries through a single interface. A company incorporated in Edinburgh and a company incorporated in London both appear in the same search results.
| Registry | Jurisdiction | CRN Format | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| England & Wales | England + Wales | 8 digits | 12345678 |
| Scotland | Scotland | SC + 6 digits | SC123456 |
| Northern Ireland | Northern Ireland | NI + 6 digits | NI012345 |
The prefix on a company registration number tells you which registry holds the record. For practical purposes, you search them all in the same place. Each European country has its own equivalent registry — our guide to official company registries across 44 European countries maps them all.
How to Check UK Company Registration Status
Checking whether a company is active, dissolved, or in some form of insolvency is one of the most common reasons people search the register.
Company Statuses Explained
| Status | What It Means | Risk Level |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Company is live and registered. May or may not be actively trading. | ● Low |
| Dissolved | Company has been removed from the register. It no longer legally exists. | ● N/A |
| In Administration | An insolvency practitioner has been appointed to manage the company. | ● High |
| Liquidation | Company is being wound up. Assets are being sold to pay creditors. | ● High |
| Active – Proposal to Strike Off | Company or the registrar has applied to remove it from the register. | ● Medium |
| Dormant | Company exists but has had no significant accounting transactions. | ● Medium |
Beyond the status field, check the filing history for red flags. Late filings, overdue confirmation statements, or gaps in accounts can signal a company under stress.
UK Business Registry vs British Company Register
These terms are used interchangeably online, but neither is an official name. The correct term is the Companies House register, maintained by the Registrar of Companies.
The key thing to understand: Companies House only covers incorporated entities. Sole traders and most ordinary partnerships do not appear on the register. They may be registered with HMRC for tax purposes, but that is a separate system.
On the Register
Private limited companies (Ltd), public companies (PLC), LLPs, CICs, Scottish partnerships, overseas entities with UK establishments.
Not on the Register
Sole traders, most ordinary partnerships, building societies (FCA), charities (Charity Commission, though charitable companies also appear at Companies House).
Registrar of Companies for England – Role & Authority
The Registrar of Companies for England and Wales is the largest of the three UK registrars. The current chief executive of Companies House (and registrar for England and Wales) is Louise Smyth.
Under the Companies Act 2006 and now strengthened by ECCTA, the registrar has the authority to:
- Incorporate and dissolve companies
- Accept or reject company filings
- Query information before adding it to the register
- Change a registered office address deemed inappropriate
- Share data with law enforcement and regulatory bodies
- Strike a company off the register if it was formed on a false basis
These powers expanded significantly in 2024 and 2025. Before ECCTA, Companies House had limited ability to verify or reject information it received. Now it functions more as a gatekeeper than a librarian.
Great Britain Company Register: What Data Is Public?
Almost everything filed with Companies House is publicly available. The UK operates one of the most transparent corporate registries in the world.
Free Public Data
| Data Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Company Profile | Name, CRN, status, incorporation date, registered address, SIC codes, previous names. |
| Directors & Officers | Names, date of birth (month/year only), nationality, occupation, appointment/resignation dates. |
| PSCs | Names, nature of control (e.g., >25% shares), date of birth (month/year), nationality. |
| Filing History | Chronological list of all filings. Downloadable PDFs from 2003 onward. |
| Annual Accounts | Financial statements filed with Companies House. Detail varies by company size. |
| Charges | Mortgages, debentures, and other securities registered against the company. |
| Insolvency | Case type, dates, insolvency practitioner details. |
What Is Not Freely Available
Some data points are restricted. Director residential addresses are protected — only a service address is shown publicly. Full shareholder lists with exact shareholdings require downloading confirmation statements or annual returns. And while accounts are public, micro-entities and small companies can file abbreviated accounts with limited financial detail.
The API Option
Companies House offers a free REST API with programmatic access to all public data. The API handles around 6.5 billion requests per year, with a rate limit of 600 requests per five-minute window. Bulk data is also available as monthly CSV snapshots and via a real-time streaming API.
The Companies House API is great for basic lookups. But if you need structured financial data (not PDFs), ownership graphs, credit scores, or cross-border verification, Global Database’s API delivers all of this in clean JSON format. Direct registry connections. No PDF parsing required. Full audit trail for compliance.
How to Verify Company Information in the UK
Searching the register is step one. Verification is the harder part. Companies House itself cautions that the information on the register is self-reported. While ECCTA reforms are improving data quality, gaps and inaccuracies still exist.
A Practical Verification Workflow
- Confirm the basics. Match the company name, CRN, and registered address against the official register.
- Check filing compliance. Are accounts and confirmation statements up to date? Late filings are a red flag.
- Review directors and PSCs. Are they real, identifiable individuals? Cross-reference with other sources.
- Examine the accounts. Do the financials make sense for the claimed size and activity of the business?
- Look for charges and insolvency. Outstanding charges or insolvency proceedings are critical risk indicators.
- Check the corporate structure. Who owns the company? Is it part of a larger group? Are there layers of holding companies in opaque jurisdictions?
- Cross-reference internationally. For multinational groups, you need data from company registers in other countries to build a complete picture of beneficial ownership. If your counterparty has European operations, our directory of official European company registries lists the primary data source for every jurisdiction.
Steps 6 and 7 are where most manual processes break down. Tracing ownership across jurisdictions is slow, expensive, and error-prone. Global Database automates this with ownership graph visualisation that maps corporate hierarchies and UBOs across 200+ countries — all pulled directly from government registries, with full provenance tracking.
When the Free Register Is Not Enough
Companies House is a powerful tool. For basic lookups, it is hard to beat. But for compliance teams, risk analysts, and enterprise procurement, there are real limitations:
- Self-reported data. Until ECCTA reforms are fully implemented, the data is only as good as what companies file. Errors, omissions, and deliberate misrepresentation still exist.
- PDF-heavy filings. Many core documents, especially accounts, are filed as PDFs. Extracting structured data at scale is painful.
- No cross-border data. Companies House covers UK entities only. Subsidiaries in Germany, parent companies in the US, or beneficial owners in Dubai require separate sources. Each country has its own registry with different rules and access methods — see our European company registry directory for a breakdown of 44 countries.
- No credit risk data. The register tells you what a company has filed. It doesn’t give you credit scores, payment behaviour, or predictive risk indicators.
- No real-time monitoring. While the streaming API exists, building and maintaining a monitoring system requires significant development resources.
- No contact data. Companies House doesn’t provide email addresses, phone numbers, or details on key decision-makers.
Companies House vs Global Database: Feature Comparison
Here’s a side-by-side look at what you get from the free government register versus a commercial platform built on first-party government registry data. Global Database connects to every major European company registry and hundreds more worldwide.
| Feature | Companies House (Free) | Global Database |
|---|---|---|
| UK company profiles | ✓ | ✓ |
| Director & PSC data | ✓ | ✓ |
| Filing history | ✓ | ✓ |
| Structured financial data (JSON/CSV) | Partial (XBRL only) | ✓ |
| Credit scores & risk ratings | ✗ | ✓ |
| Payment behaviour & trade data | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ownership graphs & UBO mapping | ✗ | ✓ |
| International coverage (200+ countries) | ✗ (UK only) | ✓ (400+ registries) |
| Contact data (emails, phones, decision-makers) | ✗ | ✓ |
| API access | ✓ (600 req/5 min) | ✓ (scalable) |
| Real-time monitoring & alerts | Partial (streaming API) | ✓ |
| Compliance audit trail | ✗ | ✓ |
| Data source | Self-reported filings | Direct government registry connections |
Quick Reference: UK Company Register at a Glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Official name | Companies House register (three registrars) |
| How many companies | 5.44 million+ active (as of May 2025) |
| Cost to search | Free. No registration required. |
| Search URL | find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk |
| API available | Yes. Free REST API. 600 requests per 5 minutes. |
| Key legislation | Companies Act 2006, ECCTA 2023 |
| Major 2025-2026 change | Mandatory identity verification for all directors and PSCs |
| Limitation | Self-reported data, UK-only coverage, limited structured financials |
| Best for international coverage | Global Database — 400+ registries, 200+ countries |
Full Directory of Official Company Registries in Europe (44 Countries)
Companies House is just one of dozens of government registries across Europe. Our comprehensive directory maps the official data sources for every European jurisdiction — from Germany’s Handelsregister to France’s Infogreffe to the Nordic registries. Essential reading if you do business with or verify companies beyond the UK.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The Companies House “Find and Update Company Information” service is completely free. You do not need to create an account or pay any fee to search for UK companies, view company profiles, download filing history documents, or check director and PSC details. The Companies House REST API is also free to use.
Go to find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk and search by company name. The registration number (CRN) appears in the search results and on the company profile page. UK CRNs are 8 digits for England & Wales companies, or prefixed with SC (Scotland) or NI (Northern Ireland). You can also use Global Database’s UK company search for enriched results with financial data and contact details.
Companies House is the executive agency that maintains the UK company register. The “register” is the database itself — the official public record of all incorporated entities in the UK. Companies House is the custodian of that register, responsible for accepting filings, processing incorporations and dissolutions, and making data available to the public.
The register provides company name and registration number, registered address, company status, incorporation date, SIC codes, director and secretary names (with month/year of birth), PSC details, filing history with downloadable PDFs, annual accounts, charges (mortgages/securities), and insolvency information. Director residential addresses are protected. Full shareholder lists require downloading specific filings.
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) introduced sweeping reforms. Since 18 November 2025, all new directors and PSCs must verify their identity before their appointment can be registered. Existing directors and PSCs have a 12-month transition period. Companies House also gained powers to query and reject filings, change inappropriate registered addresses, and share data more broadly with law enforcement. Filing fees also increased in February 2026.
Technically, yes — there are three separate registrars: one for England & Wales (Cardiff), one for Scotland (Edinburgh), and one for Northern Ireland (Belfast). However, all three are searched through the same online interface at Companies House. You can identify which registry holds a company by its CRN prefix: no prefix for England & Wales, SC for Scotland, NI for Northern Ireland.
Companies House holds annual accounts filed by companies, but the level of detail varies significantly. Large and medium companies file full financial statements. Small companies may file abbreviated accounts. Micro-entities can file very limited information. Accounts are mostly in PDF format, making bulk analysis difficult. For structured financial data across all UK companies, platforms like Global Database extract and normalise this data from the registry filings into structured, machine-readable formats.
Start by confirming the company exists on the Companies House register with an “Active” status. Then check that accounts and confirmation statements are up to date, review the directors and PSCs for legitimacy, examine the financial history for consistency, and look for any charges or insolvency proceedings. For thorough verification, cross-reference with credit reports and ownership data. For international groups, you will also need to verify parent companies and subsidiaries in other jurisdictions.
Yes. Companies House provides a free REST API with access to company profiles, officers, PSCs, filing histories, and more. The rate limit is 600 requests per 5 minutes. For higher volumes, enriched data, or international coverage, Global Database’s API offers scalable access to 400+ government registries worldwide, with structured financials, ownership graphs, credit scores, and real-time monitoring — all in clean JSON format with full audit trails.
On Companies House, use the “Search for an officer” function to find directors by name across all UK companies. Shareholder information is available through PSC (People with Significant Control) data for those holding over 25% of shares. For detailed shareholdings, you need to download confirmation statements or annual returns. For a faster, more comprehensive view — including contact details, other directorships, and cross-border roles — Global Database’s UK platform provides full director and shareholder profiles with direct contact information.