Companies House: The Complete Guide to the UK Company Register

What Is Companies House?

Companies House is the official UK government register of companies. Every limited company, LLP, and certain other business entities incorporated in England, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland must register with Companies House and file regular returns.

As of 2024, the register contains over 5.7 million active companies and adds thousands of new incorporations every week.

What Information Does Companies House Hold?

For each registered company, Companies House maintains:

• Company name and registration number - the unique identifier assigned at incorporation
• Registered office address - the official address for service of documents
• Company type - Ltd, PLC, LLP, Community Interest Company, etc.
• Date of incorporation - when the company was formed
• SIC codes - Standard Industrial Classification codes describing the company's business activities
• Directors and officers - names, dates of birth (month/year only), nationality and occupation
• Persons with significant control (PSC) - individuals or entities with 25%+ ownership or voting rights
• Annual accounts - financial statements filed each year
• Confirmation statements - annual declarations that company details are up to date
• Company status - Active, Dissolved, In Liquidation, etc.

How to Search Companies House

The easiest way to search is via the Companies House web service. You can search by:

• Company name (or part of a name)
• Company registration number
• Officer name

However, the official search has significant limitations. You cannot search by:

• Industry or SIC code
• Location or geography
• Date of incorporation
• Financial data or turnover

This is where tools like NewcoHunter come in - we index the entire Companies House register and let you search by SIC code, location, and incorporation date, making it easy to find companies that match your exact criteria.

Companies House API

Companies House provides a free public API that allows developers to access company data programmatically. The API offers:

• Company search - find companies by name
• Company profile - full details for a specific company
• Officers - directors and secretaries
• Filing history - all documents filed
• Charges - mortgages and charges registered against the company
• Streaming API - real-time feed of new filings and incorporations

NewcoHunter is built on this API, processing the streaming data to identify new company registrations as they happen.

How Businesses Use Companies House Data

Sales and marketing teams use Companies House data to find new prospects. By filtering new incorporations by SIC code and location, they can identify businesses that match their ideal customer profile within days of formation - before competitors even know they exist.

Compliance and legal teams use it for due diligence and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks. Verifying that a company exists, checking its directors, and reviewing its filing history are standard steps in onboarding new clients or suppliers.

Accountants and business services monitor new incorporations to offer their services to newly formed companies that need accounting, insurance, banking and other professional services.

Investors and analysts track incorporation trends by sector and geography to identify emerging markets and investment opportunities.

Companies House vs. Other Data Providers

Getting Started

If you need to find new UK companies by industry and location, try NewcoHunter for free. We process every new Companies House registration and make them searchable within hours, with weekly email alerts for your saved searches.