How to Check a UK Company: Free Company Check Guide

Why Check a Company?

Whether you are vetting a potential supplier, researching a competitor, or considering a business partnership, checking a company's details is an essential first step. The UK's Companies House register holds publicly available information on roughly 5.3 to 5.7 million companies, with around 800,000 new companies incorporated every year. That volume of activity makes the register an invaluable source of due diligence data - but only if you know what to look for and how to interpret what you find.

A company check can help you:

• Verify the company exists and is currently active
• Identify the directors and people with significant control
• Check the registered address - is it a real business premises or a virtual office?
• Review filing history - are they up to date with their legal obligations?
• Assess financial health - what do their annual accounts show?

Step 1: Find the Company on Companies House

Start with the Companies House search or use our free company search tool to look up any registered UK business. Enter the company name or registration number. This will give you:

• Company status - Is it Active, Dissolved, or in some other state?
• Incorporation date - When was it formed? Very new companies carry more risk.
• SIC codes - What industry does the company operate in?
• Registered address - Where is the company officially based?

Step 2: Check the Directors

Look at the list of current and former directors. Key things to watch for:

• Director age and experience - Very young directors (under 21) on an established company may indicate a nominee arrangement
• Multiple directorships - A director with dozens of active companies may be a company formation agent rather than an active business operator
• Recent resignations - A sudden exodus of directors can be a red flag
• Overseas directors - Not inherently problematic, but worth noting for due diligence

For a deeper dive into assessing individuals behind a company, see our guide on how to check a company director in the UK. It is also worth identifying who holds ultimate ownership - the People with Significant Control (PSC) register is the place to start for that.

Step 3: Review Filing History

Companies must file:

• Annual accounts within 9 months of their financial year end
• Confirmation statements at least once every 12 months

Late filing is a warning sign. If a company is overdue on its accounts or confirmation statement, it may indicate financial difficulties or poor governance. Our guide on when company accounts are due explains the deadlines in full.

Step 4: Look at the Accounts

For small companies, the accounts may be abbreviated or micro-entity accounts with limited information. For larger companies, you will see full profit and loss statements and balance sheets.

Key things to look for:

• Net assets - positive or negative?
• Turnover trend - growing or declining?
• Cash position - can they pay their bills?
• Outstanding loans - check the charges register for secured lending

Step 5: Check for CCJs and Credit Issues

Companies House data is free but limited. For a full picture, you may also want to check:

• County Court Judgments (CCJs) - unpaid debts that have been pursued through the courts. Our guide to checking for CCJs explains how to run a search.
• Credit score - available from providers like Creditsafe or Experian
• Insolvency notices - check the London Gazette

Worked Example: Reading a Companies House Record

To make this concrete, consider a fictional but representative scenario. You receive an enquiry from "Apex Trade Solutions Ltd" and want to verify them before agreeing terms. Here is what a thorough check looks like in practice.

Company Number and Incorporation Date

Every UK company is assigned a unique company number at incorporation - for example, 14823671. The number itself tells you the approximate era of formation: numbers in the 14 million range were issued around 2022 to 2023. If Apex Trade Solutions was incorporated only six months ago but is presenting itself as an established business with years of trading history, that inconsistency is an immediate red flag worth investigating.

Registered Office

The registered office is the official address for legal correspondence. Watch for addresses that appear repeatedly across hundreds of different companies - this is a tell-tale sign of a virtual office or company formation agent address. Occasional use of a formation agent address is not unusual for small companies, but if Apex has changed its registered office three times in two years, it is worth asking why. Frequent address changes can indicate the company is avoiding creditors or that control has passed between parties without any public announcement.

SIC Codes

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes describe what the company does. A company registered under SIC 70229 (Management consultancy activities) asking you to supply construction materials would be unusual and worth querying. Multiple unrelated SIC codes can also indicate a shell structure or an attempt to obscure the nature of trading activity.

Officers

Clicking through to the officer profile for each director reveals their full appointment history. A director who simultaneously holds appointments at 40 or 50 other active companies is almost certainly a nominee director - someone who lends their name to company formations for a fee without taking an active role. This is legal, but it means the person signing contracts on behalf of Apex may have no real stake in or knowledge of the business. Cross-referencing the PSC register will often reveal the actual beneficial owner behind the scenes.

Filing History and Confirmation Statements

The filing history tab shows every document ever submitted to Companies House. A healthy record shows regular confirmation statements filed on time and accounts delivered before the deadline. For Apex, you notice the most recent accounts are nine months overdue. That alone does not confirm insolvency, but it does suggest either a company in financial difficulty, a director who is disengaged, or both. Combined with a confirmation statement filed three days before the legal deadline, the pattern suggests a company operating at the edge of its compliance obligations.

Accounts

If Apex qualifies as a small or micro-entity company, the filed accounts may contain little more than a balance sheet. Even so, negative net assets - where total liabilities exceed total assets - is a serious warning sign. A company trading while technically insolvent carries real counterparty risk for any supplier extending credit. If the charges register also shows a debenture (a floating charge over all assets) held by a lender, unsecured creditors including you would rank behind that lender in any insolvency scenario.

Red Flags at a Glance

• Incorporated very recently but claiming long trading history
• Three or more registered office changes in two years
• Director holds 30 or more simultaneous appointments
• Accounts overdue by more than a few weeks
• Negative net assets with a charge registered by a lender
• PSC record showing an overseas entity as ultimate beneficial owner with no further transparency

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023

It is worth knowing that the UK register is in the middle of a significant reform. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 introduced mandatory identity verification for company directors, PSCs, and those who file on behalf of companies. These changes are being phased in over time and, once fully in force, they mean that the person named as a director must have their identity verified with Companies House before or shortly after taking up the role.

For due diligence purposes, this matters because it will become progressively harder for fraudsters to use fictitious or stolen identities to register companies. However, the transition is ongoing, so records created before the new requirements applied may not carry the same level of assurance as those filed under the new regime. The practical takeaway: treat the register as an authoritative starting point, but layer additional checks - particularly for high-value or high-risk relationships - rather than relying on it alone.

Free vs. Paid Company Checks

What You Get	Free (Companies House)	Paid Services
Basic company details	Yes	Yes
Director information	Yes	Yes
Filing history	Yes	Yes
Annual accounts	Yes (PDF)	Yes (structured data)
Credit score	No	Yes
CCJ data	No	Yes
Financial analysis	No	Yes
Risk scoring	No	Yes

Using NewcoHunter for Company Research

While traditional company checks are about vetting existing businesses, NewcoHunter takes a different approach - we help you discover new companies as soon as they are registered. Browse recently incorporated UK companies or set up saved searches to receive weekly email alerts the moment new companies matching your criteria appear on the register.

By setting up a saved search for your target SIC codes and locations, you will receive weekly email alerts when new companies matching your criteria are formed. This is particularly valuable for:

• B2B sales teams looking for fresh leads
• Accountants seeking new clients at the point of formation
• Business service providers wanting to reach companies at the moment of incorporation
• Insurers and lenders monitoring sectors for new entrants

See how NewcoHunter works or search for companies now to get started.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it free to check a UK company?

Yes. The core Companies House register is free to search at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. You can view company status, director information, filing history, and filed accounts at no charge. Paid credit reference services layer additional data on top - such as credit scores, CCJ records, and risk ratings - but for most due diligence purposes the free register is the right starting point.

Can I see who owns a company?

Yes. The People with Significant Control (PSC) register lists any individual or legal entity that holds more than 25% of shares or voting rights, or that otherwise exercises significant influence or control over the company. In some cases, the PSC will be another company rather than an individual - in which case you may need to trace through one or more layers of corporate ownership to reach the ultimate beneficial owner.

How do I know if a company is legitimate?

There is no single signal, but combining several checks gives a reliable picture. A legitimate operating business will typically have: a consistent registered address (or a plausible reason for a change), directors with a credible professional history and a manageable number of other appointments, accounts filed on time showing positive or at least stable net assets, and a PSC record that reflects genuine ownership. If any of these are absent or contradictory, dig further before extending credit or entering a significant contract.

What do overdue accounts mean for a company?

Companies must file annual accounts with Companies House within 9 months of their financial year end (for private companies). Missing this deadline triggers an automatic penalty and, if accounts remain unfiled, can lead to the company being struck off the register. Overdue accounts are a yellow flag: they may reflect nothing more than an administrative oversight, but they can also indicate a company in financial difficulty or one where the directors have lost control of compliance. Our article on company accounts deadlines covers the rules in full.

Can I be alerted when new companies are registered?

Yes - that is exactly what NewcoHunter is built for. Rather than manually searching the register, you can browse newly incorporated companies filtered by industry (SIC code) and geography, or save a search to receive automatic weekly alerts. With around 800,000 new companies incorporated in the UK each year, monitoring the register manually is not practical for most teams - automated alerts are a far more efficient way to stay on top of new entrants in your sector.