How to check company information via Companies House

In the UK, incorporated limited companies and registered LLPs are legally required to file certain information with Companies House.

Much of this information is made available through the public register.

In this article, Michael McCullion, MD of BI Accountancy, explains how you can search for limited company information online, and what you can realistically learn from the official Companies House service.

How do you search for limited company information online?

If you’d like to find out more about a specific company, either out of general interest or before doing business with them, you can use the online Companies House search service.

The official service lets you search for information about UK-registered companies, LLPs and certain other registered entities.

• Search the Companies House register

The Companies House search service is free to use and gives access to a wide range of company information and filing history, including accounts, confirmation statements, director appointments, company status, registered office details and previous company names.

What information can you find via Companies House?

As the UK registrar of companies, Companies House is the main public source of information about incorporated UK businesses.

You can usually find a wide range of information, including:

• Registered office addresses, including some historical address information
• The date a company was incorporated
• The company’s current status, such as active, dissolved, in liquidation or in administration
• The type of entity, such as a private limited company, public limited company or limited liability partnership
• The company number
• Current and previous officers, such as directors and company secretaries
• The service address of the current company officers
• The nationality, month and year of birth, country of residence and occupation of company directors
• Information about any persons with significant control, known as PSCs
• Company accounts
• Confirmation statements
• The company’s stated nature of business, shown through its SIC codes
• Company filing history, including appointment forms, confirmation statements and other submitted documents
• Information about registered charges
• Previous company names
• Information relating to insolvency proceedings, where applicable

Some personal information is deliberately kept off the public register. For example, a director’s full date of birth and usual residential address are not normally made public. The service address provided to Companies House is public.

Although Companies House provides a significant amount of useful public information, it is important to understand that much of the data is historical rather than real-time.

For example, company accounts are often filed many months after the relevant accounting period, meaning a company’s current financial position may be very different from what appears on the public register.

The amount of financial detail available also varies. Smaller companies may file accounts containing considerably less information than the accounts of larger businesses, so you should not assume that the public record will include a detailed profit and loss account or a complete picture of the company’s finances.

Companies House can therefore be extremely useful for basic research and due diligence, but it should not be treated as a complete or up-to-date picture of a company’s financial health or trading position.

Companies House does not guarantee the accuracy of information filed on the register. Much of the information is supplied by companies and their officers themselves, although Companies House now has greater powers to query and challenge information under recent company law reforms.

Companies House also includes a useful feature that lets you track company changes.

You can choose to follow a company and receive email alerts when new filings or amendments are made. You need to create an account to use this feature, but the service is free.

What companies are included in Companies House search?

It is a legal requirement for UK-registered companies and certain other business entities to provide information to Companies House. This includes:

• Private companies limited by shares or guarantee
• Public limited companies
• Private unlimited companies
• Limited liability partnerships
• Limited partnerships

The information available depends on the type of entity. For example, a limited partnership does not have the same Companies House filing requirements as a limited company, so you should not expect to find the same level of financial information.

However, not every business in the UK appears on the Companies House register.

Sole traders and ordinary business partnerships do not register with Companies House unless they have also incorporated a company or registered another relevant entity.

How businesses use the Companies House search

Businesses can gain significant value from the Companies House search service. It allows them to learn more about companies they already work with or may work with in the future.

For example, you can check when a company was formed, whether it is still active, who its directors are, whether it has filed accounts and confirmation statements, and whether there are any obvious warning signs before entering into a business relationship.

It can also be useful for researching competitors, checking a company’s trading history, or confirming basic details before issuing invoices, signing contracts or extending credit.

Registered charges can also provide useful information about security granted over company assets. However, the presence of a charge does not necessarily tell you the current amount of the underlying debt or whether it has subsequently been repaid unless the relevant satisfaction has been registered.

That said, Companies House information should not be treated as a full due diligence report.

Much of the information on the register is based on filings submitted by companies themselves, so it should be used alongside other checks where the decision is commercially important.

Companies House identity verification

Identity verification is now part of the Companies House regime for company directors and people with significant control (PSCs).

From 18 November 2025, identity verification became a legal requirement, with existing directors and PSCs brought into the system according to the applicable transition arrangements.

This should make it harder to register companies or appointments using false identities. However, identity verification does not mean that Companies House has approved the company or confirmed that it is financially sound or trustworthy.

Read our guide to Companies House identity verification for directors and PSCs.

Is the Companies House search function available for consumers too?

The Companies House search service is open to the general public. Consumers can use it to check whether a company exists, whether it is active, who controls it, and whether its basic filing history looks in order.

For example, if someone is considering hiring a company to provide services, they can search the register to check the company’s status, incorporation date, registered office, directors and recent filings.

Although Companies House is often more useful for businesses, it can still help consumers carry out basic due diligence before entering into agreements with a company.

However, the presence of a company on the Companies House register does not prove that it is reputable, financially stable or safe to deal with. It is a useful starting point, not a guarantee.