What information does Companies House publish about a UK company?

Companies House publishes the company number, registered name, company type (Ltd, LLP, etc.), date of incorporation, registered office address, SIC codes, director names and appointment dates, persons with significant control (PSC), annual filing history, charges (secured loans), and financial accounts. All of this is public-by-statute under the Companies Act 2006.

Data source

Companies House

Q: How fresh is Companies House data?

Newly-registered UK companies appear in the public Companies House register within 24 hours of incorporation in most cases, and are immediately queryable via the REST API. This makes Companies House the freshest reliable signal for UK SME borrower-intent.

The UK government registrar of every limited company. Free REST API, public-by-statute data, and the highest-quality trigger for SME lender outreach.

Definition

Companies House is the executive agency of the UK government's Department for Business and Trade that registers and stores public information on every UK limited company (Ltd), limited liability partnership (LLP), and several other corporate structures. It has been the statutory company registrar of the UK since 1844.

What data Companies House publishes

For every UK-registered company, Companies House publishes (and makes legally public-by-statute under the Companies Act 2006):

Company number (8-digit identifier)
Registered name and previous names
Company type (Ltd, LLP, PLC, CIC, etc.)
Date of incorporation
Registered office address (UK-resident)
One to four SIC codes
Director names + appointment/resignation dates
Persons with significant control (PSC) — beneficial owners with ≥25% ownership/control
Annual confirmation statements and accounts
Charges (secured borrowings against the company)
Full filing history

The Companies House API

Companies House operates a free public REST API at api.company-information.service.gov.uk. Key facts for lenders building data pipelines:

Cost: free for any purpose, no commercial restrictions.
Authentication: HTTP Basic Auth with a free API key (5-minute registration).
Rate limit: 600 requests per 5 minutes per key.
Coverage: every registered UK company since 1844; advanced-search filters by incorporation date, SIC, status, name.
Freshness: newly-incorporated companies typically appear within 24 hours of registration.

Why it matters for fintech lenders

For SME lenders, Companies House is the highest-quality trigger source available in the UK market. Two reasons:

Freshness. A company registered yesterday is, on average, 3–8 weeks from making concrete decisions about working capital. Reach them inside that window and the conversion rate is materially higher than approaching a 2-year-old company.
Legal clarity. Companies Act 2006 explicitly makes the data public. Unlike scraped LinkedIn or grey-market B2B databases, there is no GDPR or ToS risk in processing it for legitimate-interest outreach by FCA-regulated lenders.

Limits

Companies House data is not a complete intent picture on its own. It tells you a company exists; it doesn't tell you that company needs a £40k facility this quarter. Layering enrichment (industry-specific scoring, AI-generated outreach hooks, dedup against your CRM) on top is what turns the raw register into actionable leads.

SIC code — the industry filter inside Companies House data
Borrower intent data
GDPR for lead generation

Frequently asked

Is the Companies House API free?

Yes. The Companies House REST API is free for any purpose, subject to a published rate limit of 600 requests per 5 minutes per API key.

How fresh is Companies House data?

Newly-registered UK companies appear in the public register within 24 hours of incorporation in most cases.

What information does Companies House publish?

Company number, name, type, incorporation date, registered office, SIC codes, directors, PSCs, filings, charges, and accounts — all public-by-statute under the Companies Act 2006.