Guide
Free Companies House check: what to look at and what it can’t tell you
A free Companies House check takes about three minutes: search the register by name or number, then read five things — status, accounts due date, incorporation date, registered office and the officers’ other companies. It tells you whether a company exists and what it has filed. It cannot tell you whether a trading name belongs to that company, whether a sole trader is genuine, or whether the firm will deliver.
Key facts
- The Companies House register is free to search at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk, with every filed document available as a PDF (Companies Act 2006; Open Government Licence v3.0).
- Private companies must file accounts within 9 months of their year end and a confirmation statement every 12 months; “overdue” appears on the record the day after the deadline.
- Small companies may file abbreviated (micro-entity or small) accounts that show a balance sheet but no turnover or profit.
- Around 56% of UK businesses are sole traders and appear nowhere on the register (Department for Business and Trade, Business population estimates).
- Since the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, Companies House verifies directors’ identities and can reject or remove false information — but it still does not check whether a website belongs to a company.
How to search the register
Go to find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk and type either the company number or the name. The number is better: names are not unique and trading names are not on the register at all. If you only have a name, expect several results and pick the one whose registered office postcode or director surname matches what you know.
If nothing matches
Three possibilities, in order of likelihood: the business is a sole trader or partnership (not registered); the company is called something other than its brand (“Aurelia Kitchens” may be AK Fitting Services Ltd); or the name on the website is not a real company. Ask for the company number. A genuine limited company must show it on its website, emails and invoices (Companies Act 2006, s.82).
Dissolved companies still appear
The register keeps dissolved companies for 20 years. A company page with status “Dissolved” is not a live business, whatever its website says — and a company with the same name registered again last month is a new, separate company.
The five things to read on the company page
| Where | What to look at | Normal | Ask about it | Serious |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overview | Company status | Active | Active — proposal to strike off (voluntary) | In liquidation, in administration, dissolved, or a compulsory strike-off notice |
| Overview | Accounts: next due / last made up to | Filed within the deadline | First accounts not yet due | Overdue |
| Overview | Incorporated on | Matches the website’s story | Younger than the “years in business” claim | Months old and claiming decades |
| Overview | Registered office address | A trading address | An accountant’s address | A mailbox at a formation agent with no trading address anywhere |
| People | Officers and their other appointments | Settled history | One dissolved company | Several dissolved companies in the same trade within a few years |
Two more tabs worth a minute
Filing history shows every document in date order: look for a recent change of registered office, a change of name, a director resignation, or a “Gazette” entry (see what a strike-off notice means). Charges shows secured lending: a charge in favour of a bank is normal; a charge in favour of an individual or a lending platform against a small trade company is worth a question.
How to read small-company accounts
Most trade businesses file micro-entity or small-company accounts: a one-page balance sheet, no profit-and-loss. Under Filing history, open the latest “Accounts” PDF and read three lines.
Net assets (or net liabilities)
What would be left if everything were sold and every debt paid. A few hundred or thousand pounds is normal for a small trade — profits are drawn out as dividends — but it means a deposit paid by bank transfer is not backed by anything. Net liabilities (a negative figure) mean the company owed more than it owned at its year end. That can be a director’s loan or a bad year, but it is always a question to ask before paying.
Cash at bank
Cash on the balance-sheet date. £16 in cash against a business that asks for £8,000 deposits is a fact worth knowing, even if the date was months ago.
Average number of employees
Most accounts state it. “A team of 15” on the website against “2” in the accounts is one of the commonest mismatches — usually subcontractors counted as staff, occasionally invention.
Full accounts (larger companies) add turnover and profit. Some are filed as scanned PDFs rather than data; the figures are still there, just not machine-readable.
Officers and owners
The People tab lists directors; the “Persons with significant control” tab lists owners. Click a director’s name to see every company they have been appointed to, current and past. What you are looking for is pattern, not any single entry.
- One dissolved company in a career is normal. Most people have one.
- Two or more dissolved companies in the same trade within five years, at the same address, is the phoenix pattern: liquidate, leave customers as unsecured creditors, incorporate again.
- A director appointed last month to a company whose website says “family-run since 1987” is a question.
- A corporate owner (a company owning the company) is normal for groups; for a small trade business it is worth asking what the parent does.
What a Companies House check cannot tell you
The register is authoritative about companies and silent about everything else. Five gaps matter when you are about to pay a deposit.
Whether the website belongs to the company
Companies House does not record trading names, websites or domains. Nothing on the register connects aurelia-kitchens.co.uk to AK Fitting Services Ltd — the company number on the site is the only link, and a cloned website can carry someone else’s number. Cross-checking the domain’s age, the Google Business profile and the postcode against the registered office is how that gap is closed; it is what a free company check does from the website address — see check a company by its website address.
Whether a sole trader is genuine
No register, no accounts, no officers. For a sole trader the checks are different: a trading address, a landline, a VAT number if turnover is above the threshold, reviews with age, and paying by card — see check a sole trader.
What has happened since the last filing
Accounts can be a year old on the day they are filed. A company can be active on the register and insolvent in practice. The record tells you the past; the Gazette and the “overdue” flag are the nearest thing to a present-tense warning.
Whether the firm does good work
The register says nothing about quality, reliability or how the firm treats customers. That is what reviews, trade scheme registers and references are for — and why the two should be read together, never one instead of the other.
Whether anything the website says is true
“25 years”, “own workshop”, “fully insured”, “award-winning” — none of it is on the register, and the register does not compare. You have to hold the two side by side yourself. That comparison is the single most useful thing to do with a Companies House record, and it is the part most people skip.
Where the register and the website disagreed — and it was fine
A staircase maker’s website says “30+ years”. Companies House: incorporated 2010. On the register alone that looks like a 15-year exaggeration. The domain, though, was registered in 2005 and archived from 2006 — the business existed before the company did, almost certainly as a sole trader or under an earlier name. Accounts on time, net assets £207,000, 96 reviews. The right response is a question (“what were you called before 2010?”), not a walk-away. The register gave the fact; the domain gave the context.
Enter a website address, e.g. aurelia-kitchens.co.uk
Frequently asked questions
Is a Companies House check free?
Yes. Searching the register and downloading any filed document is free at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Older “WebCHeck” documents and certified copies may carry a small fee.
What does “Active — proposal to strike off” mean?
The company has applied to be removed from the register (voluntary strike-off), or Companies House has started removing it (compulsory). Either way it is closing. Do not pay a deposit to a company in this state.
Why can’t I find a business on Companies House?
Usually because it is a sole trader or partnership, which are not registered, or because its trading name differs from its company name. Ask for the company number; a limited company must display it on its website and emails.
Does Companies House verify the information companies file?
Partly. Since the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 it verifies directors’ identities and can query or remove false filings, but it does not audit accounts, check addresses are trading premises, or confirm websites belong to companies.
How old can the accounts be?
Up to 21 months at the point of filing for a first set, and up to 9 months after the year end thereafter. So the balance sheet you read may describe the company as it was a year or more ago.
Can I follow a company for changes?
Yes. The register lets you “Follow” a company and emails you when it files anything. SafeToPay’s unlimited plan does the same for every firm on a project and explains what each change means.
Sources
- Companies House — Find and update company information
- GOV.UK — Life of a company: annual requirements (accounts and confirmation statement deadlines)
- Companies Act 2006, s.82 — trading disclosures
- Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023
- The Gazette
- Business population estimates (Department for Business and Trade)
- SafeToPay methodology v1.1