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SafeToPay vs Companies House: what we add to the free register
Companies House is the source and it is free: every fact in a SafeToPay report about a company comes from it or is checked against it. What SafeToPay adds is the step before and the step after — finding which company is behind a website address, and putting the register next to what that website claims, the domain’s history, the reviews and the accounts figures, with a verdict and a deposit guide. If you already know the company number and can read a set of accounts, you may not need us. Most people paying a deposit do not.
Key facts
- Companies House holds the records of more than 5 million UK companies and publishes them free under the Open Government Licence; SafeToPay reads them through its public API.
- Companies House is searched by company name or number; SafeToPay is searched by website address, because the name on a website is usually a brand, not the legal name.
- Companies House publishes accounts as documents; SafeToPay reads the figures inside them (net assets, cash, employees, the prior year) and shows them as numbers.
- Companies House does not read websites, domain registries, HMRC’s VAT register, the FCA register or review platforms; SafeToPay reads all of them and reports where they disagree.
- Where SafeToPay’s summary and the register differ, the register is right: every report links to the Companies House page it was read from, with the time it was read.
Side by side
| Companies House | SafeToPay | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free preliminary report; £14.99 full report (red always free) |
| Search by | Company name, number, officer name | Website address |
| Finds the company behind a brand name | No — you need to know the legal name | Yes, from the site, its VAT number, postcodes and Google listing; says “no UK company identified” rather than guess |
| Company profile, officers, filing history, charges, Gazette | Complete, authoritative, with every document | Read from Companies House and summarised; links back to each source |
| Accounts figures | As filed documents (PDF or iXBRL) — you read them | Net assets, cash, employees, turnover where reported; year-on-year trend; short-term liquidity |
| Directors’ other companies, dissolved and liquidated | Yes, per officer page | Counted and applied: two or more in five years turns the report red |
| Disqualified directors | Separate register, separate search | Checked automatically for every current director |
| What the website claims | Not covered | Years, staff, workshop, projects, VAT number, finance — each compared with the register |
| Domain age and archive history | Not covered | Registry and Internet Archive |
| Reviews, Google listing, advertiser identity | Not covered | Google Business Profile; Google Ads advertiser in the full report |
| VAT and FCA registers | Not covered | HMRC name check; FCA register where finance is offered |
| Verdict and deposit guidance | None — it is a register | Green / amber / red under published rules; normal deposit for the trade; staged payments; questions to ask |
| Errors | Corrected by the company through filings | Corrected on request with evidence; the register is the tie-breaker |
Where Companies House is better
It has everything
Every filed document, every officer’s full appointment history, every charge instrument, the persons with significant control register, mortgage and insolvency documents in full. A SafeToPay report is a reading of the parts that matter for a deposit. If you want the full picture, or a specific document, the register is where it is.
It is the truth
When a report of ours says “accounts filed on time” and the register says otherwise, the register wins, and we correct the report. We do not hold data the register lacks about a company; we hold data from elsewhere — the website, the domain, HMRC, Google — and put it alongside.
It is free without limits
No daily cap, no account. If you are checking a company you already know the number for, and you are comfortable opening a set of micro-entity accounts and finding the net assets line, the register gives you that in a few minutes.
What SafeToPay adds
The step before: which company?
A website called “Oakridge Kitchens” may be run by Oakridge Kitchens Ltd, by J & M Joinery Ltd, by a sole trader, or by nobody on the register at all. The register cannot tell you which; it can only answer the name you type. Our reports start from the website and identify the entity from the company number in its footer, the VAT number, the postcodes, the names the site itself uses and the business’s Google listing — and say plainly when no match is good enough. That is the question people paying a deposit actually have: who is behind this website?
The step after: does the register agree with the website?
“Established 1998” from a company incorporated in 2022; “our own workshop” from a company registered for construction only; a VAT number HMRC lists under a different name; “finance available” from a business with no FCA entry. None of these appear on Companies House because Companies House does not read websites. Each is a line in a report, weighted worth asking or does not match.
The figures, not the PDF
Micro-entity accounts are short but not simple; full accounts run to forty pages. We read the iXBRL and show net assets, cash, employees and the prior-year comparison as numbers, with a plain sentence about what they mean for money paid up front. If the accounts are PDF-only, the report says so.
A verdict with the rules published
The register gives facts; it does not say what to do with them. Our methodology sets out the fixed rules that turn facts into green, amber or red, the points behind the Record strength score, and the normal deposit for each trade. You can disagree with a rule; you can see it.
The same company, both ways
On Companies House: active, incorporated 2010, full accounts filed on time, two directors, no charges, SIC code for construction. Everything a careful reader needs, across five pages and one accounts document.
In the report: the same facts on one page, plus: the website’s brand name matched to the legal name; “30+ years” on the website marked worth asking because the domain dates from 2004 and the company from 2010 — a trading-history question, not a contradiction; “our workshop” marked worth asking because no manufacturing SIC code is registered; 96 Google reviews with the oldest more than a year old; domain registered 2004; net assets and cash as figures. Verdict green, with the two questions to ask written out.
Enter a website address, e.g. example-kitchens.co.uk
Who should use which
- Use Companies House when you know the legal name or number, want a specific document, or are researching a director’s full history. Also use it to check anything in a SafeToPay report you doubt — that is what the source links are for.
- Use SafeToPay when you have a website address and a quote, and want to know in a minute who you would be paying, whether the website’s story matches the register, and how much to pay up front. Use the full report when the deposit is large enough that the accounts figures, the directors’ histories and the payment schedule are worth £14.99.
- Use both when the answer is red or “cannot be verified”: the report tells you what to ask; the register lets you confirm the answer.
Frequently asked questions
Is SafeToPay a Companies House alternative?
No — it is built on Companies House. Every fact about a company in a report is read from the register and linked back to it. What SafeToPay adds is identifying the company from a website address and comparing the register with the website, the domain, HMRC, the FCA register and reviews, then applying published verdict rules.
Is a free Companies House check enough before paying a deposit?
It is a necessary part, and for a company you can identify it answers age, status, accounts and directors. It cannot tell you which company is behind a brand, whether the website’s claims match, whether the domain is older than the company, or what a normal deposit is for the trade. Read our guide to a free Companies House check for what it can and cannot show.
Does SafeToPay have data Companies House does not?
Not about the company’s filings — nobody does. It has data from other public sources: the website’s own statements, domain registry and archive dates, HMRC’s VAT name, the FCA register, Google’s listing and reviews, and the Google Ads advertiser. The value is in the comparison.
What if a SafeToPay report is wrong?
The register is the tie-breaker. Every report links to the Companies House pages it was read from with the time of reading; a business or a reader can request a correction with evidence, and where the source shows we misread it, the report is corrected and re-run.
Why does SafeToPay charge when Companies House is free?
The preliminary report is free and a red verdict is always shown in full. The full report is £14.99 because parts of it use paid data (the Google Ads advertiser), and because reading accounts, director histories and building deposit guidance is the work. Companies House remains free for everyone, including us.
Sources
- Companies House — find and update company information.
- Companies House Public Data API.
- Open Government Licence v3.0.
- SafeToPay methodology v1.2 — sources, comparisons and verdict rules.
Start from the website address
Free, no sign-up, about a minute.
Enter a website address, e.g. example-kitchens.co.uk