Companies House
Executive agency that acts as the United Kingdom's registrar of companies
| Companies House
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade |
| Headquarters | Crown Way, Cardiff, CF14 3UZ, United Kingdom |
| Location | Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast |
| Area served | United Kingdom |
| Services | Incorporating and dissolving limited companies; registering and publishing company information; the Register of Overseas Entities |
| Key people | Andy King, Chief Executive and Registrar of Companies for England and Wales |
| Website | gov.uk/companies-house |
Companies House is the registrar of companies for the United Kingdom, and an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade.[1] It incorporates and dissolves limited companies, registers company information and makes that information available to the public.[1] It holds the UK's register of companies and the Register of Overseas Entities, and says it has more than 5 million limited companies on its register, with over 800,000 new companies incorporated each year.[1]
Its organisation page on GOV.UK names its sponsoring department as the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.[2]
Organisation
Companies House says it employs over 2,000 people at offices in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast.[1] Andy King is the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales and Chief Executive of Companies House, based in Cardiff. Lisa Davis is the Registrar of Companies for Scotland, based in Edinburgh, and Ian McFarland is the Registrar of Companies for Northern Ireland, based in Belfast.[1] The agency's main office is at Crown Way, Cardiff.[2]
According to Companies House, the registrars' objectives include ensuring "information contained in the register is accurate and that the register contains everything it ought to contain", and preventing "companies and others from carrying out unlawful activities or facilitating the carrying out by others of unlawful activities".[1] Among its stated priorities is to "play a more central role in disrupting economic crime".[1]
What it registers
Companies and officers
Companies House examines and stores company information delivered under the Companies Act and related legislation, and makes it available to the public.[3] Details available free of charge include registered addresses and dates of incorporation, current and resigned officers, document images, mortgage charge data, previous company names and insolvency information.[4]
People with significant control
Companies must identify their people with significant control (PSCs), sometimes called "beneficial owners", and tell Companies House who they are.[5] A PSC is usually anyone who holds more than 25% of the shares or voting rights, can appoint or remove a majority of directors, or can otherwise influence or control the company. Shareholdings and voting rights are recorded in bands: over 25% up to 50%, more than 50% and less than 75%, and 75% or more.[5] A PSC's home address must be given to the company but must not be disclosed; the public register shows a correspondence (service) address.[5] In November 2025 the guidance was updated to reflect changes to company registers and the launch of mandatory identity verification.[5]
Register of Overseas Entities
The Register of Overseas Entities came into force on 1 August 2022 under the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022.[6] Overseas entities that want to buy, sell or transfer property or land in the UK must register with Companies House and identify their registrable beneficial owners or managing officers. The requirement also applies retrospectively to property or land bought on or after 1 January 1999 in England and Wales and on or after 8 December 2014 in Scotland.[6] Each registered entity receives an Overseas Entity ID to give to the land registry, such as HM Land Registry or Registers of Scotland, when it buys, sells, transfers, leases or charges UK property or land.[6]
Most of the information on the register is public, but home addresses, full dates of birth (only month and year are shown), email addresses and information about trusts are not published.[6] Companies House provides information on the register to HM Revenue & Customs.[6]
Use as a research source
The Companies House register can be searched free of charge, and users can set up free email alerts when a company changes details such as its directors or address.[4] Companies House also offers an application programming interface (API) that returns live, real-time information about limited companies and other companies within the Companies Act 2006.[3]
Powerbase company and people profiles, including pages on UK companies with business ties to Israel, use Companies House officer, PSC and overseas-entity records as a primary source, citing the register page for each fact. A guide to using the register for research is at How to Use Companies House.
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Companies House, About us - Companies House GOV.UK, accessed 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Companies House, Companies House GOV.UK, accessed 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Companies House, Companies House API overview Companies House Developer Hub, accessed 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 GOV.UK, Get information about a company GOV.UK, accessed 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Companies House, People with significant control (PSCs) GOV.UK, published 9 November 2020, last updated 30 July 2026, accessed 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Companies House, Register an overseas entity and its beneficial owners GOV.UK, published 25 July 2022, last updated 1 February 2026, accessed 19 October 2026.