Most people have heard of Companies House. Far fewer have actually used it. Which is a shame, because it is one of the most quietly useful free resources the British public has access to, and it takes about ninety seconds to get started. Whether you want to check if a trader knocking at your door is who they say they are, look into a potential employer before accepting a job offer, or simply satisfy some healthy curiosity about that new café that’s opened on your high street, the information is right there, publicly available, no login required.
What Companies House actually is
Companies House is the UK’s official registrar of companies, operating as an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade. Every limited company incorporated in England, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland must register there. In return, the public gets access to a remarkable amount of detail: company accounts, director names, registered office addresses, confirmation statements, filing histories, and more.
As of early 2026, there are over five million companies registered in the UK, according to Companies House itself. That is an enormous pool of information sitting there, free of charge, waiting to be used.
How to search Companies House in under two minutes
Head to find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk and type in a company name or registration number. You do not need an account. You do not need to pay anything. A basic search returns the company’s status (active, dissolved, or dormant), its registered address, the names of directors and secretaries, and links to filed documents including accounts.
The search accepts partial names, which is handy if you’re unsure of the exact trading name. A builder who operates as “MKL Renovations Ltd” might have filed accounts under a slightly different legal name, and the partial search will surface it. Once you’re on the company page, the filing history tab gives you a chronological list of everything they’ve ever submitted.
Checking if a trader is legitimate
This is probably the most practical use for ordinary people learning how to use Companies House UK. Rogue traders do exist. If someone arrives claiming to represent a limited company, a two-minute search before you agree to anything is simply common sense.
Look for the following: Is the company listed as active? Does the registered address match what they’ve told you? How long has the company been trading? A firm claiming twenty years of experience that was incorporated six months ago deserves a follow-up question. Have directors changed repeatedly in a short period? High director turnover is not automatically a red flag, but combined with other oddities it can be worth noting.
Dissolved companies are shown clearly in the search results. If a trader hands you a business card for a company that Companies House shows as dissolved, that is a serious concern and you should not proceed without further investigation.
Researching a potential employer
Accepting a job offer from a company you know little about carries real risk. Companies House gives you a useful snapshot before you commit. The annual accounts, even the abbreviated versions that smaller companies file, tell you whether a business is broadly solvent, growing, or under stress. Check the most recent confirmation statement to see who actually owns the company, this can reveal whether it is part of a larger group or whether one individual holds most of the shares.
If you’re offered a role at a firm that is technically still active but has filed consistently late accounts, or has filed dormant accounts while claiming to be a growing business, that inconsistency is worth raising in an interview. It is not paranoia. It is exactly the kind of due diligence any employer would expect of a sharp candidate.
Understanding a local business
Here is where Companies House becomes genuinely interesting rather than just practical. Say a new restaurant has opened in your town and you’re curious about who is behind it. Search the name and you might find the same director has run three previous hospitality businesses, one of which is dissolved. That context colours how you feel about becoming a regular. Equally, you might find it’s backed by a well-established local group with solid accounts, which is reassuring.
Local journalists, community campaigners, and town councillors have used Companies House records for years to understand who owns buildings, who is behind planning applications, and whether a company making public promises has the financial substance to back them up. That resource is open to everyone, not just those with professional reasons to look.
What you can’t find on Companies House
It is worth being clear about limitations. Sole traders and partnerships are not required to register with Companies House, so you won’t find your local plumber there if he operates as an individual rather than through a limited company. Companies House also does not verify the accuracy of what firms submit; responsibility for accuracy lies with the directors. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 strengthened verification requirements, but the register is not a guarantee of honesty.
For trades people specifically, checking their registration with a body like Gas Safe Register or the NICEIC gives you a separate layer of assurance about technical competence that Companies House simply cannot provide.
A few tips for getting more from a search
Download the actual accounts as a PDF rather than relying on the summary figures. The notes to the accounts often contain detail that the headline numbers obscure, director loans, related-party transactions, contingent liabilities. None of this requires an accountancy qualification to read with a bit of patience.
Use the “officers” tab to search by a director’s name rather than a company name. This shows you every current and historic directorship that person holds or has held. It’s a remarkably powerful tool for understanding how someone operates across multiple businesses.
If you’re the sort of person who enjoys knowing what is going on in your community, the Companies House search sits nicely alongside other pleasures of engaged British life. Just as you might head down to an allotment plot as a way of being part of your local area, or spend an evening properly connecting with your neighbours over board games at one of the board game cafés now appearing across British towns, understanding the businesses around you is part of being an informed, engaged citizen.
Companies House is, in the end, a piece of public infrastructure built for public use. The fact that most people never touch it is not a reflection of its usefulness, it’s simply that nobody has sat down and explained it plainly. Hopefully this helps.