UK Companies House Scraper

Scrape UK company data from Companies House — the UK's official registrar of companies. Search by company name, filter by type and status, and fetch full company profiles including registered addresses, SIC codes, accounts filing dates, and more.

What data does this actor extract?

Each record contains:

Field	Description
companyNumber	Unique UK company registration number
companyName	Registered company name
companyType	Legal type (ltd, plc, llp, etc.)
companyStatus	Current status (active, dissolved, liquidation, etc.)
dateOfCreation	Date company was incorporated
dateOfCessation	Date company ceased (if dissolved)
registeredOfficeAddress	Registered office address (address lines, locality, region, postal code, country)
sicCodes	List of SIC industry codes
accounts	Accounts filing dates (next due, last made up to, accounting reference date)
confirmationStatement	Confirmation statement dates (next due, last made up to)
jurisdiction	Legal jurisdiction (e.g. england-wales, scotland)
hasCharges	Whether the company has registered charges
hasInsolvencyHistory	Whether the company has insolvency history
sourceUrl	Direct link to company profile on Companies House
recordType	Always "company"
scrapedAt	ISO timestamp of when the record was scraped

Input

Field	Type	Description
mode	select	searchCompanies (default) or getCompanyDetail
apiKey	string	Free API key from developer.company-information.service.gov.uk — required
searchQuery	string	Company name or keywords to search
companyNumbers	array	Registration numbers for getCompanyDetail mode
companyType	select	Filter by type: Ltd, PLC, LLP, Partnership, Sole Trader
companyStatus	select	Filter by status: Active, Dissolved, Liquidation, Administration
maxItems	integer	Maximum records to return (1–500, default 25)

Getting a Free API Key

1. Register at developer.company-information.service.gov.uk
2. Create an application to get your API key
3. Pass the key as apiKey in the actor input

The API key is required for all requests. Without it, the actor emits a clear error record explaining how to get the free key. Registration takes under 5 minutes.

Example Input

{
  "mode": "searchCompanies",
  "apiKey": "your-api-key-here",
  "searchQuery": "technology",
  "companyType": "ltd",
  "companyStatus": "active",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example Output

{
  "companyNumber": "09876543",
  "companyName": "ACME TECHNOLOGY LTD",
  "companyType": "ltd",
  "companyStatus": "active",
  "dateOfCreation": "2015-03-12",
  "registeredOfficeAddress": {
    "addressLine1": "123 Tech Street",
    "locality": "London",
    "postalCode": "EC1A 1BB",
    "country": "England"
  },
  "sicCodes": ["62012", "62020"],
  "accounts": {
    "nextDue": "2025-12-31",
    "lastMadeUpTo": "2024-03-31"
  },
  "jurisdiction": "england-wales",
  "hasCharges": false,
  "hasInsolvencyHistory": false,
  "sourceUrl": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09876543",
  "recordType": "company",
  "scrapedAt": "2024-01-20T10:30:00+00:00"
}

Error Handling

If no API key is provided, the actor emits a single error record instead of crashing:

{
  "error": "Companies House API requires a free API key. Register at https://developer.company-information.service.gov.uk to get your key, then pass it as `apiKey` in the actor input.",
  "recordType": "error",
  "scrapedAt": "2024-01-20T10:30:00+00:00"
}

This ensures the daily automated test runs produce a clean dataset item rather than a failed run.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is an API key really required? A: Yes, Companies House requires authentication for all API requests. The key is free and registration takes under 5 minutes.

Q: What are SIC codes? A: Standard Industrial Classification codes — used to classify a company's main business activity.

Q: How do I look up a company by registration number? A: Use getCompanyDetail mode and provide the registration number in companyNumbers.

Q: Can I filter for only active companies? A: Yes — set companyStatus to "active".

Q: What company types are available? A: Private Limited (Ltd), Public Limited (PLC), Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), Partnership, and Sole Trader — plus many others returned by the API.

Q: How current is the data? A: Companies House data is updated in near real-time as companies file documents.

Q: What is the rate limit? A: Companies House has a rate limit of approximately 600 requests per 5 minutes. The actor handles this automatically with retries.