UK Business Licence Scraper

This Apify actor allows you to scrape business licence and regulatory information from GOV.UK Find Licences, the UK government's official directory of business licences, permits, and registrations. Extract comprehensive licence data including titles, descriptions, requirements, and application processes — perfect for compliance research, business planning, and regulatory intelligence.

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🚀 Key Features

• 🔎 Scrape business licence listings from GOV.UK Find Licences
• 📋 Extract detailed licence information (title, description, overview HTML)
• 🏢 Comprehensive regulatory and compliance data
• 📄 Structured data extraction
• 🔗 Related links including contact info and application URLs
• 🌐 Automatic pagination handling

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❓ Why Use This Actor

• ✅ Automate licence and permit research for UK businesses
• ✅ Save hours of manual browsing through government websites
• ✅ Build comprehensive compliance databases
• ✅ Monitor regulatory changes and new licence requirements
• ✅ Support business planning and legal research
• ✅ Integrate licence data into business intelligence systems

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👥 Who Is This Actor Suitable For?

• 🏢 Business consultants and advisors
• 📊 Compliance and regulatory professionals
• 🧠 Legal researchers and solicitors
• 🧰 Startup founders planning new ventures
• 📚 Business analysts and researchers
• 💼 Corporate compliance teams

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📥 Input Schema

The actor accepts the following input parameters:

{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/find-licences"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/find-licences?keywords=sell&licence_transaction_location%5B%5D=england&licence_transaction_industry%5B%5D=advertising-and-marketing"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/find-licences/solicitor-s-practising-certificate-scotland"
    }
  ],
  "maxItems": 20,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}

Input Parameters

• startUrls (optional): Array of URLs to start scraping from. Defaults to the main licences page
• maxItems (optional): Maximum number of licence results to extract (default: 20)
• proxyConfiguration (optional): Proxy settings for anonymous scraping

Example Start URLs

You can provide different types of URLs to scrape specific licence information:

1. Main listing page (scrapes all 453+ licences):

https://www.gov.uk/find-licences

2. Filtered search results (scrapes licences matching specific criteria):

https://www.gov.uk/find-licences?keywords=sell&licence_transaction_location%5B%5D=england&licence_transaction_industry%5B%5D=advertising-and-marketing

3. Direct licence detail pages (scrapes a specific licence):

https://www.gov.uk/find-licences/solicitor-s-practising-certificate-scotland

You can mix and match different URL types in the startUrls array to scrape exactly what you need.

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📤 Output Schema

Each scraped business licence returns the following structured data:

{
  "title": "Solicitor's practising certificate (Northern Ireland)",
  "url": "https://www.gov.uk/find-licences/solicitor-s-practising-certificate-northern-ireland",
  "description": "You need a practicing certificate to practise as a solicitor in Northern Ireland",
  "links": [
    {
      "text": "Contact your local council",
      "url": "https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council"
    },
    {
      "text": "Law Society of Northern Ireland",
      "url": "http://www.lawsoc-ni.org/"
    }
  ],
  "overviewHtml": "<p>If you intend to practise as a solicitor in Northern Ireland, you must:</p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>have been admitted as a solicitor (eg completed your training)</li>\n  <li>have your name on the roll (a list of all solicitors of the Court of Judicature in Northern Ireland)</li>\n  <li>hold a practising certificate</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Practising certificates are issued by the <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http://www.lawsoc-ni.org/\" title=\"Law Society of Northern Ireland\">Law Society of Northern Ireland</a></p>\n\n<p>and you should contact them for an application form.</p>\n\n<p>You must pay a fee in connection with your practising certificate.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"conditions\">Conditions</h2>\n\n<p>Conditions may be attached to a practising certificate under certain circumstances (eg where you have been the subject of disciplinary sanctions).</p>\n\n<p>You must renew your registration every year that you intend to practise as a solicitor.</p>\n\n<p>As a solicitor you must comply with rules regarding:</p>\n\n<ul>\n  <li>professional practice, conduct and discipline</li>\n  <li>continuing professional development activities</li>\n  <li>accounts and trust accounts</li>\n  <li>interest on clients&#x2019; money</li>\n  <li>inspection of practice bank accounts</li>\n  <li>requests for accountants reports</li>\n  <li>professional indemnity</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If you are a European lawyer you can apply to <abbr title=\"Law Society of Northern Ireland\">LSNI</abbr> for initial registration as a registered European lawyer (<abbr title=\"registered European lawyer\">REL</abbr>) if you intend to practise as a lawyer in the UK.</p>\n\n<h2 id=\"fines-and-penalties\">Fines and penalties</h2>\n\n<div role=\"note\" aria-label=\"Warning\" class=\"application-notice help-notice\">\n<p>If you practise as a solicitor without obtaining a practising certificate or an REL without being registered, you may be fined and held in contempt of court.</p>\n</div>"
}

Output Fields

• title: The name of the business licence or permit
• url: Direct link to the licence information page on GOV.UK
• description: Brief summary of what the licence is for and who needs it
• links: Array of related links including contact information and application URLs
  • text: Link description
  • url: Link URL
• overviewHtml: Detailed HTML content about the licence including:
  • Requirements and eligibility criteria
  • Application process and steps
  • Conditions and compliance rules
  • Contact details for relevant authorities
  • Fees, penalties, and legal information

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Need to scrape more from GOV.UK?

Looking for job listings data from the UK government? Check out our other GOV.UK scraper:

🇬🇧 FindAJob DWP Gov UK Scraper - Extract job listings from the UK government's official employment portal including titles, companies, locations, salaries, and posting dates. Ideal for job aggregation, labor market research, and recruitment intelligence.

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👀 p.s.

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