🏢 Companies House UK Scraper

Get all the information you need about UK companies in seconds! This scraper grabs data from the official Companies House website - that's where the UK government keeps records of every company.

What Does This Scraper Do?

Think of Companies House like a giant phone book, but for businesses. This scraper reads that phone book for you and collects all the juicy details about any UK company you want to know about.

You can search by company name (like "Apple" or "Tesco") or use the company number if you know it. The scraper then visits Companies House and brings back everything it finds!

✨ What Information Can You Get?

Here's all the cool stuff this scraper can find:

Data Type	What It Means
Company Details	The basics - name, number, status (active or closed), type, and when it started
Address	Where the company's official office is located
Officers	Who runs the company - directors, secretaries, both current and past
PSCs	"Persons with Significant Control" - the people who really own or control the company
Filing History	All the paperwork the company has filed (like report cards for businesses!)
Charges	Any loans or debts secured against the company
SIC Codes	Special codes that tell you what the business actually does

🚀 How To Use It

Option 1: Search by Company Name

Just type in a company name, and the scraper will search for it and grab the first match.

Option 2: Use Direct URLs

Already know which company page you want? Paste the Companies House URL directly!

Example URL: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11076647

⚙️ Input Options

Scraping Options

Field	What It Does	Default
searchQuery	Type a company name or number to search for	-
directUrls	Paste Companies House URLs directly (skips searching)	Empty
scrapeFilingHistory	Get the company's filing history?	✅ Yes
scrapeOfficers	Get info about directors and officers?	✅ Yes
scrapePSCs	Get info about people who control the company?	✅ Yes
scrapeCharges	Get info about company charges/loans?	✅ Yes
maxFilingHistoryPages	How many pages of filing history to grab (0 = all of them)	10

Performance & Rate Limiting

Field	What It Does	Default
maxRequestsPerCrawl	Max pages the scraper can visit (0 = unlimited)	0 (unlimited)
maxConcurrency	Number of parallel browser sessions (1-3 recommended)	3
requestDelaySeconds	Delay between requests in seconds	1
proxyConfiguration	Proxy settings for avoiding IP blocks	No proxy

📊 Output Schema

Here's exactly what data you'll get back for each company:

Main Company Info

{
  "companyName": "EXAMPLE COMPANY LTD",
  "companyNumber": "12345678",
  "companyStatus": "Active",
  "companyType": "Private limited Company",
  "incorporatedOn": "22 November 2017",
  "dissolvedOn": null,
  "registeredOfficeAddress": "123 Main Street, London, England, SW1A 1AA",
  "url": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12345678",
  "scrapedAt": "2025-12-04T15:44:32.655Z"
}

SIC Codes (What the business does)

{
  "sicCodes": [
    {
      "code": "62012",
      "description": "Business and domestic software development"
    }
  ]
}

Accounts Info

{
  "accounts": {
    "nextAccountsMadeUpTo": "30 November 2025",
    "lastAccountsMadeUpTo": "30 November 2024"
  },
  "annualReturn": {
    "lastAnnualReturnMadeUpTo": "2 July 2014"
  },
  "confirmationStatement": {
    "nextStatementDate": "16 January 2026",
    "lastStatementDate": "16 January 2025"
  }
}

Note: annualReturn is only available for older/dissolved companies. Active companies use confirmationStatement instead (annual returns were replaced by confirmation statements in 2016).

Officers (Directors & Secretaries)

{
  "officers": [
    {
      "name": "SMITH, John",
      "role": "Director",
      "status": "Active",
      "appointedOn": "1 February 2018",
      "resignedOn": null,
      "dateOfBirth": "December 1982",
      "nationality": "British",
      "countryOfResidence": "England",
      "occupation": "Software Developer",
      "correspondenceAddress": "123 Main Street, London, England, SW1A 1AA",
      "identityVerificationDue": "30 January 2026",
      "placeRegistered": null,
      "registrationNumber": null
    }
  ]
}

PSCs (Persons with Significant Control)

{
  "pscs": [
    {
      "name": "Mr John Smith",
      "status": "Active",
      "correspondenceAddress": "123 Main Street, London, England, SW1A 1AA",
      "notifiedOn": "16 January 2019",
      "ceasedOn": null,
      "dateOfBirth": "December 1982",
      "nationality": "British",
      "countryOfResidence": "England",
      "natureOfControl": [
        "Ownership of shares – 75% or more",
        "Ownership of voting rights - 75% or more",
        "Right to appoint or remove directors"
      ],
      "placeRegistered": null,
      "registrationNumber": null,
      "legalForm": null,
      "lawGoverned": null
    }
  ]
}

Filing History

{
  "filingHistory": [
    {
      "date": "22 Aug 2025",
      "type": "AA",
      "description": "Micro company accounts made up to 30 November 2024",
      "documentUrl": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12345678/filing-history/.../document"
    }
  ]
}

Statistics Summary

{
  "statistics": {
    "filings": 28,
    "officers": 3,
    "pscs": 3,
    "sicCodes": 1,
    "previousNames": 0
  }
}

Extra Links

{
  "moreInfo": {
    "orderCertifiedDocumentUrl": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12345678/orderable/certified-copies",
    "fileForCompanyUrl": "/company/12345678/authorise?return_to=/company/12345678/more",
    "followCompanyUrl": "https://follow.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12345678/confirm-follow"
  }
}

🎯 Perfect For

• Researchers looking into UK businesses
• Due diligence before working with a company
• Journalists investigating corporate structures
• Business analysts gathering market data
• Developers building apps that need UK company data

🏃 Running Locally

Want to test it on your computer first? Easy!

# Run the scraper
apify run

☁️ Deploy to Apify Cloud

Ready to run it in the cloud? Here's how:

# Log in to your Apify account
apify login

# Push it to the cloud
apify push

📚 Learn More

• Apify Platform Docs
• Crawlee Documentation
• Join the Apify Discord

⚖️ Legal Disclaimer & Responsible Use

This scraper accesses publicly available data from Companies House, a UK government service. Before using this scraper, please be aware of the following:

Terms of Use

• Open Government Licence: Data from Companies House is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0. You must meet the conditions of this licence when reusing the data.
• Rate Limiting: This scraper is configured with sensible defaults (maxConcurrency: 3, requestDelaySeconds: 1). You can adjust these settings, but making too many requests may result in your access being temporarily blocked.
• robots.txt: The scraper respects standard web crawling conventions. It does not access disallowed paths such as /search/all* or print pages.

Your Responsibilities

• ✅ Use the data in accordance with the Open Government Licence
• ✅ Attribute the data source appropriately when publishing
• ✅ Respect rate limits and avoid overwhelming the service
• ❌ Do not use for purposes that violate Terms of Service
• ❌ Do not scrape or store personal data without lawful basis (GDPR applies)
• ❌ Do not use the data for harassment, spam, or illegal purposes

Official APIs

Companies House also provides official APIs which may be more appropriate for high-volume or commercial use. Consider using the official API if you need:

• Real-time data access
• Higher rate limits
• SLA guarantees

This scraper is provided "as is" without warranty. Users are solely responsible for ensuring their use complies with all applicable laws and terms of service.

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Made with ❤️ for anyone who needs UK company data fast!