UK Subcontractor Health Check

Check a whole list of UK subcontractors or suppliers in one run. Each one gets a RED / AMBER / GREEN rating and the reasons behind it, taken from official public records.

Built for quantity surveyors, procurement and supply chain teams, and anyone who keeps a preferred supplier list (PSL) up to date by hand.

• Catch failing firms early: liquidation, administration, strike-off notices and Gazette winding-up petitions.
• Spot warning signs: overdue accounts, a wave of director resignations, new secured lending, very young companies.
• See how big firms pay their supply chain: average days to pay and % of invoices paid late, from GOV.UK payment practices reports.
• Pay only for companies we find and check. Names that don't match a company cost nothing.

Who it's for

• QS and commercial teams vetting subcontractors before you let a package
• Procurement and supply chain managers refreshing a PSL every quarter
• Tier 1 and Tier 2 contractors checking the firms they rely on
• Suppliers and merchants checking customers before offering credit
• AI agents running supplier due diligence (this Actor accepts agentic payments)

What you get for each company

Field	What it means
rag	RED, AMBER, GREEN or NOT FOUND
flags	Plain-English reasons, e.g. "Accounts overdue at Companies House"
companyName, companyNumber	The company we matched to what you entered
matchConfidence	company-number, exact, probable or uncertain. Check anything that isn't exact
companyStatus	active, liquidation, administration, dissolved...
accountsLastMadeUpTo, accountsType, accountsNextDue, accountsOverdue	Accounts filing position
confirmationStatementOverdue	Confirmation statement filing position
companyAgeYears, incorporatedOn	How long they've been trading
activeDirectors, directorResignationsLast12Months	Board stability (counts only, no personal details)
outstandingCharges, newChargesLast12Months	Secured lending (debentures, mortgages)
gazetteNotices	Corporate insolvency notices from The Gazette, with links
paymentPractices	Average days to pay, % paid within 30 days, % paid after 60 days (large companies only)
companiesHouseUrl	A link to check the record yourself

Example output

{
  "input": "Acme Civils Ltd",
  "companyName": "ACME CIVILS LIMITED",
  "companyNumber": "01234567",
  "matchConfidence": "exact",
  "rag": "AMBER",
  "flags": [
    "Accounts overdue at Companies House",
    "2 director resignations in the last 12 months"
  ],
  "companyStatus": "active",
  "accountsLastMadeUpTo": "2024-03-31",
  "accountsOverdue": true,
  "companyAgeYears": 27.5,
  "activeDirectors": 2,
  "directorResignationsLast12Months": 2,
  "outstandingCharges": 1,
  "gazetteNotices": [],
  "paymentPractices": null,
  "companiesHouseUrl": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01234567"
}

(Example only. Acme Civils is not a real company.)

How the rating works

RED: do not appoint without investigating

• Status is liquidation, administration, receivership, voluntary arrangement, insolvency proceedings or dissolved
• Active proposal to strike off
• Any corporate insolvency notice in The Gazette within the look-back period (e.g. a petition to wind up)

AMBER: ask questions

• Accounts or confirmation statement overdue
• Previous insolvency history
• Less than 2 years old
• 2 or more director resignations in the last 12 months, or all listed directors have resigned
• 2 or more new secured charges in the last 12 months
• Pays suppliers in more than 60 days on average, or pays more than 20% of invoices after 60 days

GREEN: none of the above found.

A GREEN rating means public records show no warning signs. It does not guarantee a company's financial health. Use it alongside credit checks, references and your own pre-qualification process.

How to use it

1. Paste your companies into Companies to check, one per line. Companies House numbers give the most reliable match. Registered names work too.
2. Click Start.
3. Download the results as Excel, CSV or JSON, or open the Health check overview table.

Tip: schedule a monthly run of your whole supplier list and send the results to email, Slack or a Google Sheet using Apify integrations. Then you'll know when a supplier's position changes.

Pricing

You pay a small fee per company found and checked (see the Pricing tab). Companies we can't find cost nothing. Use Maximum companies per run to cap your spend.

Data sources

All data comes from free, official UK public sources under the Open Government Licence v3.0:

• Companies House public data API: company profile, officers (counts only) and charges
• The Gazette: corporate insolvency notices
• GOV.UK payment practices reporting: published supplier payment reports

This Actor isn't affiliated with Companies House, The Gazette, or the Department for Business and Trade.

Limitations

• Covers companies registered in England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sole traders and partnerships aren't on Companies House.
• Doesn't include credit scores, CCJs, Constructionline or SSIP status. Those aren't free public data.
• Turnover isn't included yet. Small companies often file abbreviated accounts without it.
• Payment practices data exists only for large companies, which are legally required to report.
• Name matching is automatic. Always check rows where matchConfidence is probable or uncertain.

Feedback

Found a problem or want a feature (HSE enforcement data, turnover from filed accounts, monitoring mode)? Open an issue on the Issues tab.