Companies House API & Scraper for UK Company Data

Use this Companies House API alternative to collect public UK company profiles, directors and other officers, persons with significant control (PSCs) and filing history, without registering for an API key. Search by company name, provide company numbers, or use registration filters to build a structured dataset for KYB checks, B2B lead lists, credit research and company enrichment.

Each company, appointment and filing is a separate record. The registry_id field is the Companies House company number shared by all records for that company. This makes the output suitable for spreadsheets, CRM imports and database joins without unpacking nested lists of people or documents.

What the Companies House scraper collects

Company records include the registered name, company number, current register status, legal form, incorporation date, registered office address and UK SIC codes. Where available, they also include previous names, dissolution dates, accounts dates and confirmation statement dates. Status is provided as a consistent value such as active, dissolved or in_liquidation, with the original register text when disclosed. Royal Charter companies, charitable incorporated organisations and ICVCs may omit the status: these profiles remain available with status: unknown and no status_raw. Administration and receiver action normalize to inactive; open establishments, registered overseas entities and active companies with a strike-off proposal normalize to active.

Officer records include the name, role, appointment date, resignation date and company context. Nationality, month and year of birth, correspondence address, residence and identity verification information are included when the register discloses them. An appointment recorded as “Appointed before” retains that distinction in appointed_before.

Filing records include the filing type code, date and description. Where a document is available, document_url points to its public Companies House download route. Accounts filings can also include the period end date. The actor returns document links and metadata; it does not download or interpret the contents of financial statements.

How to get Companies House data in three steps

1. Enter one or more company numbers, company names, or advanced search filters such as SIC codes and incorporation dates.
2. Choose the sections you need: officers (directors and secretaries), PSCs, filing history and the GLEIF LEI match.
3. Start the run and export the dataset as JSON, CSV or Excel, or read it from the Apify API in your own pipeline.

Input

Provide at least one company number, a name search, or an advanced search filter. You can combine company numbers and searches in the same run. Duplicate company numbers and companies appearing in more than one search are collected once.

Field	Default	What it does
company_numbers	–	Companies House numbers to look up directly
search_queries	–	Company names to search for
sic_codes	–	Advanced search: UK SIC codes
location	–	Advanced search: registered office address text
company_status	–	Advanced search: register status, for example active, dissolved or liquidation
incorporated_from / incorporated_to	–	Advanced search: incorporation date range (YYYY-MM-DD)
max_results	20	Matches per name query or advanced filter set, up to 1,000
include_officers	false	Add officer rows (directors, secretaries and other appointments)
officers_status	all	all, or active for current appointments only
max_officers_per_company	35	Officer rows per company
include_filings	false	Add filing history rows
max_filings_per_company	25	Filing rows per company
include_psc	false	Add persons with significant control
include_lei	true	Match each company to its GLEIF LEI

For a direct lookup, the following input retrieves Tesco PLC with officers, filings and any available PSC information:

{
  "company_numbers": ["00445790"],
  "include_officers": true,
  "include_filings": true,
  "include_psc": true
}

For a company name search, use:

{
  "search_queries": ["tesco"],
  "max_results": 40,
  "include_lei": false
}

Numeric company numbers are padded to eight digits, so 445790 becomes 00445790. Letter prefixes are preserved: Scottish company numbers and LLP numbers remain valid Companies House identifiers. All records use GB as their register jurisdiction.

max_results defaults to 20 and applies separately to each name query or advanced filter set. It does not truncate an explicit list of company numbers. You can request up to 1,000 matches per query. Searches follow the public register’s result order and can match previous company names as well as current names.

Advanced filters include sic_codes, location, company_status, incorporated_from and incorporated_to. Dates must use YYYY-MM-DD and refer to valid calendar dates. The location filter searches registered office address text. Multiple advanced filters form one additional search; they do not change the meaning of separate name queries.

Officers, filings and PSCs are optional and disabled by default. max_officers_per_company defaults to 35, and max_filings_per_company defaults to 25. Set officers_status to active when you only want current appointments. The officer limit counts the delivered appointments after that filter. Larger limits follow the available history up to the requested cap.

Output

The dataset contains a flat list distinguished by record_type: company, officer or filing. Every row includes its company number, register jurisdiction, source identifier, retrieval timestamp and source URL. For each company, its profile comes first, followed by appointments, PSC records and filings.

PSCs use the officer record type and the role person with significant control. They can include a notification date and the disclosed nature of control. A company exempt from PSC disclosure produces a warning and no PSC rows. This is a valid register outcome.

Optional values that the register does not disclose are omitted. Active companies have a null dissolution_date, and active appointments have a null resigned_on. Company data does not imply that VAT numbers, websites, employee counts or officer occupations are available; those fields are outside this actor’s public register output.

The run summary reports delivered rows, units, charges, warnings and whether collection was incomplete. Units count every delivered company, officer and filing row. Large collections continue automatically across result pages. If an upstream section cannot be retrieved, the actor preserves available records and reports the missing section. A permanently unavailable or unrecognised company profile is skipped with a warning so the remaining companies can still be collected; the collection stays incomplete. Review warnings before treating a collection as complete.

Example output

These three rows come from a real run for Tesco PLC (00445790) on 4 October 2026, one of each record type. The company row is shortened to its main fields.

{
  "record_type": "company",
  "registry_id": "00445790",
  "jurisdiction": "GB",
  "url": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00445790",
  "name": "TESCO PLC",
  "status": "active",
  "status_raw": "Active",
  "dissolution_date": null,
  "legal_form": "Public limited Company",
  "incorporation_date": "1947-11-27",
  "address_raw": "Tesco House, Shire Park, Kestrel Way, Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom, AL7 1GA",
  "address": {
    "street": "Tesco House, Shire Park, Kestrel Way, Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom",
    "postal_code": "AL7 1GA",
    "country": "GB"
  },
  "industry_codes": [
    {
      "scheme": "sic",
      "code": "47110",
      "description": "Retail sale in non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating"
    }
  ],
  "accounts": {
    "next_made_up_to": "2027-02-26",
    "next_due_by": "2027-08-26",
    "last_made_up_to": "2026-02-28"
  },
  "officers_count": 74,
  "resignations_count": 63,
  "lei": "2138002P5RNKC5W2JZ46"
}

{
  "record_type": "officer",
  "registry_id": "00445790",
  "company_name": "TESCO PLC",
  "name": "BETHELL, Melissa",
  "role": "Director",
  "officer_status": "Active",
  "appointed_on": "2018-09-24",
  "resigned_on": null,
  "appointed_before": false,
  "nationality": "British",
  "country_of_residence": "United Kingdom",
  "birth_year": 1974,
  "birth_month": 9,
  "identity_verified": true,
  "officer_id": "aqrS_F-2zIvSaMNtl1opqDV4-w0"
}

{
  "record_type": "filing",
  "registry_id": "00445790",
  "company_name": "TESCO PLC",
  "date": "2026-09-16",
  "filing_type": "SH03",
  "description": "Purchase of own shares. ANNOTATION Clarification hmrc confirmation received that appropriate duty has been paid on this repurchase",
  "document_url": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00445790/filing-history/MzU0MzY3ODg5MGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0",
  "filing_id": "MzU0MzY3ODg5MGFkaXF6a2N4",
  "pages": 4
}

Use cases

• KYB and onboarding checks. Confirm that a UK supplier or customer exists, is active, and is run by the directors and PSCs it claims. The LEI match links the company to its global legal entity identifier.
• B2B lead generation. Combine SIC codes, a location and an incorporation date range to list newly formed companies in a sector, then add directors as named contacts for your CRM.
• Credit and risk monitoring. Track accounts and confirmation statement due dates, status changes such as liquidation, and recent filings for a portfolio of company numbers.
• Director search and due diligence. Collect every appointment on a company, including resigned officers, to see who has run it and since when.
• Data enrichment. Add register status, SIC codes and registered address to an existing list of company numbers in one run.

Companies House API compared with this actor

The official Companies House API is free, but you register an application, manage an API key, call a separate endpoint for the profile, officers, PSCs and filing history of each company, and work within its request limits. That is a good fit if you are building and maintaining your own integration.

This actor returns the same public register information as one flat dataset per run: no key, no pagination code and no joining of separate responses. You pay per delivered row instead of building and hosting the integration yourself.

Companies House bulk data products are monthly snapshots of basic company data. They suit full-register analysis, but do not include filing history per company and need your own loading and matching. Use this actor when you need current records for a specific set of companies or a filtered search.

Other Companies House scrapers in the Apify Store often return one nested object per company. Here every officer and filing is its own row with the company number as the join key, and each record type has its own price, so you only pay for the sections you switch on.

Pricing

Billing uses separate events for delivered company, officer and filing rows. PSC rows count as officer rows. The current event prices appear in the Apify pricing panel. A company profile is counted once even when collection needs several continuation pages. Document links are part of filing records; they do not trigger a separate document event.

There is no custom start event. An empty search or an unknown company number produces no register rows and no result charges. When some supplied numbers are invalid or missing, valid company records can still be delivered, with warnings identifying the skipped inputs.

Users without a paid Apify plan receive at most ten dataset rows per run, across all record types. Section options can therefore use part of this allowance. Only delivered rows are counted by the company, officer and filing events. Paid users can collect the requested volumes subject to the source and the actor’s run limits.

Joining company identities

LEI lookup is enabled by default. The actor matches the Companies House number against GLEIF’s registeredAs field and checks for a GB legal address. Tesco PLC’s company number 00445790, for example, matches LEI 2138002P5RNKC5W2JZ46 in the captured register response.

A missing LEI does not mean that the company is invalid. Many registered companies do not have one. If GLEIF has no matching record, lei is omitted. If the lookup fails, the Companies House profile is still delivered and the run includes a warning. Set include_lei to false if your workflow only needs register data.

FAQ

Do I need a Companies House API key?

No. The actor collects the public register pages for you. You only need an Apify account; the dataset can be read from the Apify API with your Apify token.

Is this the official Companies House API?

No. It is an independent tool that returns publicly available Companies House information. Use the official service if you need its guarantees or want to file documents.

Can I search dissolved companies?

Yes. Direct company number lookups can retrieve dissolved profiles, and advanced search supports a dissolved status filter. A disclosed dissolution date is included alongside the normalized status. Available historical officers and filings can be requested for the same company.

Are officers and PSCs the same kind of record?

Both are separate officer rows for convenient identity joins, but their roles distinguish them. A director appointment has the role shown by the register. A PSC has the role person with significant control, with its notification date and disclosed control information when available.

Does the actor return full dates of birth?

No. The public register generally discloses a month and year for individual officers. The actor preserves that level of detail through birth_month and birth_year. It does not infer a day or manufacture values for corporate officers.

Can I download the filing PDFs later?

Yes, when a document link is disclosed. Use document_url, which is the Companies House document route. Downloading may redirect to a temporary document location, so retain the register URL in your dataset rather than a destination obtained during a previous download.

How current is the output?

Records are fetched from the public sources during the run and include fetched_at. The output reflects what those sources disclose at retrieval time. A company’s current profile and its historical appointments or filings describe different dates; use the individual record dates when building timelines.