Companies in the United Kingdom are registered with Companies House, an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade. It incorporates and dissolves limited companies, records company information and makes it available to the public, and it holds more than five million limited companies with over 800,000 new incorporations each year. Alongside the register of companies it maintains the Register of Overseas Entities. The register is searched free of charge through the Companies House Service at gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company.

The company registry in the United Kingdom

The governing statute is the Companies Act 2006, now heavily amended by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Although the UK has a single register in practice, there are formally three registrars — for England and Wales, for Scotland and for Northern Ireland — and Companies House operates from Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast with more than 2,000 staff.

Companies House does not register sole traders or ordinary partnerships. A sole trader in the UK registers with HM Revenue and Customs for tax rather than with Companies House, and a general partnership has no registration requirement either. What Companies House registers are incorporated bodies and a defined set of partnership vehicles, plus the UK establishments of overseas companies.

The register is in the middle of the largest reform in its history. The first tranche of changes under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act took effect on 4 March 2024, introducing a requirement for an appropriate registered email address and a stricter registered office rule and giving the registrar new powers to query and reject information. The pivotal change came on 18 November 2025, when identity verification became a legal requirement. Everyone setting up, running, owning or controlling a UK company must now verify their identity: directors provide their Companies House personal code with the company’s next confirmation statement, people with significant control must verify and supply their personal code within defined 14-day windows keyed to their birth month, their confirmation statement date, or the date they were added to the register, and anyone filing on behalf of others must be registered as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). Companies no longer keep their own internal registers of directors, directors’ residential addresses, secretaries and people with significant control — that information now lives centrally at Companies House. Companies House fees were revised on 1 February 2026.

Further change is scheduled rather than done. From 1 April 2028 accounts must be filed using commercial software in iXBRL format, with the web and paper routes closing for accounts while remaining open for other filings; small and micro-entity companies must file a profit and loss account, abridged accounts are abolished for small companies, and companies claiming an audit exemption must give an enhanced directors’ statement identifying the exemption relied on. A company may also shorten its accounting reference period only once in five years without giving business reasons.

Legal forms that can be registered in the United Kingdom

  • Private company limited by shares (Ltd) — the standard UK company; members’ liability is limited to the amount unpaid on their shares, there is no minimum capital, and a single director and single shareholder suffice.
  • Private company limited by guarantee — has no share capital; members guarantee a nominal amount towards the company’s debts on winding up. Used by charities, clubs, professional bodies and management companies.
  • Private unlimited company — members bear unlimited liability, in exchange for which the company is generally exempt from filing accounts at Companies House.
  • Public limited company (PLC) — may offer shares to the public; requires a minimum allotted share capital of £50,000 with at least a quarter paid up, at least two directors and a company secretary, and files accounts within a shorter period than a private company.
  • Limited liability partnership (LLP) — a body corporate under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000 with at least two designated members; members have limited liability but the LLP is taxed transparently. Widely used by professional firms.
  • Limited partnership (LP) — registered under the Limited Partnership Act 1907 with at least one general partner liable without limit and limited partners liable up to their contribution. Scottish limited partnerships have separate legal personality.
  • Community interest company (CIC) — a limited company, by shares or by guarantee, with an asset lock and a community purpose, approved and supervised by the CIC Regulator in addition to Companies House registration.
  • UK establishment of an overseas company — a branch or place of business in the UK of a company incorporated abroad; it is registered at Companies House but is not a separate legal person.
  • Overseas entity registered under the Register of Overseas Entities — a foreign entity that owns or wishes to acquire UK land must register and disclose its beneficial owners in order to deal with that land.
  • Sole trader and ordinary partnership — the unincorporated forms; they carry unlimited personal liability and are not registered at Companies House at all.

Information available from the UK registry

The Companies House register is one of the most open in the world: search, viewing and document download are free, without registration. For each company the service shows the company name and number, the registered office address and the appropriate email requirement, the company type and status, the date of incorporation, the SIC codes describing the nature of business, the accounting reference date and the next due dates for accounts and confirmation statement, the current and resigned officers with their dates of birth shown to month and year, the people with significant control and the nature of their control, the statement of capital, any charges registered against the company, and the full filing history with every filed document available to download.

Two categories of information sit behind the counter. Directors’ and PSCs’ residential addresses and full dates of birth are supplied to Companies House but not shown on the public register, and individuals at serious risk of violence or intimidation may apply for further protection. Identity-verification data supplied under the 2023 Act supports the register’s integrity but the underlying identity documents are not published.

Accounts are public. Every company other than an unlimited one must file annual accounts — private companies normally within nine months of the accounting reference date and public companies within six — and must file a confirmation statement at least once a year confirming that the company’s information is up to date. Because filings are published in full, a UK company’s accounts, charges and ownership history can be reconstructed from the register at no cost. The reforms described above will extend that further, by requiring small and micro companies to file profit and loss accounts from April 2028.

Documents that can be obtained from the registry

  • Certificate of incorporation — the registrar’s certificate that the company exists as a body corporate from a stated date, with its name and registered number. The basic proof of existence.
  • Company certificate with certified facts — a certificate that can be issued with additional certified information, such as the names of directors, their dates of birth and nationality, the names of secretaries, the registered office address, the company’s objects and a summary statement. Companies House cannot certify information about people with significant control, shareholders, shareholdings or the statement of capital.
  • Summary statement — formerly called a good standing statement: confirmation that the company has been in continuous, unbroken existence since incorporation and that no action is being taken to strike it off. Commonly required for cross-border transactions.
  • Certified copy of a document held on the register — an officially certified duplicate of any filed document, for use where a downloaded copy will not be accepted.
  • Annual accounts — the filed balance sheet and, where applicable, profit and loss account, directors’ report and auditor’s report for each financial year, free to download from the filing history.
  • Confirmation statement — the annual statement of the company’s shareholders, share capital, SIC codes and PSC position.
  • Articles of association and incorporation documents — the company’s constitution as filed, together with any amendments.
  • Register of charges and mortgage documents — particulars of charges created by the company and the instruments creating them, essential for lender due diligence.

Documents issued by Companies House can be legalised for overseas use through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; Companies House does not itself apostille documents.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the UK company register called?

The register of companies, kept by Companies House, an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade. It is searched free of charge through the Companies House Service on GOV.UK.

Do I have to verify my identity at Companies House?

Yes, if you set up, run, own or control a UK company. Identity verification became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025; directors give their personal code on the next confirmation statement, and people with significant control verify within defined 14-day windows.

Are UK company accounts free to view?

Yes. Filed accounts, confirmation statements, charges and constitutional documents are all downloadable free of charge from a company’s filing history on the Companies House Service.

Does Companies House register sole traders?

No. Sole traders and ordinary partnerships are not registered at Companies House; a sole trader registers with HM Revenue and Customs for tax purposes.

Can I see who really owns a UK company?

Yes, to the extent of the people with significant control regime: the register shows the PSCs of a company and the nature of their control. Residential addresses and full dates of birth are withheld from public view.

What is changing for UK company accounts?

From 1 April 2028 accounts must be filed through commercial software in iXBRL format, small and micro-entity companies must file profit and loss accounts, abridged accounts are abolished for small companies, and audit-exempt companies must give an enhanced directors’ statement.

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