With over 4 million registered public companies in the UK and over 500,000 new business start-ups each year, it is vital that Companies House has a transparent and comprehensive centre to access the vast amount of corporate information. With over four million registered and existing public limited liability companies and 500,000 new company formations per year, it is crucial that companies have the ability to collect this information efficiently, while being accurate and transparent.
To learn more about public companies in the UK, including dissolved companies and disqualified directors, use the WebCHeck Companies House Service. Search the register or use the Company House mobile app to search for information from companies. You can also use mobile apps from companies to search for company name, address, company number, date of birth and other details.
Companies House’s beta service makes the UK corporate world transparent: you can search the details of private companies operating in the UK for free. Companies House has made this information public and behaved transparently by removing non-compliant companies from the register and penalising directors in a relevant manner.
Technically, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own private companies, but Companies House only shows the fees that are registered for businesses and records in the UK. Importantly, companies registered in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man are not subject to the same safety requirements as companies in England and Wales. Similarly, any securities granted by foreign companies not registered in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or any other country will not be with CompaniesHouse. Importantly, the house of companies does not offer protection for the securities that are granted to companies registered in Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man.
The House of Companies has several regional information centres, where the main index of company numbers and information on companies that have been closed down since 1 January 1963 can be found. The fourth office is located in London and serves merely as an information centre where documents can be delivered, archived and searched for all UK registered public limited companies. The company register in Scotland is governed by Scottish law, but offices in Belfast, Edinburgh and London are closed to the public, while the office at Companies House in Cardiff remains open 24 hours a day for document receipt.
Companies House is the main information centre for all companies registered in England and Wales and subject to English law. It is responsible for the management of the records of all company registrations in the United Kingdom and for the registration of companies registered outside England or Wales that are or have been the subject of English law, such as public limited companies.
The main purpose of Companies House is to establish or dissolve public limited companies, including limited liability partnerships, registered under the Companies Act 2006, which governs the registration of companies in the UK. To start a business, a company must submit certain documents, enter a number of details in the register and notify the House of Companies of changes in the formation process.
Whether or not you need to register with Companies House depends on the legal structure you choose for your business. If your business has a long list of things to do, you need to send the right forms to the house before you do.
However, the Companies Act 1985 requires any foreign company with some kind of registered office in the UK to provide certain documents to Companies House. Companies registered in the UK must file their accounts with Company House, while all companies (not just companies) are required to do the same with HMRC. When you register as a company, you will need to submit a number of different types of documents to the Register, such as tax returns, tax forms and annual accounts. Limited liability companies and limited liability companies can also be filed with Companies House, which has offices in London, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
In general, company names associated with the Royal Family or the UK Government are not permitted and such filings are always rejected by Companies House.
The Companies House office in Cardiff handles the registration of companies established in England and Wales. Companies that are subject to English law but are legal entities and are not yet economically active or whose economic activity is carried out abroad are excluded from the list of companies registered in the UK – registered companies for which it is not possible to register as overseas companies in the UK, including companies registered in the UK and those operating abroad but registered at the registered office.