A Free 5-Minute Background Check on Any UK Company (Companies House)
Before you sign a contract, extend payment terms, or onboard a supplier in the UK, there is a free background check you can run in about a minute. Everything you need is on the public Companies House register. Most small businesses skip it, not because it is hard, but because they do not know which five things to look at. Here they are, plus how to turn the whole thing into one structured API…
Searching a business in the UK for potential risks is a simple process that can be completed in under a minute. The information you need is readily available in the public Companies House register. For those who may be unaware, there are five key aspects to review when conducting this check. Let's delve into each of these points, along with how to streamline the entire process into a single API call when evaluating multiple companies.
Firstly, the status and age of the company are essential to consider. While the baseline is an active status, the incorporation date is equally important. For example, a six-month-old company seeking 60-day payment terms carries a different risk profile compared to a fifteen-year-old company with similar terms. Both scenarios are documented on the register.
The next crucial factor is whether the company's accounts are overdue. This is a significant red flag as UK companies are required to file annual accounts by a specific deadline. When accounts are late, it often precedes more severe issues. The register provides this information promptly.
Another area of concern is outstanding charges. A charge represents a lender's claim on the company's assets, such as mortgages or debentures. The register indicates the number of registered charges and how many have been satisfied. Unsatisfied charges signify that someone has a hold on the business, which could be a serious concern.
The register also provides details on persons with significant control (PSC). This register outlines the individuals who actually own and control the company, as opposed to those trading under a different name. This information is vital for Know Your Customer (KYC) and sanctions checks.
Lastly, it's worth examining the company's insolvency history and officer churn. A history of insolvency proceedings or a pattern of directors being appointed and resigned in rapid succession are patterns worth reviewing. All of this information is accessible at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk, and it's completely free with no need for an account.
The process of checking these factors for each company can be done manually, but it becomes highly time-consuming when dealing with multiple vendors. To simplify this, a feed has been created that consolidates all the necessary information into one call per company, as well as calculating any red flags for you. The output looks like this:
```json
{
"companyName": "BANK OF SCOTLAND PLC",
"status": "active",
"companyAgeYears": 18.8,
"accounts": {
"nextDue": "2027-06-30",
"overdue": false
},
"personsWithSignificantControl": [
{
"name": "HBOS PLC",
"naturesOfControl": [
"ownership-of-shares-75-to-100-percent"
]
}
],
"charges": {
"total": 29,
"outstanding": 16,
"satisfied": 13
},
"riskFlags": [
"outstanding-charges:16"
]
}
```
In this example, the key point is the `riskFlags` array, which contains verifiable register facts instead of opinions or scores. Examples include accounts-overdue, insolvency-history, outstanding-charges:N, status:dissolved, and no-active-officers. You have the flexibility to decide which combination of flags constitutes a dealbreaker; the report simply ensures you don't overlook any of them.
To utilize this data, you can run the following command:
```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/jdepablos~companies-house-feed/run-sync-get-dataset-items?timeout=300" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN " \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{ "companies": ["00502851", "Tesco", "SC327000"] }'
```
This command will return the profile for each of the specified companies, with a cost of $0.005 per company profile delivered. A daily watchlist of 30 vendors would amount to approximately $4.50 per month.
If a company cannot be found, the process remains free, and you can use your own free Companies House API key to leverage your preferred rate limit. The feed can be accessed here, and the manual version of these instructions is also available for those who prefer a more hands-on approach.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
