Companies House sets its digital data free

Companies House has belatedly made good on its promise to free all public digital data it holds on the UK register of companies.

Available in beta, a search facility on the Companies House website appeared yesterday – not April as initially hoped - to offer access to over 170m records on companies and directors.   

Visitors to the site can now search for information including financial accounts, company filings and details on directors and secretaries throughout the life of the company.

Contractors have been encouraged to look for such information as part of a ‘due diligence’ process to avoid late payers and, to that end, the facility also trawls insolvency details.

Companies House said: “Free access to the data is available both through a web service and an API, enabling both consumers and technology providers to access real time updates on companies.”

Feedback from either party is invited although new features such as searching by officers (including disqualified directors) are already promised for the coming months.