The problem with UK company data
According to the Companies House Annual Report 2024-25, there are 5.43 million companies on the UK register, with 4.87 million of them effective. That's a lot of potential counterparties, clients, suppliers, and subjects of research.
The data about those companies is spread across more than 20 public sources — government departments, regulatory bodies, courts, and official gazettes. Nobody has the time or inclination to check them all. But the cost of this fragmentation is real.
£11bn
Estimated annual cost of late payments to the UK economy
Small Business Commissioner / London Economics, 2025
The Small Business Commissioner estimates late payments cost the UK economy £11 billion a year, with roughly 14,000 businesses closing annually as a result (London Economics, 2025). Late payment is just one consequence of incomplete information. Missed insolvency warnings, undisclosed regulatory issues, and undetected sanctions matches all carry their own risks.
The information exists. It's public. It's just scattered across too many places for any single person to gather efficiently.
Where the data actually lives
If you want to properly understand a UK company, here's where the data actually lives — and what each source tells you.
Companies House is the core register. It holds filing histories, director records, persons with significant control (PSCs), charges, registered addresses, and confirmation statements. The 2024-25 Annual Report confirms 5.43 million companies on the register, 4.87 million effective. It's the starting point for any company check — but it's far from the full picture.
Companies House also issued £220 million in late filing penalties in 2024-25 alone, which gives you a sense of how many companies struggle to keep their records current.
The London Gazette is the official public record for insolvency notices. Winding-up petitions, striking-off notices, administration appointments — they all appear here, often days or weeks before Companies House updates. There were 23,938 company insolvencies in 2025 (Insolvency Service), which works out to roughly 1 in 190 companies. That's not a trivial risk.
The FCA Register confirms whether a company is authorised to provide financial services and what activities it's permitted to carry out. If you're dealing with a company that claims to be regulated, this is where you verify it.
HMRC maintains VAT registration verification. If a company is invoicing you with a VAT number, you can check that number is actually valid.
Sanctions lists are maintained by the FCDO and OFSI. These consolidated lists cover individuals and entities subject to UK financial sanctions. If a company or its directors appear on these lists, you need to know.
County Court Judgments (CCJs) are registered by Registry Trust via Trust Online. 173,025 commercial CCJs were registered in 2024, up 35.5% year-on-year (Registry Trust). A CCJ doesn't always mean a company is in trouble, but it's a data point worth knowing about.
Other registers include environmental permits, HSE prosecutions, adverse media, and domain/website verification. Each tells you something different. Each requires a separate search.
Who needs this and when
If you're a freelancer about to send a proposal, you probably don't have time to check 20 different databases. But according to IPSE research, 35% of freelancers experienced late payment in the last year, with the average amount owed reaching £5,230 (IPSE, 2024). A quick check of Companies House, the Gazette, and Trust Online might give you a heads-up before you commit your time.
If you're an accountant onboarding a new client, you need to verify filing histories, check director records, and confirm there are no undisclosed insolvency proceedings. That's not optional — it's part of proper client acceptance procedures.
If you're in procurement vetting a supplier, you need to check for CCJs, insolvency notices, and sanctions matches. A single missed flag can derail a contract or create compliance headaches later.
If you're a journalist or researcher, you need source attribution. Every data point needs to link back to an official register so you can cite with confidence.
And across all of these scenarios, the same frustration applies: the data exists, but you need to know where to look. According to the FSB "Time is Money" report (2023), 52% of small businesses experienced late payment quarter-on-quarter. Most of those businesses probably didn't check insolvency notices or CCJs before signing agreements.
What we built
That fragmentation is why we built ClientLight — a tool that pulls data from these public sources into a single report. It covers Companies House, FCA, Gazette, HMRC, sanctions, CCJs, environmental permits, HSE prosecutions, adverse media, and domain verification. You enter a company name or number, and you get a report with key findings highlighted and every data point attributed to its official source.
It's not a replacement for professional due diligence in high-stakes situations, but it's a starting point for anyone who needs to understand a UK company quickly and doesn't have the time or resources to check 20 different databases manually.
Sources
- Companies House Annual Report and Accounts 2024 to 2025
- Small Business Commissioner and London Economics: Late Payment Cost Study (2025)
- Insolvency Service: Company Insolvency Statistics 2025
- Registry Trust: Commercial CCJ Statistics 2024
- IPSE: Freelancer Late Payment Research 2024
- FSB: Time is Money Report 2023