It is very easy and straight forward to do a company check on an LLP or any UK company. Before you’re able to run a business, it is necessary to register at Companies House besides filing some information with regard to its finances and operations. Plus, you also need to provide details about the individuals who are in charge of it.

All the above information is then added to the official Companies Register and made accessible to the general public through the WebCheck and Companies House. The majority of this information can also be accessed completely free of charge.

What details about the company are accessible to the public?

The government has made it obligatory for UK based LLPs and companies to provide certain information during inception as well as after the company has become operational. If you wish to access more information about a specific firm, it’s possible to access the details below via the WebCheck and/or CHS:

• Physical address of a company.
• Date of company incorporation.
• Information relating to the present company officers (including LLP members or secretaries and directors); DOB, name, contact details, occupation, appointment date, and nationality.
• Company shareholder details, LLP members, or guarantors.
• Details about PSCs; DOB, name, the type of control each PSC has in the company, and their contact information.
• Former company officers.
• Information about company directors who are disqualified.
• Appointments held by directors in other firms.
• Characteristics of the business activities of a company.
• Former names of a company (if any).
• Statutory accounts.
• Annual return or confirmation statement.
• Confirmation statement and statutory filing cut-off date for upcoming accounts.
• Mortgage rates.
• Status of a company.
• Scanned copies of company files, including incorporation certificate, confirmation statements, etc.

Currently, Companies House has over 170 million digital records. It is invaluable to have access to such a huge database, especially for those who want to do business with a firm and determine whether it is trustworthy, solvent, and authentic.

Why should you carry out a company check?

Irrespective of whether a person is a lender, consumer, supplier, or business owner, there are several occasions when it might become essential to perform due diligence prior to partnering with a specific company. By doing a company check, a person is able to:

• Identify whether a company is trustworthy.
• Examine the financial standing of a firm prior to making an investment, lending to or purchasing a business or providing services.
• Understand how a company operates prior to applying for a specific position as an employee.
• Know the duration during which a firm has been operating prior to purchasing its products and utilizing its services.
• Check the owner(s), controllers, and operators of a business.
• Check if the firm is up to date with regard to its accounts and additional filing duties.
• Get a fair idea about how a company is performing.

Know whether a company has a decent standing and is being handled in a responsible and efficient manner. Are there any outstanding filings? Are confirmation statements as well as accounts being filed in a timely manner? Are there any mentions of insolvency or administration? Is the number of director resignations higher than normal?

Besides checking information about an organisation through Companies House, you might also want to carry out a basic search online to read customer reviews, articles, and industry opinions of products/services, social network posts about a firm, or the individuals who’re currently its members.

This way, you’ll have a better idea about the firm you’re curious about.

How to use CHS or Companies House Service?

The CHS, which was originally launched in 2015, is quite simple to use and most importantly, totally free of charge. Through the Companies House Service, a user is able to search more than 3 million firms listed on the UK register from the comfort of their own home or office.

Step by step: How to do a company check?

Enter the name of the company you want to research, along with its unique registration number, or an officer’s name in the search section on the official CHS homepage.

Pick the officer or company name that you would like to know more about.

Press on the text highlighted in blue for additional info about a business.

You will also have the option to ‘follow’ or monitor any organisation by providing your information using the service. This way, you’ll get free email notifications each time the company files fresh information or modifies the details that are presently registered at Companies House.

How to use the WebCheck service offered by Companies House?

Using the WebCheck service, you can access the free information that’s presently available on the latest Companies House Service. In addition, individuals can also use it to check the filing history of a company and purchase filed document copies as well as other records. These include present appointments of officers, company reports, and mortgage details.

To order company reports and documents via WebCheck, a person must sign up using their email address and password online. They will then be contacted by Companies House when their requested documents become available for download.

Please note that the above facility is likely to be phased out to be replaced with CHS. The precise timetable for this is yet to be known, nonetheless, we will make sure our visitors stay updated by offering additional details as and when they’re made available by Companies House.