All you need to know
Downloading Basic Company Details from Companies House
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On-line Acquisition via URI
Companies House provides two primary methods to programmatically retrieve data for a specific company using a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI):.The Public URI Service (Linked Data)
Companies House offers a free, open-access URI service designed to represent each company on the register as a unique web address 6, 13 .- Address Structure: http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/{company_number} 13
- How it works: When you query this URI, the service uses HTTP Content Negotiation to return the data in a format most appropriate for the requesting client 13 . If accessed via a standard web browser, it defaults to HTML 13 . For programmatic requests, you can specify the format in the HTTP Accept header.
- Direct Format Extensions: You can bypass content negotiation by appending the desired file extension directly to the URI 9, 13 :
- Authentication: No authentication or API key is required to use this specific URI service 9 .
. The RESTful API (Developer Portal)
For robust application development, Companies House provides a structured RESTful API 15 .- Address Structure: https://api.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/{company_number}
- How it works: This is a standard JSON-based API 2, 15 . You send a standard HTTP GET request to retrieve the target company’s profile 2, 15 .
- Authentication: Unlike the public URI service, this requires registration and an API key 2, 7 . You must create a developer account on the Companies House Developer Hub, register an application, and pass your API key as a username using HTTP Basic Authentication 2, 7 .
- Rate Limits: Limited to 600 requests per rolling 5-minute window 12 .
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Download of Monthly Table in .csv Format
For bulk analysis, statistics, or populating local databases, Companies House offers the Free Company Data Product 4, 16 . This is a complete, monthly-updated snapshot of basic company data 6, 16 .. Access and Location
The database snapshots are hosted on the public server at:- URL: http://download.companieshouse.gov.uk/en_output.html 17
- Update Frequency: Compiled up to the end of each calendar month and published within the first 5 working days of the following month 6, 16 .
. Download Formats and Structure
Because the dataset covers over 5 million registered companies, the unzipped CSV file is massive 11 17 . To make download and handling easier, Companies House provides two download options:- Single Bulk File: A single ZIP file containing the entire database in one massive CSV (e.g., BasicCompanyDataAsOneFile-YYYY-MM-DD.zip, which is roughly 470MB zipped and extracts to several gigabytes) 11, 16 .
- Split Files: The database is partitioned into multiple smaller ZIP files containing sequential chunks of the CSV (typically divided into 7 parts of roughly 70MB each, such as BasicCompanyData-YYYY-MM-DD-part1_7.zip) 4, 16 .
. Contents of the CSV Table
The monthly table consists of over 50 structured columns, which map directly to the “Basic Company Data” schema 3 . These include:- Identity details: CompanyName, CompanyNumber, CompanyCategory, CompanyStatus, CountryofOrigin, IncorporationDate, and DissolutionDate 3 .
- Registered Office Address: Broken down into fields like Careof, POBox, AddressLine1, AddressLine2, PostTown, County, Country, and PostCode 3 .
- Filing timelines: Next due dates and last made-up dates for both Accounts and Confirmation Statements (Returns) 3 .
- Activities & Classifications: Up to four standard SIC codes 3 .
- Historical data: Up to 10 previous company names and their dates of change 3 .
- URI: The permanent web address representing that company (relinking the CSV record to the online URI described in Chapter 1) 3, 16 .
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Differences in Data Content for a Particular Registered Company
If you pull the data for a specific company using the On-line URI/API versus searching for that same company inside the Monthly CSV, you will notice several distinct differences in data content, latency, and structure:Feature On-line URI / API Monthly CSV Table Real-time Accuracy Live, Real-time. Reflects updates instantly (e.g., if a company changes its name or address today, the API/URI shows it immediately) 5 . Delayed Snapshot. Compiled at the end of the previous month. It can be up to 5 weeks out-of-date for recent changes 6, 16 . Historical & Dissolved Scope All-inclusive. You can query any active or historically dissolved company (typically up to 6+ years post-dissolution) 1 7 . Primarily Active. The bulk snapshot is explicitly designed to contain live companies on the register 6, 16 . Very old dissolved companies are regularly purged from this table. Depth of Information Highly Detailed. While the public URI returns basic details 8 , the REST API allows you to drill down into rich subsets: Officers, PSCs, Filing History, and Document PDF links 7, 10. Basic Fields Only. Restricted strictly to flat-file metadata (Basic Company Details) 3, 16 . You cannot see list of Directors, PSCs, or download specific filings 3 . Formatting Structure Hierarchical/Structured. Returned in formats like JSON, XML, or RDF, allowing complex nested data trees (e.g., nested structures for SIC codes or previous names) 2, 13 . Flat/Tabular. Forcefully flattened into columns (e.g., array fields are flattened into hardcoded columns like PreviousName_1 to PreviousName_10 and SICCode1 to SICCode4) 3 .
Referenced internet pages dealing with UK Companies House on-line information:
- 1 – CH – Dissolved Companies 2016 Onwards (from : forum.companieshouse.gov.uk)
- 2 – CH – Get started – Register a Companies House user account (from : developer.company-information.service.gov.uk)
- 3 – CH – Free Basic Company Data Product – Data Fields (from : resources.companieshouse.gov.uk)
- 4 – CH – Free Company Data Product (from : download.companieshouse.gov.uk)
- 5 – UK-GOV – Companies House API overview (from : developer.company-information.service.gov.uk)
- 6 – CH – Companies House data products (from : www.gov.uk)
- 7 – The Companies House API: How developers can leverage it (from : www.thecompanywarehouse.co.uk)
- 8 – UK-GOV – Company identifiers (URIs) (from : www.data.gov.uk)
- 9 – CH – Which API should be used to get the details (from : forum.companieshouse.gov.uk)
- 10 – What is the Gov API? (from : parse.bot)
- 11- UK Companies House Bulk Scraper (from : apify.com)
- 12 – CH – Bulk download via API (from : forum.companieshouse.gov.uk)
- 13 – CH – Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI) Customer Guide (from : assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
- 14 – Companies House – Search limited companies and related people in the UK (from : bellingcat.gitbook.io)
- 15 – CH – Companies House REST API (from : developer.company-information.service.gov.uk)
- 16 – CH – Free Company Data Product (from : download.companieshouse.gov.uk)
- 17 – Companies basic data (from : chguide.co.uk)