About our services

Information on the range of digital services we offer to help you search or file company details and the statutory fees we charge.

What is Companies House?

You can watch our video about Companies House with captions on YouTube (1m 28s).

Company search services

** Charges apply for document images and some items of data.

Filing services

Incorporation services

Data services

Find out more about our services

Learn more about how Companies House services can help you:

Read our disclaimer on the supply of company information through our services.

Accessibility support

Our services are designed to be accessible and easy to understand. We can also provide reasonable adjustments to help users who need assistance because of a disability or health condition.

Find out more about how we support users with accessibility needs.

Find company information

With over 3 million companies registered and over 7 million documents filed each year, there are lots of ways to find the company information you are after.

How to find company information

You can watch our video on how to find company information with captions on YouTube (1m 13s).

The services we offer to help you find company information are:

Companies House Service (CHS)

CHS makes all of our public data held on companies available free of charge. Free access to the data is available both through a web service and application program interface (API), enabling both consumers and technology providers to access real time updates on companies.

Unlike our other services, you can view company information on the new service without having to register to use it.

Information available on CHS:

  • basic company information (including company type, registered office address etc)
  • the nature of business (SIC)
  • company status (for example, live, dissolved etc.)
  • date of last accounts/confirmation statement filed
  • date of next accounts/confirmation statement due
  • full transaction filing
  • images of documents
  • officer searching
  • current and resigned officers
  • disqualified directors
  • previous and dissolved names search
  • mortgage charge data
  • insolvency information

Follow

Follow is a part of our free Companies House Service (CHS) which lets you receive email alerts of company transactions. The alert tells you instantly what’s been filed with us as soon as it’s been accepted.

The email will contain a link to the filing history of the company where you’ll be able to download a copy of the document for free.

You’ll also receive an alert when we remove a transaction.

How to follow

To begin following companies:

  • sign in once you’ve registered an email address and password
  • search for a company to follow
  • select the company
  • click on ‘Follow this company’

The Follow service is available free of charge on CHS.

WebCHeck

Start searching company information now with charges of £1 per document image and basic information free of charge.

WebCHeck allows access to company information. There’s no need to set up an account and most documents are available as images to downloaded and view within minutes.

Free basic information

The basic company details below are free:

  • basic company information (including company type, registered office address etc)
  • the nature of business (SIC)
  • company status (for example, live, dissolved etc.)
  • date of last accounts/confirmation statement filed
  • date of next accounts/confirmation statement due
  • previous company names
  • current officer details

WebCHeck fees

Use your debit/credit card or PayPal to pay at our secure checkout page, then proceed to download your documents.

Basic company information is free. Documents and reports have a fee.

You can add documents to your shopping basket up to an order limit of £50.

Before you make a purchase you’ll need to register a password and email address. We can then let you know your documents are ready to access. Documents will be available in your download area for viewing or saving for 10 days, or for 4 days once opened.

Disqualified directors on WebCHeck

You can access information about disqualified directors using WebCHeck. Search by name and select from the list of matches to view:

  • name and address
  • date of birth
  • nationality
  • number of current disqualifications
  • period of disqualification
  • reason for disqualification

Mobile app

You can search by company or company officer to access basic company information free of charge, as well as filing history and due dates for filing accounts and confirmation statements.

Save and sort your favourites to help you file on time

You can store your most frequent company searches as favourites, then sort them by due filing date for accounts or confirmation statement. An amber icon lets you know a document is due to be filed soon, while a red icon lets you know its overdue. A notification icon lets you know how many companies need attention.

Statistics on incorporations and dissolutions

The statistics feature provides incorporation and dissolution figures over a date range defined by you, with charts and bar graphs so you can see when peaks occur.

How to get the app

You can download the app free of charge from:

System requirements

Apple iOS 6.0 or later on devices:

  • iPhone 3GS or later
  • iPad 2 or later
  • iPod Touch 4th generation or later

Android Requirements are 2.3.3 or later.

Information centres

Companies House has information centres at its offices in:

  • Cardiff
  • Belfast
  • Edinburgh
  • London

Each of our information centres has a public search room where you can access our digital services to find company information.

You can also file documents at each office, incorporate a new company, as well get advice directly from the Companies House staff.

See our full list of information centre fees to find out what you can search and how much it costs.

Check our office opening times and how to get to them.

London information centre

Our London office has less registration services available than our other offices and can only satisfy the following types of registration:

  • incorporation of a company (form IN01)
  • incorporation of a limited liability partnership/LLP (form LL IN01)
  • change the name of a company (form NM01 or NM04)
  • change of name for a limited liability partnership/LLP (form LL NM01)
  • registration of a limited partnership/LP (form LP5)
  • registration of a UK establishment of an overseas company (form OS IN01)
  • change or corporate name/alternative name of an overseas company (form OS NM01)
  • re-registration of company status (various forms)
  • application for a trading certificate for a public limited company (form SH50)
  • reduction of share capital by either Solvency Statement (form SH19) or by Court Order

Same-day registration services at our London office

All same-day applications must be delivered to the London office, correctly completed and including the appropriate fee by 3pm for the application to be processed that day. Applications received between 3pm and 5pm will processed the next working day at the London office, but any received after 5pm will be forwarded with all other mail to the Cardiff office for processing.

We suggest you enclose a telephone number with all applications so staff can make contact regarding collections or rejections. All certificates can be posted upon request.

The London office can only satisfy same-day registrations for companies or partnerships registered in England and Wales.

Find out more about the same day services Companies House offers.

Delivery of documents to all offices

Only the Cardiff office is open 24 hours a day for the receipt of documents.

Our offices in Belfast, Edinburgh and London have opening hours between 9am to 5pm. Letterbox facilities exist in London and Edinburgh, but not in Belfast.

If you are sending documents by post, courier or Britdoc (DX) and would like a receipt, Companies House will provide an acknowledgement with a date of receipt, if you enclose a copy of your covering letter with a pre-paid addressed return envelope.

Find out more about delivering documents to our offices and how to get to them.

Contact centre

Our contact centre can take orders for company information, which they’ll send by post or email. Payment can be made by cheque if you order by post, or by card or account if you’re ordering over the telephone.

The staff at our contact centre are able to deal with most general queries on matters relating to Companies House and the services we provide. They’ll normally be able to answer straight away, but if they can’t, they’ll transfer you to someone who can.

See our full list of contact centre fees to find out what is available and how much it costs.

You can get in touch with our contact centre by:

Certified copies and certificates

The following types of certified copies and certificates are available:

  1. A certificate of incorporation with certified facts
  2. A certified copy of a document held on the register

Additional facts which can be included on an incorporation certificate

Due to changes brought in by the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act, you can’t order certificates with information on shareholders, shareholdings or statement of capital.

On request the following details can be included as certified facts:

  1. Directors names and details, such as date of birth or nationality
  2. Secretaries names
  3. Registered office address
  4. The company’s objects
  5. Good standing statement

The good standing wording says that a company has been in continuous, unbroken existence since its incorporation and that no action is currently being taken to strike the company off the register.

We’ll only issue a good standing statement if the company is up to date with its filings. It also has to be a private limited company with at least one director who is a natural person or a public limited company with a secretary and at least 2 directors (one of which is a natural person).

Orders and prices of certified copies and certificates

You can place an order through:

There are 2 different types of service:

  1. Standard service at £15. We aim to process these orders within 4 working days.
  2. Same day service at £50. For orders placed before 2pm, these are processed that day. For orders placed after 2pm, these are processed the next working day.

You can see a full list of fees for certified copies in our price list.

Certificate orders are issued by post (Recorded Delivery) or you can ask to collect your certificate from one of our offices.

We can provide a fax copy or email a PDF copy of the official certificate on request. This service is only available on same day requests. Fax or email copies won’t be signed. Only the official certified certificate will be signed.

Companies House isn’t responsible for any costs incurred after you’ve received your order (such as courier or legalisation costs).

Legalisation of a document or certificate

You can get a document legalised with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). In countries who have signed up to the Hague Convention of 1961, this gives the document the same authenticity it has in the UK.

To get a Companies House document legalised by the FCO, it must have the original signature of a British public official. To get a document signed in person by one of our officials, you’ll need to request a certified certificate or certified copy.

DVD directory

Our DVD directory contains basic company details on all 3 million live companies registered in the UK, along with companies that have become dissolved in the last month.

The DVD has a built in search facility that allows up to 6 combinations of searches on:

  • company name
  • company number
  • registered office address lines
  • postcode
  • date of incorporation or range of dates
  • SIC code(s) or description
  • company type
  • company status
  • accounts type.

The directory is produced monthly and a one off copy costs £30, or a year’s subscription for £300 - copies are available from our information centres and contact centre on (0)303 1234 500.

The DVD directory doesn’t show details of annual turnover, telephone numbers or directors’ details.

The data can’t be exported, but we do provide a one off version of the directory with exportable files at a cost of £1,000. The maximum number of results that can be exported at one time is 30,000.

The data on each DVD is available for six months from the date of purchase after which time it locks and you will be unable to access the data.

The product requires Internet Explorer to be set as the default browser and is not compatible with Apple Mac computers.

Data products

Companies House offers a number of different data products, including:

Company data product

The company data product is a free monthly snapshot of basic company details for live companies on the public register.

Access the free company data to get bulk downloads of UK company data.

The bulk snapshot is split into a number of downloadable ZIP files which contain data in comma separated values (CSV) format.

The snapshot contents are compiled up to the end of the previous month and made available for download within 5 working days of the previous month end.

Find more information about the data returned in our Company Data Product Data Fields (PDF, 150KB, 1 page)

Accounts data product

The accounts data product is a free downloadable ZIP file, which contains the individual data files (instance documents) of company accounts filed electronically at Companies House.

The data is provided in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format.

Access the daily accounts data files or the monthly accounts data files for the last year.

The individual files within the ZIP file will be in one of the following formats:

  • inline XBRL format (.html file extension)
  • XBRL format (.xml file extension)

A new daily file is added each morning over a 5-day period (Tuesday to Saturday). Each file contains the accounts data registered on the previous day.

A new monthly file is added within 5 days of the end of the previous month.

Data is only available for electronically filed accounts, which currently stands at about 60% of the 2.2 million accounts filed at Companies House each year.

People with significant control (PSC)

The PSC data product provides a snapshot as a single data file in JSON format and contains a full list of PSCs provided to Companies House.

PSC data product

Uniform resource identifiers (URI)

Our free URI service gives access to basic company details using a simple uniform resource identifier (URI) for each company on our register.

The URI is a unique web address for each company. Simply use the company number within the URI structure: http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/{companynumber}

eg. company number 02050399 would be represented as: http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/02050399

Use the URI address with your internet browser and it will display the company data as a HTML page. You can also return other data formats including RDF, JSON, XML, CSV and YAML.

The URI can be embedded as a link on your own website or the data can be used in your own software.

Find more information about the service and the data returned in our Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI) Customer Guide (PDF, 370KB, 9 pages)

XML gateway search service

Our XML gateway offers access to Companies House data and documents as a computer to computer search service.

Data and documents are requested and delivered using XML (eXtensible Markup Language). This will allow users of the service to search company records from within their own software.

Standard XML data schemas must be used as defined in the interface specification which can be found on our dedicated XML gateway output page..

Users must carry out a test to confirm they can request and receive data before an XML output account can be opened.

There is a £4.70 monthly subscription fee, plus additional charges for data or documents requested. Users get %15 off their total monthly invoice value. Basic company information is available for free.

If you’d like to know more about development or testing, you can contact xml@companieshouse.gov.uk.

File company information

It’s easier and quicker to file your information online with Companies House using:

All services are available 24/7 for the submission of information. Any submissions which require manual inspection will only be processed during our normal working hours.

Companies House will accept the delivery of documents and forms by post or by hand at our offices, but check our office opening times and out of hours delivery facilities before you do.

See our full list of filing fees to find out which forms have a filing fee.

WebFiling

File your company information online now - including accounts, confirmation statement and company updates. Watch a video to see how easy it is to file online.

Using the online filing service offers you advantages over filing on paper, such as:

  • saving you time and money - an online confirmation statement costs significantly less than paper
  • less chance of rejections due to in built checks and pre-populated data
  • automatic email acknowledgement

WebFiling users also get access to additional services, including:

  • email reminders – a free and effective way to be reminded when your company accounts and confirmation statements are due for filing
  • protected online filing (called ‘PROOF’) – prevents attempts to change your registered office address or directors without your knowledge

Register for WebFiling

You’ll need to register a password and email address, then request an authentication code for your company - which is sent to your company’s registered office by post, so allow plenty of time for delivery.

Watch a video on how to register for WebFIling

How to register for Companies House WebFiling service

Watch a video on how to sign in to WebFiling

How to sign in to Companies House WebFiling service

Company forms you can send us using WebFiling

annual accounts audit exempt small full accounts (with abbreviated option)
annual accounts audit exempt abbreviated accounts
annual accounts micro-entity accounts
incorporation (IN01) private company limited by shares adopting their model articles in their entirety
AA01 change of accounting reference date
AA02 dormant company accounts
AD01 change of situation or address of registered office
AP01 appointment of director
AP02 appointment of corporate director
AP03 appointment of secretary
AP04 appointment of corporate secretary
TM01 terminating appointment as director
TM02 terminating appointment as secretary
CH01 change of particulars for director
CH02 change of particulars for corporate director
CH03 change of particulars for secretary
CH04 change of particulars for corporate secretary
CS01 confirmation statement (£13 charge)
AD02 notification of single alternative inspection location (SAIL)
AD03 change of location of the company records to the single alternative inspection location (SAIL)
AD04 change of location of the company records to the registered office
SH01 return of allotment of shares
NM01 notice of change of name by resolution & special resolution (RES15) (£8 charge)
DS02 withdrawal of application to strike off
MR01 particulars of a charge
MR02 particulars of a charge subject to which property or undertaking has been acquired
MR04 statement of satisfaction in full or in part of a charge
MR05 statement that part or the whole of the property charged (a) has been released from the charge (b) no longer forms part of the company’s property
PSC01 notice of individual person with significant control (PSC)
PSC02 notice of relevant legal entity with significant control
PSC03 notice of other registrable person with significant control
PSC04 notice of change of details for PSC
PSC05 notice of change of details for relevant legal entity with significant control
PSC06 notice of change of details of other registrable person with significant control
PSC07 notice of ceasing to be a PSC
PSC08 notice of PSC statements
PSC09 notice of update to PSC statements
EH01 elect to keep register of directors information on the public register
EH02 elect to keep directors’ residential addresses on the central register
EH03 elect to keep register of secretaries information on the central register
EW01 withdraw register of directors information from the central register
EW02 withdraw usual residential addresses information from the central register
EW03 withdraw register of secretaries’ information from the central register

Full audited accounts can’t be filed using WebFiling.

Charities should seek advice from the Charities Commission to find out if the accounts type you intend to file with Companies House will be acceptable to them. The Charities Commission require a full audited set of accounts and you may need to file the same at Companies House.

LLP forms you can file using WebFiling

LL AD01 change of registered office address of an LLP
LL AP01 appointment of member of an LLP
LL AP02 appointment of corporate member of an LLP
LL CH01 change of details of a member of an LLP
LL CH02 change of details of a corporate member of an LLP
LL CS01 confirmation statement (£13 charge)
LL TM01 termination of appointment of member of an LLP
LL AD02 notification of the single alternative inspection location (SAIL) of an LLP
LL AD03 change of location of the records to the single alternative inspection location (SAIL) of an LLP
LL AD04 change of location of the records to the registered office of an LLP
LL AA01 change of accounting reference date of an LLP
LL DS02 withdrawal of application to strike off
LL MR01 particulars of a charge created by an LLP
LL MR02 particulars of a charge subject to which property or undertaking has been acquired by an LLP
LL MR04 statement of satisfaction in full or in part of a charge by an LLP
LL MR05 statement that part or the whole of the property charged (a) has been released from the charge (b) no longer forms part of the LLP’s property
LL PSC01 notice of individual person with significant control (PSC)
LL PSC02 notice of relevant legal entity with significant control
LL PSC03 notice of other registrable person with significant control
LL PSC04 notice of change of details for PSC
LL PSC05 notice of change of details for relevant legal entity with significant control
LL PSC06 notice of change of details of other registrable person with significant control
LL PSC07 notice of ceasing to be a PSC
LL PSC08 notice of PSC statements
LL PSC09 notice of update to PSC statements
LL EH01 elect to keep register of members information on the central register
LL EH02 elect to keep register of LLP members’ residential addresses information on the central register
LL EH04 elect to keep register of PSC information on the central register
LL EW01 withdraw register of LLP members’ information from the central register for an LLP
LL EW02 withdraw register of LLP members’ usual residential addresses information from the central register
LL EW04 withdraw register of PSC information from the central register for an LLP

PROtected Online Filing (PROOF)

Designed for users of our online filing or software filing service, the protected online filing (PROOF) scheme can help you prevent fraudulent changes to your company.

This free service lets you protect your company from unauthorised changes to your records. It prevents the filing of certain paper forms, including:

  • changes to your registered office address
  • changes to your officers details

More information on the PROOF service.

Extractives service

Start using the extractives service now

The extractives filing service is designed to help undertakings meet their obligations to deliver reports to the registrar as set out in The Reports on Payments to Governments Regulations 2014. Reports can only be delivered to the registrar electronically, under regulation 14(3) of the 2014 Regulations. Reports cannot be delivered by paper.

Companies House requires that this is done through the preparation of an XML file using the extractive reports schema provided by Companies House.

Use the extractives service for:

  • filing your report
  • searching company reports
  • viewing a company’s filing history
  • downloading company reports

The service is available 24/7 for the submission and searching of information. Any submissions which require manual inspection will only be processed during our normal working hours.

You can only file extractives reports by using the extractives service.

The fee for filing an extractives report is £250.

More information about extractives industries.

Register for the extractives service

You’ll need to register a password and email address, then request an authentication code for your company - which is sent to your company’s registered office by post, so allow plenty of time for delivery.

Software filing

Our software filing service enables the submission and acknowledgement of electronic company data between presenters and Companies House via our XML Gateway.

The service is open to everyone but will mostly benefit those who file frequently - on a daily or weekly basis. The more documents you file, the more appropriate software filing is likely to be.

Software filers can submit all the same forms that can be filed using the WebFiling service, plus additional types of company accounts and incorporations.

To use the software filing service you’ll need to open an online filing account and must either purchase suitable software or develop your own.

More information about software filing.

If you want to purchase software

Some commercially available software packages provide a wide range of transactions whilst others are more specialised.

These have been categorised depending on whether you need to find:

Opening an online filing account

You will need to open an online filing account if you want to use software to file information. Once opened, the presenter information you need to use the service will be sent to you by post. If you open a credit account, any filing fees will be itemised on the monthly statement you receive.

You can choose to pay by variable direct debit. You can also sign up to use our online eBilling service to access your invoices quicker.

Developing your own software

To develop your own software, you will need to have expertise in eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

A technical interface specification giving detailed information for software developers is available via email xml@companieshouse.gov.uk

The transaction types and submission processes are documented on our schema page.

If you are developing inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language (iXBRL) for filing accounts online, you can test your submission using our validator.

More information about our iXBRL service.

You can also subscribe to our RSS feed to receive updates about the software filing service.

Same day services

Same day services are available to fast track:

You can find out which online filings offer a same day option in our list of registration fees.

If you plan to use our London office, we recommend you read about same-day registration services at our London office.

Same day registration service

For a premium fee the Registrar will, where possible, fast track the processing of certain documents and register them on the day of receipt - certificates are despatched or available for collection on the same day.

All documents and fees should be delivered to the appropriate Companies House office by 3pm (Monday to Friday), and presented in an envelope that is clearly marked ‘Same day service’ - best written in the top left hand corner.

If the item is being sent by courier, make sure the courier’s envelope is also clearly marked ‘Same day service’.

Documents delivered after 3pm will be processed the next working day.

Cheques should be made payable to Companies House – you can find out the same day fees within the registration fees.

The following registrations are available using the same day service:

  • incorporation – for limited company or LLP
  • change of name – for limited company or LLP
  • simultaneous re-registration and change of name – for limited company
  • re-registration – for limited company
  • reduction of capital by solvency statement – for limited company
  • reduction of capital by court order – for limited company
  • registration of a UK establishment of an overseas company
  • change of corporate name or alternative name of an overseas company
  • registration of a limited partnership

Same day certificates service

The same day service is available (by post or collection) for the following:

  • certified copy of a document
  • copy of certificate of incorporation - including additional facts and good standing statement

You can request an additional faxed copy of a certificate with same day orders.

Find out more about the certified copies and certificates and the fees for standard and same day services.

Companies House fees

We charge a statutory filing fee for the following:

We charge a statutory search fee on the following services:

Some of Companies House fees are set by regulations and confirmed by Parliament - find out more about Companies House fees. Some fees are administratively set by a Fees Determination

Company incorporation and registration fees

Company incorporation and registration WebFiled Software Paper
Incorporation*   £10 £40
Web incorporation £12    
Same-day incorporation   £30 £100
Change of name £8 £8 £10
Same-day change of name £30 £30 £50
Same-day simultaneous re-registration and change of name     £100
Re-registration     £20
Same-day re-registration     £50
Confirmation fee (You must include a fee with the first confirmation statement you file each year. Further confirmation statements made in the same year don’t require a fee) £13 £13 £40
Voluntary strike off     £10
Registration of a charge £15 £15 £23
Reduction of capital by solvency statement     £10
Same day reduction of capital by solvency statement     £50
Reduction of capital by court order     £10
Same day reduction of capital by court order     £50
Administrative restoration     £100
Application to make an address unavailable for public inspection by an individual     £55**
Application to make an address unavailable for public inspection by the company: for any list of members (other than a long list) in hard copy form     £55**
Application to make an address unavailable for public inspection by the company: for any list of members (other than a long list) filed electronically     £55**
Application to make an address unavailable for public inspection by the company: for a long list of members delivered on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM     £55**
Application to make an address unavailable for public inspection by the company: for a long list of members in hard copy form     £55**
Application to make an address unavailable for public inspection by a person who registers a charge     £55**

*Fee excludes incorporation of a community interest company (CIC), Welsh company filing in Welsh, an Unlimited company and companies incorporated under section 1040 of the Companies Act 2006

**Fee for each document suppressed

Limited liability partnership (LLP) incorporation and registration fees

Limited liability partnership (LLP) WebFiled Software Paper
Incorporation of an LLP*   £10 £40
Same day incorporation of an LLP   £30 £100
LLP confirmation statement fee (You must include a fee with the first confirmation statement you file each year. Further confirmation statements made in the same year don’t require a fee) £13 £13 £40
LLP change of name   £8 £10
Same day LLP change of name   £30 £50
LLP voluntary strike off     £10
Registration of a charge by an LLP £15 £15 £23
Administrative restoration of an LLP     £100
Application to make an address unavailable for public inspection by an individual member     £55**
Application to make an address unavailable for public inspection by a person who registers a charge     £55**

*Excludes incorporation of a Welsh LLP filing in Welsh

**Fee for each document suppressed

Overseas company incorporation and registration fees

Overseas company Paper
Registration of a UK establishment of an overseas company £20
Same day registration of a UK establishment of an overseas company £100
Change of corporate name or alternative name of an overseas company £10
Same day change of corporate name or alternative name of an overseas company £50
Annual document processing fee payable with the overseas company accounts £20

European economic interest groupings (EEIG) incorporation and registration fees

European economic interest groupings (EEIG) Paper
Registration of an EEIG in UK under regulation 9 £20
Registration of an EEIG in UK under regulation 12 £20
Change of name of an EEIG £10
Registration of charge by an EEIG £23

European company - Sociates europea (SE) incorporation and registration fees

European company (SE) Paper
By merger in accordance with article 2(1) £20
By the formation of a holding SE in accordance with article 2(2) £20
By the formation of a subsidiary SE in accordance with article 2(3) £20
By the transformation of a PLC in accordance with article 2(4) £20
By the formation of a subsidiary SE in accordance with article 3(2) £20
Registration of a PLC by conversion of an SE in accordance with article 66 £20
Registration of an SE on transfer to UK in accordance with article 8 £20

Community interest company (CIC) and ‘other’ incorporation types

Community interest company (CIC) and ‘other’ incorporation types CH paper fee CIC paper fee
Registration of a CIC in accordance with section 36 of the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004* £20* £15*
Registration of an LLP in Welsh language £20  
Registration of a company authorised to register in accordance with section 1040 of the Companies Act 2006 £20  
Registration of an unlimited company in accordance with section 14 of the Companies Act 2006 £20  

*To incorporate a CIC send a cheque or postal order for £35 payable to Companies House, to cover the Companies House fee and the CIC Regulator’s fee.

Application for protection

Application for protection  
Section 243 application to make protected usual residential address information unavailable to credit reference agencies £100
Section 790ZF application to make protected usual residential address information of a Person with Significant Control (PSC) unavailable to credit reference agencies £100
Section 790ZG application requiring the registrar to refrain from disclosing secured PSC information £100
Combined Section 790ZF and Section 790ZG application £100
Section 790ZF application by a Section 243 beneficiary £15
Section 243 application by a Section 790ZF beneficiary £15
Application for higher protection in respect of an overseas company £100

Limited partnership (LP) incorporation fees

Limited partnership (LP) Paper
Registration of a limited partnership £20
Same day registration of a limited partnership £100

Private fund limited partnership (LP) incorporation fees

Private Fund Limited Partnership only Paper
Designation of a limited partnership as a private fund limited partnership at a time after the limited partnership has been registered. £10

Scottish qualifying partnership fees

Scottish qualifying partnership only Paper
For the registration of a Scottish qualifying partnership under the Scottish Partnership Regulations  
Registration of a Scottish qualifying partnership £20
Registration of all relevant documents in respect of a Scottish qualifying partnership delivered during a relevant period on the registration of a confirmation statement £17

Scottish limited partnership fees

Scottish limited partnership only Paper
Registration of all relevant documents in respect of a Scottish limited partnership delivered during a relevant period on the registration of a confirmation statement delivered under the Scottish Partnership PSC Regulations £17

Scottish partnership fees

Application for protection Paper
Making an application under Regulations 48,49 or 50 of the Scottish Partnership PSC Regulations requiring the registrar to refrain from disclosing secure information in relation to the applicant to an individual to whom the application applies £100
Making an application by a specified public authority under Regulation 42(2) of the Scottish Partnership PSC regulations for the registrar to determine whether to disclose URA information to that authority £54
Making an application by a specified public authority under Regulation 1087B (2) of the Companies Act modified by Regulation 63 of the Scottish Partnership PSC regulations for the registrar to determine whether to disclose restricted DOB information to that authority £54

Extractives filing service fees

Extractives filing service Online
Registration of a report on payments to governments £250

WebCHeck search fees

Online service which offers company information as on-screen data and image downloads.

Try our free beta service to search companies - all data and document images are free

The following items attract a fee.

Company reports  
Company / limited partnership / Scottish qualifying partnership record £1
Document images  
Download per document £1

Information centre search fees

Visitors to our information centres can get basic company information free of charge.The following items attract a fee.

Screen charges  
Online page print of document (per page) 10p
Personal appointments £1
Full charge details £1
Company reports  
Mortgage statement £1
Company record £1
Document images/orders  
View document image £1
Print document (without viewing) £1
Inspect original document £6
Copy of a document £3
Document packages  
Print (up to 25 documents) £7
Certified copies  
Certified copy of document (up to 10 pages) by post or collection at a CHIC* £15*
Same day certified copy of document by post or collection at a CHIC £50

*Each page thereafter by post or collection is £1.

Certificates of incorporation  
By post or collection £15
Same day certificate of Incorporation by post or collection* £50*
Additional certificate (for same company) by post or collection £10

*A faxed copy of same day certificate is available for no extra charge

Private fund limited partnerships only certificates of designation  
By post or collection £15
Same day certificate of designation by post or collection £50
Additional certificate (for same company) by post or collection £10
Private fund limited partnerships only combined certificate of registration and designation  
By post or collection £15
Same day certificate of designation by post or collection £50
Additional certificate (for same company) by post or collection £10
Microfiche  
DVD copy of archive microfiche (to 31/12/2002) by post or collection £20
Shareholder lists  
DVD containing bulk shareholders list by post or collection £20

Contact centre search fees

Screen prints  
Alpha index, dissolved companies, former names (per page) by post or email £2
Company appointments by post or email £3
Mortgage details by post or email £3
Company reports  
Current appointments report by post or email £3
Mortgage statement by post or email £3
Company record by post or email £3
Document images  
Copy of company document by e-mail (post 1995 documents) £3
Company, limited partnership or Scottish qualifying partnership documents by post  
Copy of company document (other than long list of members) by post £3
Copy of company document (other than long list of members) by email £3
Hard copy of document not on microfiche by post £9
Paper copy bulk shareholder list, up to and including 50th page* £12.50*

*Each additional page 20p

Certified copies  
Certified copy of document (up to 10 pages) by post or collection at a CHIC £15
Same day certified copy of document by post or collection at a CHIC £50
Certificates of incorporation  
By post or collection £15
Same day certificate of Incorporation by post or collection* £50*
Additional certificate (for same company) by post or collection £10

*A faxed copy of same day certificate is available for no extra charge

Private fund limited partnerships only certificates of designation  
By post or collection £15
Same day certificate of designation by post or collection £50
Additional certificate (for same company) by post or collection £10
Private fund limited partnerships only combined certificate of registration and designation  
By post or collection £15
Same day certificate of designation by post or collection £50
Additional certificate (for same company) by post or collection £10
Scottish Qualifying Partnership  
For a copy in hard form of an original document by post or collection £3
Copy or extract of document in hard copy in respect of the Scottish Partnerships PSC Regulations delivered by post other than by same day delivery £15
Copy or extract of document in hard copy in respect of the Scottish Partnerships PSC Regulations delivered by post by same day delivery £50
Microfiche  
DVD copy of archive microfiche (to 31/12/2002) by post or collection £20
Shareholder lists  
DVD containing bulk shareholders list by post or collection £20
Archive search  
By post or telephone £20

XML gateway search fees

The XML (eXtensible Markup Language) gateway is a subscription service which allows third-party software to request and receive company information as data and image downloads.

Sign on  
Monthly subscription (per account) £4.70

You can check the availability of a company name and get basic company information free of charge. The following items attract a fee.

Full search fees apply, but 15% is taken off the total monthly invoice value.

Data charges  
Personal appointments £1
Document images  
Download per document £1

Bulk product fees

Our bulk products offer third-parties company information as data and images for use in their own products, with initial database ‘snapshots’ and daily or weekly updates.

Access to information not on the public register

Access to information not on the public register  
Application by specified public authority (SPA) or credit reference agency (CRA) £54
Individual request by SPA or CRA (to access information) £5

DVD products

DVD directories  
Company directory: one off £30
Company directory: annual subscription £300
Company directory: exportable £1,000
Company directory: data file on DVD, by email or by file transfer protocol (FTP) £1,000
Company directory: exportable (annual subscription) £10,000
Company directory: data file (annual subscription) on DVD, by email or by FTP £10,000
Change of name/dissolved index £30
Change of name/dissolved index: exportable £1,000
Change of name/dissolved index: data file on DVD, by email or by FTP £1,000

About Companies House fees

All statutory fees on this list have been confirmed by Parliament and are set by the following statutory fees regulations:

Not all fees are set by the above regulations, some fees are administratively set by a Fees Determination (PDF, 348KB, 24 pages) under section 1063(5) of the Companies Act 2006. These include fees for new products, products that are in decline and products that have a small customer base.

The registration fees above do not apply to documents delivered under the Companies Act 1985 or the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986.

Any document delivered to the Registrar of Companies under the Companies Act 1985 or the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 will be free of charge.

Any changes in fees or any new fees will be shown here.

Cost recovery principles

As a Trading Fund Companies House must operate on the basis of cost recovery. It has a statutory duty to break even over time and to achieve an average annual return (surplus) of 3.5%.

Companies House fees are linked, as required by European Law and HM Treasury guidance, to the forecast cost of providing each service and the way in which customers access them. A number of things are considered when Companies House sets its fees.

Guidance on Managing Public Money requires fees to be set to recover the full cost for each separate service allowing for a cost of capital of 3.5% - this prohibits cross-subsidy between different services.

The EC First Company Law Directive requires copies of company records to be made available at the administrative cost of producing them.

The EC Capital Taxes Directive allows company registration costs to be met from fees, but prohibits charges that are effectively taxes. This means that prices cannot be set above costs for the relevant services.

Case law, such as Fantask A/S e.a. v Industriministeriet Erhvervministeriet and Ponente Carni SpA and Cispandana Costruzioni SpA v Amministrazione delle Finanze dello Stato provides further guidance on the costs that can and can’t be taken into account for setting fees.

The Competition Act 1998 prohibits the abuse of a dominant position in a market.

eBilling service

The Companies House eBilling service is an online facility to access and manage any credit accounts you have with Companies House.

How eBilling works

Instead of receiving your monthly invoice by post, an online version of your invoice is added to your eBilling portal. Companies House will send you an email notifying you when your latest invoice is available.

You can manage your account and contact details from within the service.

Register for eBilling

To register for eBilling you’ll need to:

  • enter your name and email address
  • choose a password
  • have your latest invoice available to confirm:
    • account number
    • last statement date
    • last statement amount

Always use lower case for your email address when logging into your account, even if you used upper case when registering.

You can find the email address used to register for eBilling on any billing invoice email we’ve sent you.

Unlocking your account

If your account is locked, contact enquiries@companieshouse.gov.uk with your 8 digit account number - you’ll find this in the subject line of previous emails we’ve sent you (it’ll start with either 002, 005 or 006).

Your account will be unlocked within 24 hours. You can attempt to log in to your account after this time.

Welsh service

Companies House has a service for Welsh companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) who prefer to use the Welsh language when conducting business with us.

All customers are welcome to communicate with Companies House in Welsh. Those companies and LLPs who wish to receive bilingual correspondence will have to register for our Welsh Service.

To register for this service, please send an email or write to the address below stating the company name and number along with your full name and in what capacity you act for the company.

Welsh Service & Policy Adviser
Customer Services
Companies House
Crown Way
Cardiff
CF14 3UZ

Telephone: 02920 380065

Find out more about the Companies House Welsh service.

Customer satisfaction survey

We carry out and commission surveys on the use of our digital services and customer satisfaction.

To help us make sure that we are maintaining our standards or highlight areas for improvement, you can complete our customer satisfaction survey.

All the information you supply when completing a survey will be treated with the utmost confidentiality in line with our privacy statement.

Contents