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For anyone about to go into business with someone

Know a director’s track record before you commit.

A clear, sourced report on a UK director’s Companies House history: what the filings show, how it measures against twenty-eight published criteria, and the questions worth asking them.

Check a director · £49See a sample report

We email you when it’s ready. For business use.

From the sample report

The statement of affairs for Hallam Wharf Ltd shows an estimated deficiency to creditors of £184,590, with HMRC and employees among the creditors.

Source: Statement of affairs, filed 28 May 2024, page 1. Scanned; read by OCR.

AttentionF03 · Deficiency to creditors including HMRC or employees

A question to ask

“The liquidation statement of affairs for HALLAM WHARF LTD estimates a deficiency to creditors of £184,590, with employees and HMRC among the creditors. What was the outcome for those creditors?”

Jane Exemplar and Hallam Wharf Ltd are fictional.

What you get

One report, in plain English. Every figure cites the filing it came from, and the page where there is one, so you can check it yourself.

  • The facts from the filings

    Every appointment, the companies’ accounts and what became of them, and whether each company filed on time, read from Companies House and set out in order.

  • Twenty-eight published criteria

    The history is measured against fixed criteria anyone can read. Where one is met, the report shows exactly why.

  • Questions to ask

    Neutral, specific questions to put to the person, so the conversation starts from what the register shows.

How it works

  1. 1

    Find the right person

    Search a name. We gather the appointments that may belong to them and show how confident we are about each, with the reason. You confirm which are theirs. Or start from a company: check its board, or the company itself.

  2. 2

    We read the filings

    Accounts, confirmation statements, strike-off and liquidation papers, including the scanned ones that are hard to search. We also check The Gazette, the UK, US and EU sanctions lists, the Individual Insolvency Register and the registers of France and Norway.

  3. 3

    You get the report

    The facts, the twenty-eight criteria and the questions, on screen and as a PDF to share with your team or adviser. We email you when it’s ready, and once you switch on watching we tell you for twelve months if their record changes.

More on how it works

Read a sample report

A complete report on a fictional director, Jane Exemplar, produced by the same pipeline as a real one from fictional filings. Page through it before you buy.

Read the full sample report or download it as a PDF (31 pages). There is also a sample company report.

Check the Director · Jane ExemplarPage 1 of 31

Summary

The register shows Jane Exemplar as a director of EXEMPLAR VENTURES LTD from 1 April 2015 and of HALLAM WHARF LTD from 3 September 2018, neither with a recorded resignation, of PARK ROW STUDIOS LTD from 20 May 2021, of ORRIN & VALE TRADING LTD from 12 June 2016 until 10 January 2023, and of LEEDS CORNER CAFE LTD from 15 March 2011 until 1 July 2014, and also records the subject as a person with significant control of KESTREL STUDIOS LTD from 15 January 2020 and as a beneficial owner of EXEMPLAR HOLDINGS S.A. from 1 September 2022.

Criteria met

AttentionF02 · Insolvency during or within 12 months after office
AttentionF03 · Deficiency to creditors including HMRC or employees
AttentionF19 · Current personal insolvency on the register, birth month and year matching

24 flags across 18 criteria in all, each shown with its evidence.

Who it’s for

  • Founders and angels

    Before you take on a co-founder, accept an investor or back a team.

  • Small and growing businesses

    Before you appoint a director or sign with a key supplier.

  • Law firms and insolvency practitioners

    Routine diligence, done thoroughly and sourced to the page.

The twenty-eight criteria

Fixed and published, so every report is measured the same way. Meeting a criterion is a reason to ask, never a verdict on the person.

AttentionWorth raising first
  • F01Disqualification on the register
  • F02Insolvency during or within 12 months after office
  • F03Deficiency to creditors including HMRC or employees
  • F18Designated on the UK Sanctions List, birth month and year matching
  • F19Current personal insolvency on the register, birth month and year matching
  • F21FCA prohibition or disciplinary action, linked to the subject's company by number
  • F24Named on HMRC's list of deliberate tax defaulters
  • F25Removed as a trustee of a charity the client confirmed as the subject's
  • F27Designated on the US Treasury's SDN list or the EU's sanctions list, birth month and year matching
  • F28A company on the record is designated on a sanctions list, by its company number
NoticeWorth understanding
  • F04Voluntary strike-off with outside shareholders and share premium
  • F05Strike-off application suspended after an objection
  • F06Filings overdue at a current appointment
  • F07Strike-off applied for with accounts due or overdue
  • F08Related-party transactions over £25,000
  • F09Tax and social security creditors more than doubled
  • F10Net current liabilities in the latest accounts
  • F16Accounts filed late for three or more of the last five periods
  • F20Bankruptcy or sequestration order in The Gazette, birth month and year matching
  • F22Registered office flagged or replaced by the Registrar at a current appointment
  • F23Identity verification statement overdue at a current appointment
InfoUseful context
  • F11Three or more dissolutions within 12 months
  • F12Different name spellings across officer records
  • F13Left office within 6 months before insolvency or strike-off
  • F14Ownership moved overseas before a strike-off application
  • F15Several dormant companies held for over three years
  • F17Five or more officer resignations within 12 months
  • F26A person who recurs at the subject's companies that failed

What a report can and can’t tell you

What it covers

  • The public Companies House register and the documents filed there.
  • Every statement linked to its source document, and to the page where there is one.

What it doesn’t

  • Court records or credit data.
  • Companies registered outside the UK, beyond a director’s roles in France and Norway.

How it’s written

Reports describe filings, not people. Wording is checked for any judgement of a person, and a report that slips is held for review before you see it.

Pricing

One credit buys one report; a larger history is priced before you confirm. No subscription and no setup fee.

Built and run by John Haigh, a law graduate and IT consultant to international banks, defence and technology firms, who spent years doing these checks by hand on Companies House. About John

Credits are valid for 12 months. For business use only. More on pricing

Questions

How long does a report take?
It depends on how many documents need reading. You don’t need to wait on the page: we email you as soon as it’s ready.
What if several people share the name?
We show every appointment record the search finds, group the ones we think belong to the same person, and give our confidence and reasons for each. You choose which to include before any credit is spent. Records with a different month or year of birth are never combined.
Can I check a company’s whole board?
Yes. Start from the company and we list its directors and officers, past and present, with their roles and any significant control. Pick the people you need, or every current director in one click, and confirm each person’s appointments. One credit per person, and the reports run side by side.
Can I check a company itself?
Yes. From the company’s page, choose to check the company rather than a person. The report covers the company: its officers and people with significant control as the register names them, its accounts and filings, charges, insolvency and Gazette notices, its Legal Entity Identifier where it has one, the UK, US and EU sanctions lists and HMRC’s list of deliberate tax defaulters, and whether it filed on time, measured against the criteria that apply to a company. It costs the same as a report on a person. See a sample company report.
Can we run checks from our own systems?
Yes. The API starts checks and collects reports under the same rules as the app: one credit per report, the identity step confirmed by you, reports private to your organisation. Keys are created by your account holder in settings, and webhooks tell your system when a report is ready. Read the developer documentation.
Where does the information come from?
The Companies House register first: appointments, company records, people with significant control, insolvency records, the disqualified directors register, and the documents companies file. Then ten other public sources: The Gazette, for winding-up petitions against their companies and for personal insolvency notices (bankruptcy orders and what followed them, back to 1998); the UK Sanctions List, the US Treasury’s list of Specially Designated Nationals and the EU’s consolidated list of financial sanctions; the Individual Insolvency Register; HMRC’s published list of deliberate tax defaulters; the Charity Commission’s registers of trustees and of removed trustees, with trusteeships confirmed by you; the FCA’s Financial Services Register of approved and prohibited individuals, tied to the person only by their company’s number; France’s register of companies and Norway’s register of roles, for a director of the same name born in the same month and year. Each is searched under every name the person has used on the register. No credit data, county court judgments or web searches.
How accurate is it?
Every statement cites the filing it came from, so you can check it. Companies House doesn’t verify what companies file, so a report is only as accurate as the register. Scanned documents are read by OCR, and a figure we can’t verify against its page is marked and never counts towards a criterion.
What does it mean when a criterion is met?
That the record meets one of twenty-eight published criteria — nothing more. It is a prompt to ask a question, not a finding about the person. The report quotes the criterion and shows the evidence.
Will the person know?
We never contact them, and nothing is published. The law gives anyone the right to ask what we hold about them: if they ask, we tell them what has been reported and when, and that it was for a business customer’s due diligence. We don’t name our customers unless the law or a court order requires it. How requests work.
Can I share a report?
Everyone in your organisation can see its reports. Outside it, you can share the PDF where you have a legitimate need; reports can’t be published or resold.
How long are reports kept?
For the period your organisation chooses — six, twelve or twenty-four months (twenty-four unless you change it). Then the report and its documents are deleted.
Who can use it?
Businesses and professionals only, with a legitimate business interest in the person they check. It isn’t offered to consumers.
Can I ask a question before I buy?
Yes. Send it from the contact page and we’ll reply by email.