Guides
What the register shows about a director
Reference pages on the public record: what Companies House and The Gazette publish about a company director, how to read it, and where its limits are. The same material our reports are built from, explained.
Director disqualification and the disqualified directors register
Orders and undertakings, the usual grounds, how to search the register, and what an entry does and does not say.
Updated 2 November 2026
How to search for a winding-up petition
The Gazette, the court’s registry and Companies House: what each records about a petition, and when.
Updated 2 November 2026
Company charges and charge codes on Companies House
Registering a charge and the 21 days, charge codes, outstanding and satisfied, and what an entry leaves out.
Updated 2 November 2026
Companies House filing codes explained
AA, CS01, AP01, TM01, DS01, MR01, SH01, PSC01 and the rest of the filing history, in plain English.
Updated 30 October 2026
How to check a builder or contractor before you sign
The company behind a trading name, its directors’ other companies, the patterns worth a question, and what the registers hold on a sole trader.
Updated 30 October 2026
How to check a company director in the UK
Where to look on the public record, what each part tells you, and where the hours go.
Updated 27 October 2026
Winding-up petitions and The Gazette
The first public sign that a creditor has asked the court to close a company, and why the register records only the outcome.
Updated 27 October 2026
How to read a statement of affairs
The document that shows what an insolvent company owned, what it owed and to whom, as its directors stated it.
Updated 27 October 2026
What Companies House does not tell you about a director
Unverified filings, partial dates of birth, service addresses, name variants, reduced accounts, and the registers it does not include.
Updated 27 October 2026
HMRC winding-up petitions
How HMRC’s petitions read, the grounds they rest on, and HMRC’s place among the creditors since December 2020.
Updated 25 October 2026
When a winding-up petition is withdrawn or dismissed
Withdrawal, dismissal, adjournment and substitution, and what the public record keeps of each.
Updated 25 October 2026
Winding-up orders: what happens after the order
Compulsory liquidation from the order to dissolution, and what each step leaves on the record.
Updated 25 October 2026
Company statuses explained
Active, proposal to strike off, dissolved, liquidation, administration and the rest, and how a company moves between them.
Updated 13 October 2026