🏢 Companies House UK Scraper Get all the information you need about UK companies in seconds! This scraper grabs data from the official Companies House website - that's where the UK government keeps records of every company. ## What Does This Scraper Do? Think of Companies House like a giant phone book, but for businesses. This scraper reads that phone book for you and collects all the juicy details about any UK company you want to know about. You can search by company name (like "Apple" or "Tesco") or use the company number if you know it. The scraper then visits Companies House and brings back everything it finds! ## ✨ What Information Can You Get? Here's all the cool stuff this scraper can find: | Data Type | What It Means | |-----------|---------------| | Company Details | The basics - name, number, status (active or closed), type, and when it started | | Address | Where the company's official office is located | | Officers | Who runs the company - directors, secretaries, both current and past | | PSCs | "Persons with Significant Control" - the people who really own or control the company | | Filing History | All the paperwork the company has filed (like report cards for businesses!) | | Charges | Any loans or debts secured against the company | | SIC Codes | Special codes that tell you what the business actually does | ## 🚀 How To Use It ### Option 1: Search by Company Name Just type in a company name, and the scraper will search for it and grab the first match. ### Option 2: Use Direct URLs Already know which company page you want? Paste the Companies House URL directly! Example URL: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11076647 ## ⚙️ Input Options ### Scraping Options | Field | What It Does | Default | |-------|--------------|---------| | searchQuery | Type a company name or number to search for | - | | directUrls | Paste Companies House URLs directly (skips searching) | Empty | | scrapeFilingHistory | Get the company's filing history? | ✅ Yes | | scrapeOfficers | Get info about directors and officers? | ✅ Yes | | scrapePSCs | Get info about people who control the company? | ✅ Yes | | scrapeCharges | Get info about company charges/loans? | ✅ Yes | | maxFilingHistoryPages | How many pages of filing history to grab (0 = all of them) | 10 | ### Performance & Rate Limiting | Field | What It Does | Default | |-------|--------------|---------| | maxRequestsPerCrawl | Max pages the scraper can visit (0 = unlimited) | 0 (unlimited) | | maxConcurrency | Number of parallel browser sessions (1-3 recommended) | 3 | | requestDelaySeconds | Delay between requests in seconds | 1 | | proxyConfiguration | Proxy settings for avoiding IP blocks | No proxy | ## 📊 Output Schema Here's exactly what data you'll get back for each company: ### Main Company Info json { "companyName": "EXAMPLE COMPANY LTD", "companyNumber": "12345678", "companyStatus": "Active", "companyType": "Private limited Company", "incorporatedOn": "22 November 2017", "dissolvedOn": null, "registeredOfficeAddress": "123 Main Street, London, England, SW1A 1AA", "url": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12345678", "scrapedAt": "2025-12-04T15:44:32.655Z" } ### SIC Codes (What the business does) json { "sicCodes": [ { "code": "62012", "description": "Business and domestic software development" } ] } ### Accounts Info json { "accounts": { "nextAccountsMadeUpTo": "30 November 2025", "lastAccountsMadeUpTo": "30 November 2024" }, "annualReturn": { "lastAnnualReturnMadeUpTo": "2 July 2014" }, "confirmationStatement": { "nextStatementDate": "16 January 2026", "lastStatementDate": "16 January 2025" } } > Note: annualReturn is only available for older/dissolved companies. Active companies use confirmationStatement instead (annual returns were replaced by confirmation statements in 2016). ### Officers (Directors & Secretaries) json { "officers": [ { "name": "SMITH, John", "role": "Director", "status": "Active", "appointedOn": "1 February 2018", "resignedOn": null, "dateOfBirth": "December 1982", "nationality": "British", "countryOfResidence": "England", "occupation": "Software Developer", "correspondenceAddress": "123 Main Street, London, England, SW1A 1AA", "identityVerificationDue": "30 January 2026", "placeRegistered": null, "registrationNumber": null } ] } ### PSCs (Persons with Significant Control) json { "pscs": [ { "name": "Mr John Smith", "status": "Active", "correspondenceAddress": "123 Main Street, London, England, SW1A 1AA", "notifiedOn": "16 January 2019", "ceasedOn": null, "dateOfBirth": "December 1982", "nationality": "British", "countryOfResidence": "England", "natureOfControl": [ "Ownership of shares – 75% or more", "Ownership of voting rights - 75% or more", "Right to appoint or remove directors" ], "placeRegistered": null, "registrationNumber": null, "legalForm": null, "lawGoverned": null } ] } ### Filing History json { "filingHistory": [ { "date": "22 Aug 2025", "type": "AA", "description": "Micro company accounts made up to 30 November 2024", "documentUrl": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12345678/filing-history/.../document" } ] } ### Statistics Summary json { "statistics": { "filings": 28, "officers": 3, "pscs": 3, "sicCodes": 1, "previousNames": 0 } } ### Extra Links json { "moreInfo": { "orderCertifiedDocumentUrl": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12345678/orderable/certified-copies", "fileForCompanyUrl": "/company/12345678/authorise?return_to=/company/12345678/more", "followCompanyUrl": "https://follow.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12345678/confirm-follow" } } ## 🎯 Perfect For - Researchers looking into UK businesses - Due diligence before working with a company - Journalists investigating corporate structures - Business analysts gathering market data - Developers building apps that need UK company data ## 🏃 Running Locally Want to test it on your computer first? Easy! bash # Run the scraper apify run ## ☁️ Deploy to Apify Cloud Ready to run it in the cloud? Here's how: bash # Log in to your Apify account apify login # Push it to the cloud apify push ## 📚 Learn More - Apify Platform Docs - Crawlee Documentation - Join the Apify Discord ## ⚖️ Legal Disclaimer & Responsible Use This scraper accesses publicly available data from Companies House, a UK government service. Before using this scraper, please be aware of the following: ### Terms of Use - Open Government Licence: Data from Companies House is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0. You must meet the conditions of this licence when reusing the data. - Rate Limiting: This scraper is configured with sensible defaults (maxConcurrency: 3, requestDelaySeconds: 1). You can adjust these settings, but making too many requests may result in your access being temporarily blocked. - robots.txt: The scraper respects standard web crawling conventions. It does not access disallowed paths such as /search/all* or print pages. ### Your Responsibilities - ✅ Use the data in accordance with the Open Government Licence - ✅ Attribute the data source appropriately when publishing - ✅ Respect rate limits and avoid overwhelming the service - ❌ Do not use for purposes that violate Terms of Service - ❌ Do not scrape or store personal data without lawful basis (GDPR applies) - ❌ Do not use the data for harassment, spam, or illegal purposes ### Official APIs Companies House also provides official APIs which may be more appropriate for high-volume or commercial use. Consider using the official API if you need: - Real-time data access - Higher rate limits - SLA guarantees This scraper is provided "as is" without warranty. Users are solely responsible for ensuring their use complies with all applicable laws and terms of service. --- Made with ❤️ for anyone who needs UK company data fast!