There is a significant amount of information about companies that can be obtained from Companies House. Companies House is responsible for incorporating and dissolving limited companies, examining and storing company information and making company information available to the public.

Much of this information is available at no cost. This is in line with the government’s commitment to free data and means that all publicly available digital data held on the UK register of companies is accessible free of charge. These records provide access to over 170 million digital records on companies and directors.

This includes:

• company information, for example registered address and date of incorporation
• current and resigned officers
• document images
• mortgage charge data
• previous company names
• insolvency information

There is also a service called WebCHeck that allows you to view a company's filing history and purchase copies of document images, as well as a selection of company reports, for a nominal fee. You can also elect to monitor a company and receive email alerts of any new documents filed at Companies House. This can also be a useful facility to check on filings made for your own company(ies).