companies-house

name	companies-house
description	Research UK companies using Companies House data. Use when the user asks about UK companies, directors, ownership, filings, due diligence, or company searches.

You have access to the companies-house MCP server, which provides tools for querying the UK Companies House API. Use this skill to help users research UK companies, officers, ownership, and corporate history.

Workflow

Start broad, go deep:

1. Find the company — Use search_companies to find the company number. UK company numbers are 8 digits, zero-padded (e.g., 00445790). Scottish companies start with SC, Northern Irish with NI, LLPs with OC.

2. Get the overview — Use company_report for a comprehensive view in one call. This returns profile, officers, PSCs, charges, filings, and insolvency status. This is the best starting point for most requests.

3. Go deeper as needed:

   • Ownership questions → get_ownership
   • Officer history → get_appointments (with officer ID from officers list)
   • Director network → officer_network (finds all companies a person directs)
   • Financial health → due_diligence_check (automated red-flag scanner)
   • Specific filings → get_filings with category filter
   • Charges detail → get_charges

Available Tools

Tool	Use When
search_companies	Finding a company by name. Supports filters: status, type, SIC code, location, incorporation date.
search_officers	Finding a person across all companies. Returns officer IDs for deeper queries.
get_company_profile	Getting detailed profile for a known company number.
get_officers	Listing directors/secretaries. Use include_resigned: true for full history.
get_appointments	Seeing all companies an officer is/was associated with. Needs officer ID.
get_ownership	PSCs — who owns/controls the company. Individual, corporate, and legal person PSCs.
get_filings	Filing history. Filter by category: accounts, officers, mortgage, capital, etc.
get_charges	Mortgages/debentures. Outstanding vs satisfied charges.
get_insolvency	Insolvency cases, practitioners, proceedings.
company_report	Recommended starting point. One call returns profile + officers + PSCs + charges + filings + insolvency.
due_diligence_check	Automated red-flag scan. Checks status, accounts, confirmation statement, charges, insolvency, officers, PSCs.
officer_network	Map all appointments for an officer. Takes name or officer ID.
get_company_registers	Where the company keeps its statutory registers.
get_exemptions	Company exemptions (rare).
get_uk_establishments	UK branches of overseas companies.
get_officer_disqualifications	Check if someone is disqualified from being a director.
get_filing_document	Metadata for a specific filing (needs transaction ID from get_filings).

Company Number Formats

• Standard: 8-digit, zero-padded: 00445790, 13861484
• Scotland: SC prefix: SC123456
• Northern Ireland: NI prefix: NI012345
• LLP: OC prefix: OC301234
• Overseas: FC prefix: FC012345
• SE: SE prefix (European companies)

Always pad numbers to 8 digits when needed (e.g., 445790 → 00445790).

Company Statuses

Status	Meaning
active	Trading normally
dissolved	No longer exists — removed from register
liquidation	Being wound up — assets being sold
receivership	Under control of a receiver
administration	Under protection from creditors, restructuring
voluntary-arrangement	Reached agreement with creditors
converted-closed	Converted to another type or closed
insolvency-proceedings	Insolvency proceedings active

SIC Codes (Common)

• 62011 — Computer programming activities
• 62012 — Business and domestic software development
• 62020 — IT consultancy activities
• 62090 — Other IT activities
• 70229 — Management consultancy activities
• 64110 — Central banking
• 64191 — Banks
• 64205 — Financial holding companies
• 68100 — Buying/selling of own real estate
• 68209 — Other letting of own property
• 82990 — Other business support activities
• 47910 — Retail via internet
• 56101 — Licensed restaurants

Filing Categories

Use with get_filings category parameter:

• accounts — Annual accounts
• annual-return — Annual returns (pre-2016)
• confirmation-statement — Confirmation statements (post-2016)
• officers — Director/secretary appointments, resignations, changes
• mortgage — Charge registrations and satisfactions
• capital — Share allotments, capital changes
• incorporation — Formation documents
• change-of-name — Name change certificates
• liquidation — Winding up documents
• resolution — Shareholder resolutions
• miscellaneous — Everything else

Due Diligence Interpretation

When due_diligence_check returns flags:

High severity — investigate further:

• Company dissolved/in liquidation/in administration
• Insolvency history or active proceedings
• Accounts overdue (company may be non-compliant)
• No active officers

Medium severity — worth noting:

• Outstanding charges (normal for companies with bank lending)
• Confirmation statement overdue
• Officers recently resigned
• Registered office undeliverable or in dispute
• No PSCs registered for an active company

Low severity — informational:

• Company less than one year old
• Sole director (common for small companies)

Natures of Control (PSC)

PSCs must register if they hold:

• 25-50% of shares or voting rights
• 50-75% of shares or voting rights
• 75-100% of shares or voting rights
• Right to appoint/remove directors
• Significant influence or control

These can be held directly, in trust, or as a firm.

Visual Output

When the data warrants it and the user's context supports Mermaid rendering (Claude.ai, Claude Desktop, Obsidian, GitHub), generate diagrams from the structured data. Do not generate diagrams in terminal-only contexts (Claude Code CLI, Cursor) — describe the structure in text instead.

Only generate a diagram when it adds clarity the text alone doesn't provide. A single PSC doesn't need a flowchart. A company with one director doesn't need a network graph. Use diagrams for relationships, timelines, and comparisons — not for restating what the text already says clearly.

Use <br/> for line breaks in Mermaid node labels — never \n.

Ownership Flowcharts

Generate from get_ownership data when there are 2+ active PSCs or corporate PSCs (layered ownership).

Default: top-down, colour-coded by PSC type.

graph TD
    C["Company Name<br/>Company Number | Status"]

    P1["Corporate PSC Name<br/>(Corporate PSC)"]
    P2["Individual Name<br/>(Individual)"]

    P1 -->|"25-50% shares<br/>25-50% votes"| C
    P2 -->|"75-100% shares"| C

    style C fill:#1e3a5f,color:#fff,stroke:#0d253f
    style P1 fill:#7c3aed,color:#fff,stroke:#5b21b6
    style P2 fill:#0d9488,color:#fff,stroke:#0f766e

Colours: dark blue for the target company, purple for corporate PSCs, teal for individual PSCs.

When the user asks about ownership changes or history, show ceased PSCs with dashed lines and grey styling:

    X1["Former Owner<br/>Ceased Dec 2023"]:::ceased
    X1 -.->|"formerly 25-50%"| C
    classDef ceased fill:#94a3b8,color:#fff,stroke:#64748b,stroke-dasharray: 5 5

When there are 5+ PSCs, use left-to-right layout (graph LR) to avoid a tall narrow diagram.

Officer Network Graphs

Generate from officer_network data when an officer has 2+ appointments.

Default: left-to-right, colour-coded by company status.

graph LR
    O["Officer Name"]

    C1["Company Name<br/>Company Number"]
    C2["Dissolved Company<br/>Company Number"]:::dissolved

    O -->|"Director<br/>(active)"| C1
    O -->|"Director<br/>(resigned)"| C2

    style O fill:#1e40af,color:#fff,stroke:#1e3a8a
    style C1 fill:#059669,color:#fff,stroke:#047857
    classDef dissolved fill:#dc2626,color:#fff,stroke:#b91c1c

Colours: blue for the officer, green for active companies, red for dissolved companies.

Cap at 15 companies. If there are more, show active appointments only and note "N additional resigned appointments not shown."

Filing Timelines

Generate from get_filings and get_officers data when the user asks about company history, lifecycle, or "what happened with this company."

Default: sectioned by era, curated key events only.

timeline
    title Company Name — Key Events
    section Formation
        Month Year : Incorporated
    section Growth
        Month Year : Key event description
    section Recent
        Month Year : Key event description

Curate, don't dump. Select: incorporation, significant officer changes, status changes, charges, insolvency events, and major filings. Skip routine annual accounts and confirmation statements unless they're overdue or the only activity.

Officer Tenure (Gantt Charts)

Generate from get_officers (with include_resigned: true) when the user asks about board history, director tenure, or "who was there when."

Default: full board history, grouped by status.

gantt
    title Company Name — Director Tenure
    dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
    axisFormat %Y

    section Active
        Director Name :active, start-date, end-date

    section Resigned
        Former Director :done, start-date, end-date

Use active for current officers, done for resigned. For active officers, use today's date as the end date.

For companies with 15+ officers, offer a simplified view showing only current officers and key historical figures (founders, long-serving directors).

Charge Lifecycle (Gantt Charts)

Generate from get_charges data when a company has both outstanding and satisfied charges, or when the user asks about charge history.

gantt
    title Company Name — Charges
    dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
    axisFormat %Y

    section Outstanding
        Charge Description :active, created-date, today

    section Satisfied
        Charge Description :done, created-date, satisfied-date

Tips

• Company numbers are case-insensitive but always return uppercase from the API.
• The API returns dates as YYYY-MM-DD strings.
• get_officers returns active only by default. Use include_resigned: true for full history.
• PSC data may not be available for older companies or companies registered before the PSC regime (2016).
• Some endpoints return 404 for valid companies that simply don't have the relevant data (e.g., insolvency for a healthy company). This is normal, not an error.
• Officer IDs are embedded in links.self paths: /officers/{OFFICER_ID}/appointments.
• For large companies (e.g., Tesco), officer lists can be very long. Use pagination.