How to Check If a UK Company Is Legitimate (2026 Guide)

Before you send a proposal, sign a contract, or start any work for a UK company, there is one question worth answering first: is this company legitimate? It takes less time than you might think, and the cost of skipping this step can be severe.

This guide walks through exactly how to check a UK company, step by step, using free and official sources. Whether you are a freelancer, contractor, sole trader, or tradesperson, these are the checks that matter.

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Why you should check a company before doing business

Late payment is the single biggest financial risk for self-employed workers in the UK. According to an Intuit QuickBooks survey of over 1,000 UK businesses, 54% of SMEs have invoices that are more than 30 days overdue (2025). The FSB's "Time is Money" report found a similar pattern — 52% of small businesses experienced late payment quarter-on-quarter (2023). For freelancers, IPSE research puts the figure at 35% experiencing late payment in the past year, with the average amount owed reaching £5,230 (2024). For sole traders and freelancers the consequences are disproportionately harsh. One unpaid invoice of a few thousand pounds can mean missed mortgage payments, cancelled projects, or months of stress chasing money through the courts.

The problem is that companies can look entirely professional on the surface. A polished website, a LinkedIn presence, and a confident tone on a call tell you nothing about whether the company is solvent, whether it has a history of not paying suppliers, or whether it is about to be struck off the register.

The good news is that the UK has some of the most transparent company data in the world. Most of it is free. Five minutes of checking before you agree to work can save you thousands of pounds and months of frustration.

Step 1: Check Companies House (free)

Companies House is the official register of UK companies. Every limited company, LLP, and certain other business types must be registered here. It is free to search and open to the public.

Go to find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk and search by company name or number.

Here is what to look for:

Company status

The most important field. A legitimate, operating company should show "Active". Be cautious of any other status:

• In Liquidation -- the company is being wound up and its assets sold to pay creditors. Do not expect to be paid for new work.
• In Administration -- an insolvency practitioner has been appointed. The company may survive, but it is in serious financial difficulty.
• Dissolved -- the company no longer exists as a legal entity. If someone is trading under this name, that is a significant red flag.
• Proposal to Strike Off -- Companies House is about to remove the company from the register, often because it has failed to file required documents.

Incorporation date

How long has the company been trading? A company incorporated within the last 12 months has not had time to build a public track record -- not because new companies are illegitimate, but because there is no track record to assess. If a very new company is offering you a large contract, apply extra scrutiny to the other checks below.

Registered address

Many companies — including perfectly legitimate ones — use a formation agent or registered office service for their official address. It is a common and sensible choice that keeps directors' home addresses off the public register. The concern is not the registered office itself, but whether the company has any other verifiable presence at all. If you cannot find a website, a phone number, or any other footprint beyond the registered address, that is worth looking into alongside the other checks below.

Filing history

UK companies are legally required to file annual accounts and a confirmation statement each year. Check whether filings are up to date. There are innocent reasons for late filings — a change of accountant, an admin backlog, a particularly busy period. But consistently overdue accounts, especially by several months, can indicate deeper problems with how the company is run or with its financial position.

The scale of the problem is significant. Companies House issued £220 million in late filing penalties in 2024-25 alone (Companies House Annual Report). Late filings are not just an admin issue — they are common enough that the penalties run into hundreds of millions.

Directors

Who runs the company? Check whether the directors are named individuals (not just corporate directors), whether they have been involved in other companies that were dissolved or went insolvent, and whether there have been recent, unexplained changes to the board. A company that has cycled through multiple directors in a short period may be unstable.

Persons with Significant Control (PSCs)

PSCs are the individuals who ultimately own or control the company. Since 2016, UK companies must declare anyone who holds more than 25% of shares or voting rights. If the PSC information is missing or shows only offshore entities, it can make it harder to understand who is ultimately behind the company. That does not automatically mean anything is wrong, but it does mean you have less visibility.

Charges

Charges are secured loans registered against the company's assets. A high number of outstanding charges, or charges that have been registered recently, can indicate the company is heavily leveraged. This is not necessarily a problem, but it is worth noting alongside other findings.

Step 2: Check the Gazette for insolvency notices

The London Gazette (thegazette.co.uk) is the official public record for legal notices in the UK. It publishes insolvency-related notices that can appear days or even weeks before a company is formally dissolved on Companies House -- making it one of the best early warning systems available.

Search for the company name and look for:

• Winding-up petitions -- a creditor has applied to the court to force the company into liquidation
• Administration notices -- the company has entered or is entering administration
• Striking-off notices -- Companies House intends to remove the company from the register
• Voluntary arrangements -- the company is negotiating with creditors, which indicates financial distress

The numbers give this context. There were 23,938 company insolvencies in 2025 — roughly 1 in every 190 companies on the register (Insolvency Service). That rate has been climbing, which means Gazette notices are appearing more frequently.

If you find any of these notices for a company you are considering working with, it is a strong signal to pause and do further research before committing.

Step 3: Check financial health

Back on Companies House, look at the company's most recently filed accounts. You do not need to be an accountant to spot the basics:

• Net assets: Are they positive or negative? Negative net assets means the company owes more than it owns.
• Cash position: Does the company have cash on hand, or is it relying entirely on debt?
• Creditor levels: A high level of creditors relative to assets can indicate the company is struggling to pay what it owes.
• Accounts type: Many small companies file micro-entity or abbreviated accounts, which reveal very little. While this is perfectly legal, it means you have less information to work with -- which is itself a factor to consider.

If the accounts are overdue by 30 or more days, treat that as a significant warning sign regardless of what the last filed accounts showed. Circumstances can change quickly, and a company that is not filing may be avoiding disclosure of deteriorating finances.

Step 4: Check regulatory registers

If the company operates in a regulated sector, verify their registration with the relevant authority. Companies sometimes claim certifications or regulatory status they do not hold. A quick check takes seconds:

• FCA Register (register.fca.org.uk) -- For financial services firms. Check whether the company is authorised, and for what activities.
• SRA (sra.org.uk) -- For solicitors' firms. Verify they are genuinely regulated.
• CQC (cqc.org.uk) -- For care providers. Check their registration and inspection ratings.
• Gas Safe Register (gassaferegister.co.uk) -- For gas engineers. Verify engineer and business registration.
• TrustMark (trustmark.org.uk) -- For tradespeople. Government-endorsed quality scheme.

If a company claims to be FCA-authorised, Gas Safe registered, or any other certification, and they are not on the relevant register, that is not just a red flag -- it may be a criminal offence.

Step 5: Check for County Court Judgments (CCJs)

A County Court Judgment is issued when a company fails to pay a debt and the creditor takes them to court. CCJs are one of the strongest indicators that a company has a history of not paying what it owes.

The volume is striking. Registry Trust data shows that 173,025 commercial CCJs were registered in 2024 — up 35.5% year-on-year. That is a sharp increase, and it means more companies than ever have court judgments against them for unpaid debts.

You can search for CCJs through Trust Online for a small fee (currently around 2 pounds per search). Multiple CCJs against a company are a serious red flag, particularly if they are recent. Even a single CCJ suggests the company has been taken to court by a creditor -- and that creditor could have been someone in your position.

Step 6: Search for adverse media

A straightforward internet search can reveal problems that do not appear in any register. Search for the company name alongside terms like:

• "scam"
• "fraud"
• "complaint"
• "not paying"
• "review"

Check Trustpilot, Google Reviews, and industry-specific forums. Look for patterns rather than isolated complaints -- every business gets the occasional negative review, but a consistent theme of non-payment, poor conduct, or dishonesty is meaningful.

Also check for news coverage. Local and trade media sometimes report on companies facing legal action, regulatory sanctions, or other problems well before they show up in official records.

Step 7: Verify their website and online presence

Finally, cross-reference what the company tells you with what you can independently verify:

• Website quality: Does the website look established and professional, or was it clearly put up recently? Check the domain registration date using a WHOIS lookup.
• Contact details: Is there a physical address and phone number? Do they match the registered address on Companies House?
• LinkedIn profiles: Do the people you are dealing with have LinkedIn profiles that match the directors listed on Companies House? Discrepancies here are worth questioning.
• Company number on website: Legitimate UK companies typically display their company number, registered address, and VAT number on their website footer. If these are absent, ask why.

Red flags: a summary

These are the warning signs that should give you pause before agreeing to work with a company:

• Company less than 12 months old with no verifiable trading history
• Overdue filings on Companies House, particularly accounts
• Recent or frequent director changes with no clear explanation
• No verifiable business presence beyond a registered office address (no website, phone, or other footprint)
• Gazette notices -- winding-up petitions, striking-off, or administration
• County Court Judgments, especially multiple or recent ones
• Claims certifications or regulatory status that cannot be verified on official registers
• No website, or a website registered very recently with minimal content
• Negative reviews or media coverage showing a pattern of non-payment or dishonesty
• Negative net assets or significantly overdue accounts in their latest filings

Using aggregation tools

Every step above can be done manually using free sources. But checking across half a dozen websites and registers takes time, and it is easy to miss something.

Aggregation tools exist that pull from multiple official sources simultaneously and present the results in a single view. ClientLight is one example — it runs checks across Companies House, FCA, the Gazette, HMRC, sanctions lists, and other registers in one go. There are others on the market too, depending on your needs and budget.

The important thing is that the checks get done, however you choose to do them.

Final thoughts

Checking whether a UK company is legitimate is not difficult. The data is public, the tools are free, and the process takes five to ten minutes if you do it manually -- or seconds with the right tool.

The cost of not checking is far higher. Thousands of freelancers and sole traders across the UK end up chasing unpaid invoices every year, and in many cases a quick check beforehand would have revealed the warning signs.

Make it a habit. Before you send the proposal, before you sign the contract, before you start the work -- check the company. It is one of the simplest things you can do to protect your business.

Sources

• Intuit QuickBooks UK survey (2025) — 54% of SMEs have invoices 30+ days overdue
• FSB "Time is Money" report (2023) — 52% of small businesses experienced late payment
• IPSE freelancer research (2024) — 35% experienced late payment; £5,230 average owed
• Companies House Annual Report 2024-25 — £220m in late filing penalties
• Insolvency Service statistics (2025) — 23,938 company insolvencies
• Registry Trust (2024) — 173,025 commercial CCJs, up 35.5% year-on-year