Find UK company directors

What officer information is recorded

Companies must notify Companies House when an officer is appointed, when their details change and when they leave. The register keeps both current and former officers, so the record builds up over the life of a company.

• Full name, and any former names recorded
• Role, such as director or secretary
• Date of appointment, and date of resignation where the officer has left
• Month and year of birth for individual directors
• Nationality, country of residence and occupation as filed
• A correspondence address, which is usually a service address rather than a home address

How to find the directors of a company

Start by identifying the right company. Search by registered name or, better, by company registration number, because names are frequently similar and numbers are unique. Confirm the registered office address and incorporation date against whatever paperwork you hold before going further.

Once you are certain of the company, the officer list can be reviewed. On this site the free summary confirms the company's own registered details, and the officer list forms part of the PDF report, which sets out current and former officers together with their appointment and resignation dates in one document.

How to read a director list

A long list of resigned officers is normal for an older company and is not in itself a warning sign. What is often more informative is the pattern: how recently the current directors were appointed, whether several officers resigned on the same date, and whether the company currently has any director at all.

A company with no serving director is unusual and typically means something has gone wrong or the company is being wound down. Repeated short appointments, or a director appointed shortly before a large order is placed with you, are worth a second look, though there are often ordinary explanations.

Directors are not necessarily the owners. Ownership and control are recorded separately as persons with significant control, and in many small companies the same person appears in both places while in others they are entirely different.

Directors, secretaries and corporate officers

• A private limited company must have at least one director who is a natural person
• A company secretary is optional for private companies and common for public companies
• Another company can be appointed as a corporate director or corporate secretary, and is recorded by its own name and number
• Officers appointed on insolvency, such as administrators or liquidators, appear in the insolvency information rather than the officer list

What the register cannot tell you

The register records what has been filed. Companies House does not verify most of it, so a person's occupation, nationality or address is as accurate as the filing that supplied it. Late notifications also mean the list can lag reality by weeks.

Nothing on the register indicates whether a director is competent, solvent or trustworthy, and this service does not provide disqualification searches, credit information or any form of background check.

Where directors appear on this site

Officer information is part of the paid PDF report rather than the free company summary. The free summary covers the company's own registered details; the report gathers officers, control, filings and charges into one dated document you can download, print, email and keep. You can view a sample report before ordering.

Free website search compared with the paid PDF report

Searching this site and viewing a company summary is free. The optional PDF report is paid, and what you are paying for is convenience: retrieval, formatting, a dated snapshot and a document you can download and keep. The underlying information is public and is also available directly from Companies House at no charge.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

• Who Owns a UK CompanyHow UK company ownership is recorded on the public register, the difference between directors, shareholders and persons with significant control, and how to look it up.
• Check Company PSCWhat persons with significant control means, which conditions make someone a PSC, and how to check the PSC information recorded for a UK company.
• UK Company Information ReportSee exactly what the UK Company Information Report contains, how it compares with the free company summary, and when a dated downloadable PDF of register information is worth ordering.
• Sample Company ReportSee the structure of the UK Company Information Report PDF section by section, page by page, so you know exactly what you receive before you order one.
• UK Company SearchFree UK company search by name or company number. View company status, registered office, incorporation date, company type and SIC codes from the Companies House public register.
• Company reportsThe optional downloadable PDF report and what it costs.
• Director SearchFind the directors of a UK company recorded at Companies House. Understand what officer records show, appointment and resignation dates, and how to obtain them in a PDF report.