The short answer
To check a UK company, MarketPrior resolves it against Companies House, then screens it against the 4 global sanctions lists (OFAC SDN list, EU Consolidated Financial Sanctions, UN Security Council Consolidated List, UK Sanctions List), a PEP screen, global news and web signals. In total 35 catalogued sources apply to UK companies: 8 specific to United Kingdom and 27 global. Every finding links to the record it came from, and gaps are shown rather than filled in.
At a glance
- UK sources
- 8
- Sources that apply in total
- 35 (incl. global)
- Company register
- Companies House
- Officers & directors
- From a national source
- Financial figures
- From a national source
- Sales triggers
- 7 (4 UK-specific)
How do you check a company in United Kingdom?
UK companies are registered at Companies House, which publishes each company’s officers, persons with significant control, filed accounts, charges and insolvency status under an eight-character company number.
In MarketPrior, a UK company is first resolved to the right legal entity — using its national identifier and, where it has one, its LEI — so that every later lookup is about the same company. The report then combines what the UK sources publish with global sanctions, PEP, news and web signals, and every finding is cited to its record.
Which UK sources does MarketPrior read?
| Source | Provides | Updates | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK FCA register — warning list / unauthorised firms | sanctions / warning-list hits | daily | FCA register terms — free API, attribution |
| UK FCA final notices | enforcement & court actions | weekly | UK Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| The London Gazette (insolvency + corporate notices) | insolvency notices | daily | UK Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| UK disqualified directors register | director disqualifications | daily | UK Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| UK Companies House (officers + PSC) | officers & directors, beneficial owners | real-time | UK Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| UK Companies House dossier (iXBRL accounts, PSC, insolvency) | financial figures, ownership links, insolvency notices, filing status | real-time | UK Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| Companies House officer changes (trigger) | trigger events | real-time | UK Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| Companies House Bulk company registry (GB) | company profile, searchable company corpus | monthly | UK Open Government Licence v3.0 |
What else applies to every UK company?
Some of the most important checks are not national. These global sources are applied to every UK company:
- Sanctions: OFAC SDN list, EU Consolidated Financial Sanctions, UN Security Council Consolidated List, UK Sanctions List — with every hit tiered confirmed, probable or possible.
- Politically exposed persons: a PEP screen built on Wikidata.
- Identity and ownership: GLEIF LEI records and GLEIF Level 2 parent and subsidiary links.
- Adverse media: GDELT global news, classified for relevance, sentiment and materiality.
- Growth signals: public job boards, GitHub, web traffic rank, web-archive history, tech stack and app listings.
Which sales triggers cover UK companies?
UK companies produce country-specific triggers from the register as well as the triggers that work in any country:
- New company registrations
- Officer appointments and resignations
- Registered charges
- Insolvency and dissolution (opt-in)
- Hiring spikes
- Tech adoption
- Website launches
What is not covered for United Kingdom?
Public records are uneven between countries. Where a source is missing or thin, a MarketPrior report says so instead of filling the gap with a guess.
- No structural gaps beyond what the UK sources themselves do not publish.