Companies House API points card for business credit cutoffs
Your company check reaches the point where the status rule decides whether a business can proceed. You have told the flow to approve when company_status is active, and that is the value in the response. The company passes. Then you see company_status_detail in the same response: active-proposal-to-strike-off. It is not a later note or a separate lookup. It is part of the information already in front of your onboarding rules when they make the decision. The case now has an approval and another status detail, together in the record.
Read Companies House status detail before approval
An active status needs its accompanying detail before it can decide which companies proceed. In the March 2025 cohort, 95.6% of companies in a strike-off proposal were gone from the register or still failing 19 months later. The status detail had been present alongside the active status.
Here, “gone or failing” is a register outcome. It includes companies owners closed because they no longer needed them, as well as companies removed or in a non-active status. It also counts some companies still in a strike-off proposal.
We fitted the card on what happened to the register compiled to the end of April 2024 by December 2025, then tested it on the cohort compiled to the end of February 2025 by September 2026. The four monthly snapshots were compiled to the ends of April 2024, February 2025, December 2025 and September 2026, and downloaded on 13 October 2026. Three came from Wayback Machine captures. The outcome windows overlap, so the later-cohort test shares some calendar time with development.
The easy mistake is to treat active status as a complete check because it looks definitive and slots neatly into an approval rule. The immediate book effect is who reaches assessment.
Use the points card to rank register outcomes
The seven-characteristic points card ranked later register outcomes better than the status-only comparison. Tested on the later cohort, the Gini was 0.25 for status alone, 0.52 for four checks counted together and 0.62 for the points card. For a lender, declining the worst fifth of companies by the card catches about half of all companies later gone or failing, compared with about a third for the strike-off proposal alone.
The card was fitted for private limited companies. It adds points from the company profile and charges list: strike-off proposal detail, accounts filing lateness, confirmation statement filing lateness, company age, the last accounts category, charges and the first SIC code. Filing lateness is calculated from the due date against the day of the check. The card has no address characteristic because the API-only version cannot count companies at an address.
Each characteristic stayed in the card only because it improved a ranking that held on the later register.
The points card and its attributes are the starting rule to test on your own applicant population.
| Characteristic | Attribute | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Strike-off proposal | none | 78 |
| Strike-off proposal | active-proposal-to-strike-off | -15 |
| Accounts overdue | not overdue | 75 |
| Accounts overdue | under 3 months | 53 |
| Accounts overdue | 3 to 12 months | 39 |
| Accounts overdue | over 12 months | 28 |
| Confirmation statement overdue | not overdue | 76 |
| Confirmation statement overdue | under 3 months | 50 |
| Confirmation statement overdue | 3 to 12 months | 21 |
| Confirmation statement overdue | over 12 months | 19 |
| Age | under 1 year | 59 |
| Age | 1 to 2 years | 63 |
| Age | 2 to 5 years | 73 |
| Age | 5 to 10 years | 77 |
| Age | 10 to 20 years | 87 |
| Age | 20 years or more | 95 |
| Last accounts | none filed | 58 |
| Last accounts | dormant | 71 |
| Last accounts | micro-entity | 78 |
| Last accounts | unaudited-abridged | 85 |
| Last accounts | total-exemption-full | 87 |
| Last accounts | small or any other type | 98 |
| Last accounts | full | 103 |
| Charges | none ever | 71 |
| Charges | all satisfied | 85 |
| Charges | 1 outstanding | 91 |
| Charges | 2 or more outstanding | 96 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | wholesale and retail (G), extraterritorial (U) | 59 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | transport and storage (H) | 60 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | accommodation and food (I), public administration (O) | 63 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | administrative and support (N) | 70 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | other services (S) | 71 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | mining (B), information and communication (J) | 73 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | manufacturing (C), water and waste (E), 99999 dormant | 74 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | construction (F) | 75 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | education (P) | 76 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | arts and recreation (R) | 78 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | professional and scientific (M), health and social work (Q), none supplied | 79 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | agriculture (A), energy supply (D), finance and insurance (K), other code | 86 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | real estate (L) | 92 |
| Industry (first SIC code) | households as employers (T) | 105 |
Each company receives one row of points for each of the seven characteristics. The total orders companies by the register outcomes observed in the test.
Separate register failure from insolvency risk
The score ranks companies leaving or failing on the register, and it ranks insolvency in the opposite direction. That distinction changes what a decile can decide in a lending flow.
| Decile | Score | Gone or failing | Insolvency | Share today | Companies today |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | under 476 | 92.8% | 1.02% | 9.7% | 498,796 |
| 2 | 476 to 491 | 50.7% | 0.33% | 10.9% | 560,094 |
| 3 | 492 to 503 | 36.5% | 0.35% | 9.0% | 465,722 |
| 4 | 504 to 518 | 27.7% | 0.71% | 10.1% | 523,709 |
| 5 | 519 to 526 | 21.5% | 0.83% | 9.5% | 490,977 |
| 6 | 527 to 533 | 17.1% | 0.90% | 9.3% | 478,255 |
| 7 | 534 to 539 | 14.7% | 1.04% | 9.8% | 507,248 |
| 8 | 540 to 548 | 11.8% | 1.02% | 10.3% | 532,263 |
| 9 | 549 to 565 | 8.7% | 1.34% | 10.8% | 555,046 |
| 10 | 566 or more | 4.3% | 1.33% | 10.7% | 551,332 |
Gone or failing falls at every decile, from 92.8% in the worst decile to 4.3% in the best. Insolvency runs the other way, highest in the two best deciles at about 1.3%, with the worst decile at 1.02% because it holds the strike-off proposals.
On the register to the end of September 2026, 498,796 private limited companies, 9.7%, score under 476, the worst decile, where 92.8% of the February 2025 companies were gone or failing by September 2026. In February 2025 the same range held 9.2%. The shares in the other deciles moved by about a point or less.
On the tested cohort, the overall insolvency ranking ran the wrong way for the score. A company that looks stronger on register survival can still carry a separate insolvency concern.
The figure scores a two-year-old retailer late with its confirmation statement and a twelve-year-old builder with every filing on time and a charge outstanding.
A registered charge is security a company gives for a loan, and Companies House records may still show a paid charge as outstanding because reporting satisfaction is optional. Read the company’s charges list and assess the latest accounts as separate credit evidence.
Use the score to rank register outcomes, then assess charges and accounts for the companies it passes.
Set credit cutoffs using lending results
For invoice finance, set decline, refer and pass decisions using your applicants’ score distribution and their own lending performance.
The share of companies in each decile changed little across the three register snapshots. That gives you a baseline for comparing distributions. Companies House also changed its strike-off powers during the outcome window.
Score your historical applicants and calculate how many would fall into each decile. Join those deciles to your matured lending outcomes. Compare default or loss rates and approval volume at each decline and referral boundary. Choose boundaries against your risk appetite and the cases your team can review.
Monitor the share of your applicants in each decile monthly against the register distributions. Set a tolerance for decile-share changes before launch.
Apply the score to company evidence
For the company that passed on active status but showed a strike-off proposal, read the detail, score the company and use your lending evidence to decide what happens next. The card narrows the register question. Your applicant mix and loan outcomes set the policy around it.
- Call the company profile and the charges list using the company number.
- Read the seven characteristics from those responses. Calculate filing lateness from each due date against the day you check.
- Add the points for one attribute from each characteristic using the points card.
- Use the observed score decile to understand register exit or failure rates, and keep those outcomes separate from loan default.
- Set decline, refer and pass cut-offs using your applicant distribution and matured lending outcomes, including default or loss rates and the approval volume at each boundary.
- For businesses the card passes, assess the charges and latest accounts as separate credit evidence.
- Each month, compare your applicants’ decile shares with the register distributions. Investigate changes against a tolerance set before launch, and refit only when later lending outcomes support a change that also holds on a later vintage.
Questions about the Companies House API
How do I get a Companies House API key?
Sign in to your Companies House account or register for one. In the Developer Hub, create an application, open its keys, create a REST API key and keep it for your data source credential.
How does the Companies House API authenticate?
It uses HTTP Basic authentication. Put the API key in the username field and leave the password blank. See Companies House authentication guidance.
What is the Companies House API rate limit?
You can make up to 600 requests in five minutes. Further requests receive a 429 response for the rest of that period.
Which Companies House API calls does the score need?
Call the company profile for status detail, filing due dates, age, accounts category and SIC code. Call the charges list for charge records. The Companies House API reference lists both calls and their responses.
How do I read outstanding charges from the API?
Count the charge records marked outstanding, and compare the number returned with the reported total to check whether the list is complete. An outstanding entry is a register status. Because reporting that a charge has been satisfied is optional, confirm its current position in your credit assessment.
Can I use the free bulk file instead of the API?
Yes, for monthly batch scoring. The free Basic Company Data snapshot is provided as ZIP files containing data in CSV format for live companies compiled to the end of the previous month. It includes basic charge counts, but individual charge details come from the API.
Does a shared registered address mean fraud?
A shared registered address can be used by many legitimate companies, and the register does not explain why a company uses one. Treat the address as context and look for separate evidence before drawing a fraud conclusion.
How do I connect Companies House to a decision flow?
Configure a REST data source with the company number as a parameter and the API key as its authentication credential. Read the returned characteristics in a decision table, then map the score decile to the next action. Decisimo’s data source documentation covers REST connections and credentials. The engine’s maximum response time is 15 seconds, so design the decision flow to handle a response that exceeds that limit.
