Companies House: free, complete, and silent on phone numbers
Every UK company is on the Companies House register. The register is free to search, and Companies House publishes a free monthly snapshot of basic company data for download: the company type, the registered office address, the SIC activity code, the status, the accounts dates.
What it does not carry: a phone number, an email address, or a named contact you can call. It tells you which companies exist, not how to reach anyone inside them.
On reuse, Companies House is explicit. Its guidance on data products, read on 3 October 2026: We impose no rules or requirements on how the information on the public register is used, and we're not responsible for your use of the company data. It adds that you remain responsible for data protection and copyright. Its personal information charter goes one step further: commercial organisations that build products from the register then become controllers of the personal data in it.
What that means for a buyer: the register is the best place to count UK companies and to check that a company is real and active. It is not a contact list, and anyone who sells you one built from it has had to add the contact data from somewhere else. Ask where.
Calling businesses: TPS and CTPS, both
This is the rule most often missed by teams that sell from outside the UK. The Information Commissioner's Office, in its guidance on telephone marketing read on 3 October 2026: For business-to-business (B2B) calls, you will therefore need to screen against both the TPS and the CTPS registers, as well as your own 'do not call' list.
The reason both registers apply: some businesses (sole traders and some partnerships) register with the TPS, and others (companies, some partnerships and government bodies) register with the CTPS. A sole trader is a business, and still sits on the consumer register.
In practice: a UK call list is not ready to dial until it has been screened against both registers, and screened again before each campaign, because the registers keep changing.
Emailing businesses: it depends who they are
The ICO draws the line by the kind of subscriber, in its guidance on email marketing read on 3 October 2026:
| Who you email | The rule |
|---|---|
| A corporate body: a company, a Scottish partnership, a limited liability partnership, a government body | You can email or text any corporate body. The consent rules do not apply |
| A sole trader or some partnerships | treated as individuals: you need their specific consent, or a previous purchase of a similar product with a chance to opt out |
| Everyone | You must not disguise or conceal your identity, and you must provide a valid contact address so they can opt out or unsubscribe |
The data protection rules apply on top: the people you contact at a company are still people, and the UK GDPR still governs what you hold about them.
What we deliver for UK targets
- A company line or a person line, your choice: the company and its main number, or a named person with a number that reaches them and a work email when there is one.
- Each line dated: the time it was last checked, and the reason it is in your file.
- Only lines with a phone number are billed, never more than the ceiling you set.
- A wrong line is refunded on proof within thirty days of delivery.
Screening against the TPS and the CTPS stays your obligation as the caller, and it has to happen close to the call, not once at delivery.
Browse UK lists
- By nation: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland.
- By role or trade.
- By company size: the small company and micro-entity thresholds used for UK accounts.
- All business email lists.