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Companies House

Interact with the UK Companies House API to retrieve company information

Actions6

Overview

This node interacts with the UK Companies House API to retrieve detailed company information. Specifically, the "Get Filing History" operation fetches a company's filing history, including accounts, returns, and other official filings submitted to Companies House. It supports filtering both at the API level (to reduce response size and improve speed) and locally after receiving data.

Common scenarios for this node include:

  • Auditing or compliance checks by retrieving historical filings of a company.
  • Financial analysis by examining submitted accounts and resolutions.
  • Monitoring changes in company structure or control through filings related to officers or persons with significant control.

For example, a user might want to get all filings categorized as "Accounts" for a specific company registration number, then further filter locally to only see filings of type "AA" (Annual Accounts).

Properties

Name Meaning
Company Name or Number The company name (used for search operations) or the company registration number (for other operations).
Filing Category (API Filter) Filters filings server-side by category to reduce response size and improve speed. Options include: All Categories, Accounts, Confirmation Statement, Officers, Address, Persons with Significant Control, Capital, Resolution, Miscellaneous.
Filing Type Code (Local Filter) A string filter applied locally after receiving the API response to include only filings matching a specific filing type code (e.g., CS01, AA, CH01).
Filing Description (Local Filter) A local filter applied after the API response to include only filings matching a specific description. Options cover various detailed filing descriptions such as different types of accounts, confirmation statements, officer changes, resolutions, and company status changes.

Output

The output is an array of JSON objects representing the API response from Companies House:

  • For the "Get Filing History" operation, the main field is items, which contains an array of filing records.
  • Each filing record includes details such as filing type, description, date, and other metadata.
  • The node applies local filters (filingType and filingDescription) on these items before returning them.
  • The output also includes a total_count reflecting the number of filtered filings.

No binary data is output by this node.

Example snippet of output JSON structure:

{
  "items": [
    {
      "type": "AA",
      "description": "Accounts - Small",
      "date": "2023-01-31",
      ...
    },
    ...
  ],
  "total_count": 5
}

Dependencies

  • Requires an API key credential for the UK Companies House API.
  • The node uses HTTP GET requests authenticated via this credential.
  • No additional external dependencies are required.
  • Users must configure the API key credential in n8n prior to using this node.

Troubleshooting

  • Common issues:

    • Invalid or missing API key will cause authentication errors.
    • Providing an incorrect company number or name may result in empty or error responses.
    • Overly restrictive local filters may yield no results even if filings exist.

  • Error messages:

    • "Unknown operation: <operation>": Indicates an unsupported operation was selected; ensure "Get Filing History" is chosen.
    • HTTP errors from the API (e.g., 404 Not Found) usually mean the company does not exist or the number is invalid.
    • Network or timeout errors can occur if the API service is unreachable.

  • Resolutions:

    • Verify the API key is correctly configured and has necessary permissions.
    • Double-check the company number or name input.
    • Adjust filters to be less restrictive if no results are returned.

Links and References

Discussion