Companies House integration
Add UK companies straight from the Companies House register
Type part of a company's name or its number, pick the right match, and Beagle CRM fills in the registered name, company number and registered office address on the new customer or supplier. You check the values before anything is saved.
After that, the account's overview page shows the company's status on the register, when its next accounts are due and when its confirmation statement is due, with a clear flag if either is overdue. One click pulls the latest figures again.
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The problem
Why company details drift
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Copying from a browser tab.
Someone opens the register in one window and the CRM in another, then retypes a twelve-word registered name. A missing "Ltd" or a transposed digit in the company number goes unnoticed until an invoice bounces back.
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Trading name versus legal name.
The customer calls itself one thing on the phone; the entity you should be invoicing has another name entirely. Nobody checks.
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Nobody knows the account has gone quiet on the register.
A trade customer stops filing, falls overdue, or enters liquidation, and the first anyone hears is when payment doesn't arrive.
What's included
What the lookup does
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Search by name or number
Start typing (two characters is enough) and up to ten matches appear, each showing the company number, register status and a short address line, so two similarly named firms are easy to tell apart.
Looking up a customer -
Fill a new record
On the new-customer and new-supplier forms, Use these details copies the register's values into the form. Anything you'd already typed in other fields stays put. Nothing saves until you press save.
Looking up a supplier -
Review before it writes
When editing an existing customer or supplier, Review shows a side-by-side table: what the record holds now, what the register says, and a tick box per field. Changed fields come pre-ticked; you untick anything you'd rather keep.
Reviewing register changes -
Filing dates on the account
The overview page carries a Companies House panel: register status, next accounts due date and confirmation statement due date, each marked Overdue in red when the register says so, plus the date Beagle last checked. A record saved from a lookup has it filled in from the start.
The Companies House panel -
Re-sync on demand
A Re-sync button on the overview fetches the latest filing data by the stored company number. It refreshes the panel only; it never rewrites the customer's own fields.
Refreshing filing data -
Your own business too
In Organisation Settings, an admin can pull your company's registered name, number and split address lines from the register in the same way.
Filling in your organisation
How it works
A new trade account at an office-supplies reseller
A reseller of stationery, toner and office furniture gets a call from a growing marketing agency that wants a trade account with 30-day terms.
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Find the company.
The account manager opens New customer and types the agency's name into the Companies House box at the top of the form. Three similar names come back; the one with the matching town in its address line is the right entity.
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Use these details.
One click puts the registered name, the eight-character company number, the registered office address and its postcode into the form. A note reminds her that the registered office may not be where deliveries should go, so she adds the agency's actual office as the delivery contact.
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Save.
The customer record now holds the legal entity's exact name, which is what goes on quotations and invoices. The filing dates from the lookup are saved with it.
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Check before extending credit.
On the customer's overview, the Companies House panel shows the company is Active, with accounts due next spring and nothing overdue. She sets the payment terms.
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A few months later.
Before a large furniture order, a colleague presses Re-sync. If the accounts had slipped overdue, the red flag would be the prompt to ask for payment up front.
The data
Fields copied from the register
| On a customer or supplier | On your organisation |
|---|---|
| Business name (customer) or supplier name | Registered name |
| Company number | Company number |
| Address (building, street and town as one line) | Address line 1, address line 2, city |
| County, from the register's region | County |
| Postcode | Postcode |
The register's all-capitals names are tidied into normal capitalisation (keeping UK, PLC, LLP and similar in capitals). A region is matched to the county list Beagle uses; where there's no clear match, the county is left unticked for you to pick, and the other fields still save. The VAT number isn't on the public register, so you type that yourself.
Shown but not copied onto the record: register status (active, dissolved, in liquidation and so on), next accounts due date, confirmation statement due date, and whether each is overdue. These live in the Companies House panel, together with the date they were last checked.
On the activity timeline: when register values are applied to an existing customer, the customer's activity feed records which fields were updated and by whom.
Clear edges
What it doesn't do
- No officers or shareholders. Directors, secretaries and people with significant control aren't fetched.
- No credit scores or risk ratings. You see what the public register says about filings and status, nothing more. If you need a credit limit recommendation, use a credit agency.
- No automatic monitoring. Beagle doesn't re-check companies on a schedule or send an alert when one is dissolved. After 30 days the lookup panel marks the check as stale and prompts a re-check; refreshing is a click.
- Leads aren't looked up. The search sits on customers, suppliers and your organisation settings. When a lead becomes a customer, run the lookup then.
- Registered companies only. Sole traders and most ordinary partnerships aren't on the Companies House register, so there's nothing to find; add those customers by hand as usual. Limited companies, LLPs and other registered entities from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are all on the one register.
- Registered office isn't always the right address. It is often an accountant's office. Beagle shows a reminder about this when you review a customer's details.
- Busy moments. Lookups go through Beagle's own Companies House key, which has a limit shared by every Beagle customer. If many searches happen at once you may see "Too many lookups right now" and need to try again a moment later.
Pricing
One plan, every feature
£29 per user per month, or £290 per user per year (two months free)
The Companies House lookup is part of the single Beagle CRM plan. You don't need your own Companies House API key.
All prices exclude VAT.
Questions, answered
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need a Companies House API key?
- No. Beagle CRM makes the lookups with its own key, so there's nothing to register for or paste in.
- What details does it fill in?
- The registered company name, company number, registered office address, county and postcode. On an existing record you choose which of those to apply, field by field.
- Does it show directors or credit scores?
- No. It doesn't fetch officers or people with significant control, and it doesn't give credit scores. It shows the register status and when accounts and the confirmation statement are next due.
- Will Beagle tell me if a customer is dissolved?
- Not automatically. Press Re-sync on the customer's overview and the panel shows the current register status. A check older than 30 days is marked as stale so you know it's time to look again.
- Does it work for Scottish and Northern Irish companies?
- Yes. Companies registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland are on the same Companies House register and can be found by name or number in the same way.
- Can I look up a sole trader?
- No. Sole traders aren't registered at Companies House, so they won't appear in the search. Add them as a customer manually.
Related
- CRM for small businesses One CRM for a small UK team: leads, customers, quotes, VAT invoices, a shared inbox and a service desk. £29 per user, every feature, 14-day free trial.
- Lead management Track every lead on a drag-and-drop pipeline, with a next step and due date on each one. Beagle CRM flags stalled deals. £29 per user, 14-day free trial.
- CRM with Xero Quote and invoice in Beagle CRM; issued invoices and credit notes post to Xero under the same number, and Xero payments flow back every hour.
- CRM with Google Workspace Connect Google Workspace mailboxes to Beagle CRM. Gmail is read and sent from inside the CRM, filed against the right customer, via a Google app you own.
Get the legal name right first time
Start a 14-day free trial and add your next trade customer straight from the register, or book a demo and we'll show you the lookup.