The agency also registers limited partnerships, while most other enterprises fall under the purview of the Financial Conduct Authority.

From 2016, Companies House operated under the authority of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

This then became the Department for Business and Trade from 7 February 2023 following a Machinery of Government change initiated by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The current chief executive is Louise Smyth, who also serves as registrar for England and Wales.

[5] Prior to 1844, companies could only be incorporated through grant of a royal charter, by private act of Parliament,[6] or, from 1834, by letters patent.

[11] All companies, irrespective of their method of incorporation, were obliged to register within three months of the commencement of the Act.

The remaining staff were transferred to the office of the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer (Q<R), who took on the role of Registrar of Companies for Scotland.

[28] In view of the coronavirus pandemic, from 25 March 2020 companies were able to apply for a three-month extension to the annual deadline for filing their accounts and reports.

[37] The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, receiving royal assent on 26 October 2023 and coming into force on 4 March 2024, signifies a major legislative reform for Companies House.

[38] Central to the act is the requirement for identity verification of individuals wishing to incorporate a company, including directors, people with significant control (PSCs), and members of Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs).

The London office of Companies House, located at Petty France, is purely a facility to file and view documents, which are then processed in Cardiff.

[63] Approval from the Secretary of State is required if a company wishes to use a name indicating a connection to government,[64] or other so-called 'sensitive' words or phrases.

[65] Generally, undertakings registered with Companies House are required to indicate their legal form in their names: Notwithstanding the above, private limited companies need not indicate their legal form in their names if they are charities,[80] exempted by new regulations made by the Secretary of State,[81] or subject to a continuing exemption.

[85] Private limited companies can be issued with a certificate of incorporation within 24 hours of an application being submitted.

[98] These records include:[99] In February 2008, The Times[100] and Computer Weekly[101] broke a story that almost 4,000 of the names on the Companies House register of directors were on international watchlists of alleged fraudsters, money launderers, terror financiers and corrupt officials.

The results came from Datanomic who had screened the 6.8 million names on the register against a World-Check database of high risk individuals and businesses.