1. review of the uk register of companies helen thewlis head of policy and planning, companies...
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REVIEW OF THE UK REGISTER OF COMPANIES
Helen Thewlis
Head of Policy and Planning, Companies House, UK
This presentation
Purpose of the review
UK Register
Findings
Emerging ideas
Conclusions
Purpose of the Review
Considering the register :
– users’ point of view
– rationale and value it adds to the UK economy
– whether it could be operated differently
– potential to reduce burden on business
2,630,383 companies
590,114,598
online search page hits
340mImages of documents
6mdownloaded documents
2009-10 by numbers
8,700,887 docs filed last
year
35km shelves of paper
documents
Findings – what surprised us
Breadth of the register searched
Kinds of search
Personal interest aspect
Link to press and media
Types of company searched
Findings
185m hits on free information pages last year
450k free searches a day
86% of searches are for free information
13.5m paid searches
15% of companies accessed on a given day
22% accessed over a 2 day period
USA 3%
Germany 2%
UK 90%
Worldwide Website Visitors
IrelandFrance India NetherlandsSpainAustraliaChinaOther
Most useful free information
Type of information % rate
very useful
Basic Company Details 80%
History of Transactions 65%
Officer Names Index 51%
Insolvency Details 36%
Mortgage charge index 36%
Company Names Index 28%Disqualified Directors 28%
Types of entity searched for free
Type % searched Proportion searched in 2 day period
Private Limited 91.6 13%
Public Limited 1.7 67%
LLPs 1.4 13%
Age of information searched
Recent information most searched
– Less than 2 years• 83% of Accounts• 91% Annual Returns
– Over 2 years • less frequent, but still significant up to 15 years old• older information used for forensic & court cases
Why do people search?
Public:– Inform buying decision - property, cars, repairs, entertainment, – Deal with consumer problems, disputes– Check companies in the news
Business:– Make financial assessments– Check suppliers, directors– Checking dormant companies – Check their own information– Check disqualified directors
What information is paid for?
34%30%
13% 10% 7%
Feedback from Registers
Use aligns with ours
None had carried out similar work
Not all could indicate proportion of the register searched
Most searched - Officers, basic details, financial info
One had reduced administrative burden
Problems with the information Most relate to what CH does:
– Data entry error, wrong documents, duplicates
Some about the information itself– 3.5% of accounts don’t add up– Concern about Dates of Birth
Few complaints about fraud:– 83 average per month out of 700k filings (0.01%)
Emerging Ideas
More information wanted not less – Turnover– Number of employees– Qualified Accountants– Whether accounts are late filed – Contact details, Postcodes
Name reservations Linking group companies together Better ways of searching
Conclusions
100% found it useful
Rationale not really tested
Hard to estimate value to the economy
Wide & broad use – especially free info
Too early to think about asking for less info
We need to invest in deeper customer understanding
Fraudulent activity relatively low
ECRF
Have you completed similar work?
We’d welcome comments and information from more registries
Possibly include questions in benchmarking survey
Questions?
20