Company Director Check (http://company-director-check.co.uk/) is a sister database to Company Check (http://companycheck.co.uk/), which I reviewed earlier this year (http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2011/01/10/free-uk-company-information/). It provides free access to information on current and past directors of UK companies that until now has only been available for a fee. Director searches can unearth links between apparently unrelated companies and help you identify “families” or groups of companies. It can also bring to light interesting patterns of behaviour. For example, I carried out a search on a director whose business activities had aroused my suspicions. I knew he had run companies in the past that had been dissolved and his most recent venture had gone into liquidation. Looking at the list of companies of which he had been director it became clear that 6-8 weeks before a company was dissolved or went under he would set up a completely new company. This had happened so often that it was not just me who had begun to smell a rather large rodent. I understand that he is “currently under investigation”!
If you are viewing a company in Company Check click on the director’s name and you are taken straight to their record in Director Check. Alternatively just run a search on the person’s name in Director Check. A list of possible matches will be presented to you, which you can refine by entering a postcode. Alternatively just work through the list until you are certain that you have found the correct person. Do not be surprised if you find a director has multiple IDs. There is nothing “dodgy” about this, it just reflects the way the system has evolved over the years. Companies House have carried out a massive exercise to try and fix this but there are still some multiple IDs in the database.
The information that is provided includes full name, short name, month and year of birth, address and past and present directorships.
The status of each directorship – active, dissolved, resigned – is displayed followed by a summary of each of the companies. More detailed information on the individual companies can be found on the Company Check web site.
Now that so much directorship information is freely available it will be interesting to see if more directors make use of the option to provide a service rather than their home address for the public record.
Definitely one to add to your business research toolkit.
I whole-heartedly agree with this concept, but i think due diligence in terms of robust governance systems need to implemented in most instances, perhaps adopting something similar to companies house.
Profiles of directors containing date or year of birth should only be made available on request as well as addresses especially in this day and age when internet and identity fraud is rife.Not all company directors are rogue traders and those that are not have a right to have their data- sensitive material protected.I have been a victim of both internet and identity fraud and it’s very ugly. Why are you making it easier , as all you need to do is google a name and BINGO ……
Company Director Check uses Companies House data which has always has been publicly available, although to see some of it on the Companies House website you have to pay a small fee. All Company Director Check does is repackage the information and offer some of it free of charge. They have removed the day from the date of birth now so that only the month and year is displayed but the full date of birth can easily be obtained from Companies House. With respect to addresses, the changes to the Companies Act now allow all directors to use a service address for the public record instead of their home address. It will be interesting to see how many decide to make use of that option.