How to Export UK Company Directors from Companies House in Bulk

Companies House shows each company's officers on its own page, which is fine for one firm and tedious for a list. The free API exposes the same data, but you have to call the profile, officers and filing history endpoints separately, combine them and stay inside the rate limit of 600 requests per 5 minutes.

If what you need is a spreadsheet of directors for a set of companies, say every active scaffolding firm in Manchester incorporated since 2020, or the officers behind 300 suppliers in your purchase ledger, you want that stitched together already, with one row per person you can filter and sort.

This guide covers choosing companies by number or by filters, finding SIC codes, running the export, turning nested officers into a flat director list, and keeping the output privacy-safe.

Step by step

1. Choose how to select companies

   There are three ways in, in this order of priority. companyNumbers enriches exactly the companies you list. If no numbers are given, the advanced filters (sicCodes, companyStatus, incorporatedFrom, incorporatedTo, location) run a targeted search. If there are neither, searchTerms runs a free-text name search such as 'plumbing manchester'.

2. Find the SIC codes for your sector

   SIC codes are the Standard Industrial Classification codes companies declare on the register. 43991 is scaffolding, for example, and you can pass several codes at once. Combine them with companyStatus active and a location such as 'Manchester' to get a targeted list of trading companies with a registered office in that area.

   {
     "sicCodes": ["43991", "43999"],
     "companyStatus": "active",
     "incorporatedFrom": "2020-01-01",
     "location": "Manchester",
     "maxResults": 500,
     "includeOfficers": true,
     "includeFilings": false
   }

3. Or enrich a list of company numbers you already have

   Paste company numbers into companyNumbers to enrich exactly those firms. Keep them as text: UK company numbers often start with zeros or letters, and spreadsheets tend to strip leading zeros. Mistyped numbers are skipped and never charged, so check the run's row count against your list.

   {
     "companyNumbers": ["09876543", "12345678", "SC123456"],
     "includeOfficers": true,
     "includeFilings": true
   }

4. Flatten officers into one row per director

   Each company row has an officers list with name, role, appointedOn, resignedOn, nationality and occupation, up to 100 per company. The script below turns that into a flat CSV of current directors only (no resignation date), with the company's number, name, status and SIC codes on every line.

   import csv
   import os
   
   from apify_client import ApifyClient
   
   client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])
   run = client.actor("actor-forge/uk-companies-house-enrichment").call(run_input={
       "sicCodes": ["43991"],
       "companyStatus": "active",
       "location": "Manchester",
       "maxResults": 500,
       "includeOfficers": True,
       "includeFilings": False,
   })
   
   with open("directors.csv", "w", newline="", encoding="utf-8") as f:
       writer = csv.writer(f)
       writer.writerow(["companyNumber", "companyName", "status", "sicCodes",
                        "officerName", "role", "appointedOn", "occupation"])
       for company in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
           for officer in company.get("officers") or []:
               if officer.get("resignedOn"):
                   continue
               if "director" not in (officer.get("role") or "").lower():
                   continue
               writer.writerow([
                   company["companyNumber"], company["name"], company.get("status"),
                   " ".join(company.get("sicCodes") or []),
                   officer["name"], officer["role"], officer.get("appointedOn"),
                   officer.get("occupation"),
               ])

5. Use filings to qualify the list

   With includeFilings on, each company carries its 25 most recent filings with date, category, type and description. That is enough to spot companies that have recently filed accounts or changed officers, or to drop ones whose history suggests they are winding down. Leave it off if you only need directors; the price per company is the same.

6. Plan for throughput on big exports

   Companies House allows 600 requests per 5 minutes, and a fully enriched company uses 3 requests, so expect about 180 companies per 5 minutes on the shared key. For large or frequent exports, get a free key from developer.company-information.service.gov.uk and put it in apiKey for dedicated throughput.

7. Handle director data responsibly

   The actor never returns officers' dates of birth or personal addresses, only statutory register fields. Directors' names and roles are still personal data, so make sure you have a lawful basis for any outreach and keep the export to what you need.

Sample input

{
  "sicCodes": [
    "43991"
  ],
  "companyStatus": "active",
  "incorporatedFrom": "2020-01-01",
  "location": "Manchester",
  "maxResults": 200,
  "includeOfficers": true,
  "includeFilings": true
}

Sample output

Each company row arrives with officers and filings nested inside it, summarised in the table below:

Run it from code

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/actor-forge~uk-companies-house-enrichment/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"sicCodes": ["43991"], "companyStatus": "active", "incorporatedFrom": "2020-01-01", "location": "Manchester", "maxResults": 200, "includeOfficers": true, "includeFilings": true}'

JavaScript (Node.js)

// Node.js 18+ (built-in fetch). Set APIFY_TOKEN in your environment.
const input = {
  "sicCodes": [
    "43991"
  ],
  "companyStatus": "active",
  "incorporatedFrom": "2020-01-01",
  "location": "Manchester",
  "maxResults": 200,
  "includeOfficers": true,
  "includeFilings": true
};

const res = await fetch(
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/actor-forge~uk-companies-house-enrichment/run-sync-get-dataset-items",
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.APIFY_TOKEN}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify(input),
  }
);
const items = await res.json();
console.log(items.length, items[0]);

Python

# pip install apify-client   (set APIFY_TOKEN in your environment)
import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])
run_input = {
    "sicCodes": [
        "43991"
    ],
    "companyStatus": "active",
    "incorporatedFrom": "2020-01-01",
    "location": "Manchester",
    "maxResults": 200,
    "includeOfficers": True,
    "includeFilings": True
}

run = client.actor("actor-forge/uk-companies-house-enrichment").call(run_input=run_input)
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

The run-sync-get-dataset-items endpoint waits for the run (up to 5 minutes) and returns the dataset rows directly. For longer runs, start the run asynchronously and read the dataset when it finishes, as the Python example does. Replace APIFY_TOKEN with your own token from the Apify console.

What it costs

Exporting directors for 500 companies costs 500 x $0.005 = $2.50, with profile, officers and filings included in that price. Companies that are not found cost nothing.

Tips and pitfalls

• companyNumbers takes priority over everything else, so clear it if you want the SIC code filters to run.
• searchTerms is ignored whenever company numbers or advanced filters are given.
• Officers include resigned ones by default; filter on resignedOn to keep only current directors.
• Coverage is UK-registered companies only: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
• Set a run budget if you are unsure how many companies a filter will match; the actor stops cleanly at the cap.

FAQ

Actors used in this guide

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