How to protect your personal information on the Companies House public register

The Companies House public register is exactly what it sounds like — a register, and it is very much public. Anyone with an internet connection can search it for free, view every document your company has ever filed, and read the personal details of every director and person with significant control on the record. There is no login required, no fee, and no limit on how many searches a person can run.

For most founders, this is an afterthought. You incorporate, file your AP01, submit your confirmation statement, and get on with running the business. The register is something that exists behind the scenes. But for a growing number of directors — especially those who work from home, those running companies from outside the UK, and those whose businesses attract public attention — the question of what the register reveals about them personally is becoming impossible to ignore.

Over 5 million companies sit on the Companies House register. Every one of them has at least one director whose name, service address, partial date of birth, and nationality are permanently visible to the public. If that director used their home address as their service address — which many first-time founders do — their home is on the register too, embedded in the filing history even if they later change it.

This guide explains exactly what personal information the Companies House public register holds about directors, PSCs, and shareholders, what is hidden from public view, the common mistakes that expose more than necessary, and the practical steps you can take today to protect your privacy.

What the Companies House public register reveals about your company

Before diving into personal data, it helps to understand the full scope of what Companies House publishes. The public register shows the following for every active UK company:

• Company name and number — the registered name and unique eight-character company number assigned at incorporation.
• Registered office address — the address where all official Companies House correspondence is delivered. This is public and always visible.
• Date of incorporation — the exact date the company was formed.
• Company status — active, dissolved, in liquidation, or other status indicators.
• SIC codes — the standard industrial classification codes describing what your company does.
• Directors and their personal details — name, service address, date of birth (partial), nationality, and country of residence for every current and recently resigned officer.
• PSC details — similar personal information for every person with significant control.
• Filing history — a complete, chronological record of every document ever filed with Companies House, going back to the date of incorporation. This includes annual accounts, confirmation statements, and every form submitted (AP01s, TM01s, SH01s, and more).
• Accounts — your company's filed annual accounts, including abbreviated or micro-entity accounts where applicable.
• Charges — any registered charges (mortgages, debentures, or other security interests) over the company's assets.

Critically, the filing history is permanent. Every document your company has ever filed with Companies House remains visible in the filing history, even after the underlying information has been updated. If your first AP01 listed your home address as your service address and you later changed it to a professional service address, both filings — the original and the change — are publicly accessible. The old filing does not disappear.

What personal information appears for directors

When someone searches for your company on the Companies House register and clicks through to the officers tab, they see a profile for each current director. The information displayed comes from the appointment filing (form AP01 for individuals) and any subsequent change-of-details filings.

Full name and former names

Your full name — forename, middle name(s), and surname — is displayed on the public register. If you have used a different name at any point in the last twenty years (for example, a maiden name before marriage or a name used professionally), that former name appears alongside your current name. This is a legal requirement under the Companies Act 2006 to prevent directors from obscuring their identities across multiple companies. There is no opt-out.

Service address — the address the public sees

Every director must provide a service address. This is the address that appears on the public register, and it is fully visible to anyone who searches for your company. The service address is where Companies House and third parties can send correspondence intended for the director in their capacity as an officer of the company.

The service address does not need to be your home address. It can be any address where documents can be effectively delivered — including your company's registered office, an accountant's office, or a professional service address provider. Many directors use a service address specifically to avoid placing their home address on the public register.

If you used your home address as your service address on your original AP01 filing, your home address is now on the public register in that filing. Even if you later file a change of details (form CH01) to update your service address to a professional address, the original AP01 remains in the company's filing history and continues to show your home address.

Residential address — what is kept private

Directors also provide a usual residential address when filing the AP01. Since 1 October 2009, the residential address has been treated as protected information under sections 240–244 of the Companies Act 2006. It is not displayed on the public register.

However, the residential address is not completely secret. It can be disclosed to credit reference agencies and certain specified public authorities (such as HMRC and law enforcement) under regulations made by the Secretary of State. For most directors this is a non-issue, but for those at risk of harassment or violence, additional protection is available through a section 243 application (covered later in this guide).

Date of birth, nationality, and country of residence

The public register displays a director's month and year of birth — the day is suppressed. So if your date of birth is 14 March 1988, the register shows "March 1988" but not the 14th. This partial redaction is designed to balance transparency with a degree of protection against identity fraud.

Your nationality and country of residence are also publicly visible. There is no option to hide these. For directors who are UK residents, this is rarely a concern. For those running a UK company from abroad, it publicly confirms the country in which they are resident — something that may or may not be welcome information depending on their circumstances.

What personal information appears for PSCs

A person with significant control (PSC) is anyone who holds more than 25% of a company's shares or voting rights, can appoint or remove a majority of directors, or otherwise exercises significant influence or control over the company. In most founder-led businesses, the founder is both a director and a PSC, which means their personal information appears on the register twice — once in each capacity.

The public register shows the following PSC details:

• Full name
• Date of birth — month and year only, day suppressed (same redaction as directors)
• Nationality
• Country of residence
• Correspondence address — the PSC equivalent of a director's service address, and fully public
• Date the person became a PSC
• Nature of control — which of the qualifying conditions are met (ownership of shares, ownership of voting rights, right to appoint or remove directors, or significant influence/control)

The nature-of-control field is particularly revealing. It tells anyone searching the register exactly how a PSC controls the company — for example, whether they hold 75% or more of the shares (giving them power to pass special resolutions alone) or whether they exercise control through a different mechanism. If your PSC notification is not up to date, Companies House may query it under its expanded powers.

What personal information appears for shareholders

Shareholders are less prominently displayed on the register than directors and PSCs, but they are not invisible. Shareholder names and their shareholding details (number of shares, share class, and nominal value) appear in the company's confirmation statement filings and in any SH01 (return of allotment) forms filed when new shares are issued.

Shareholder home addresses are not filed with Companies House — they are kept in the company's own register of members, which is a private statutory register maintained by the company. However, shareholder names are publicly visible, and for single-director companies where the founder is director, PSC, and sole shareholder, the same person's name appears in all three capacities — making it straightforward to identify them as the sole owner.

Six privacy mistakes directors make without realising

Most privacy exposure on the Companies House register is not the result of a legal requirement that cannot be avoided — it is the result of decisions made at incorporation or shortly after, when privacy was not on the director's mind. These are the most common mistakes.

1. Using a home address as the director's service address. This is the single biggest privacy mistake. When you file form AP01, you are asked for a service address. If you type your home address, that address goes on the public register. Many company formation agents default to the director's home address as the service address during incorporation, and founders click through without thinking. The fix is straightforward — use a professional service address — but the old filing remains in the history.
2. Using a home address as the company's registered office. Your registered office address is public. If it is your home, anyone who searches for your company can see where you live. You can change it at any time by filing form AD01 (which is free), but the previous address remains visible in the filing history.
3. Not realising that filing history is permanent. Directors often assume that updating their service address or registered office replaces the old record. It does not. Every historical filing remains visible and downloadable on the register. If your home address appeared on any filing — an AP01, a confirmation statement, an annual return — it is permanently accessible.
4. Forgetting about PSC register exposure. A founder who uses a professional service address for their director appointment but then files a PSC01 listing their home as the PSC correspondence address has undone their own privacy protection. The PSC correspondence address is a separate field and equally public. Both addresses need to be a non-residential location.
5. Assuming nothing can ever be removed from the register. Companies House does not delete entire filings on request, and the document history is a permanent public record. However, the ECCTA reforms have introduced a suppression process: since 27 January 2025 you can apply to suppress a residential address shown on the register (for example, where it was once used as a registered office), and since 21 July 2025 you can also suppress your day of birth (on documents filed before 10 October 2015 — the full date of birth has not been shown publicly on filings since then), signature, and business occupation. The underlying document stays on file, but the specified detail is hidden from public view (it remains available to law enforcement). Suppression is an application — form SR01, with a per-document fee of £34 — not an automatic right, but a home address is no longer necessarily stuck on the public record forever.
6. Not keeping details up to date after moving house. If a director moves home but does not file a CH01 to update their details, the old address (whether it was a service address or residential address) stays on record. Worse, if someone else now lives at that old address, company correspondence — and potentially unwanted visitors — may arrive there. Directors must notify Companies House of any change in their details within 14 days.

How to protect your privacy on the Companies House register

The good news is that protecting your privacy as a director does not require obscure legal applications or expensive solicitors. Most of the damage described above is preventable with a few practical steps — and even if your home address is already on the register, you can significantly improve your position going forward.

Step 1: Use a professional service address for directors and PSCs

The most effective single step you can take is to use a professional service address instead of your home address for both your director appointment and your PSC notification. A service address is the address that appears on the public register. It does not need to be where you live — it just needs to be an address in the UK where documents can be effectively delivered.

Filing HQ's London service address gives you a professional W1 or EC address that appears on the Companies House register instead of your home. All official correspondence is forwarded to you. If you are appointing a new director, set up the service address before filing the AP01, so the home address never appears on the register at all.

Step 2: Use a separate registered office address

Your company's registered office address is separate from any director's service address, and it is equally public. If your registered office is your home, your home address is on the register regardless of what service address you use for the director appointment. We covered the full range of risks of using your home as your registered office in a separate guide — the short version is that a professional registered office address solves the problem cleanly.

Changing your registered office is free — you file form AD01 with Companies House, and the change takes effect once registered. There is no fee for this filing.

Step 3: Audit your existing filing history

If your company has been running for any length of time, search for it on the Companies House register and review every document in the filing history. Click through each filing and check whether your home address appears anywhere — on AP01 forms, confirmation statements, annual returns (if pre-2016), or other documents. This tells you what is already permanently visible and helps you decide whether further action is needed.

The historical filings themselves stay on the register, but you may now be able to suppress certain personal details within them — such as a home address shown on an old filing — through the ECCTA suppression process (see Step 5). Auditing the filing history tells you what is exposed, helps you decide whether to apply, and ensures you do not repeat the same mistake on future filings.

Step 4: Apply under section 243 for serious risk

For directors facing a serious risk of violence or intimidation connected to the company's activities, the Companies Act 2006 provides an additional layer of protection. Section 243 allows a director to apply to the registrar to prevent disclosure of their usual residential address to credit reference agencies and other bodies that would normally have access to it.

This application costs £100 and must be supported by evidence of the risk. It is not a general privacy tool — it is designed for cases where disclosure of the residential address could lead to harm. If this applies to your situation, the application is made directly to Companies House. Note that section 243 protects the residential address from disclosure to authorised bodies — the service address remains public, and the residential address was already not shown on the public register by default.

Step 5: Suppress information already on the register

Unlike the section 243 route, the ECCTA suppression service does not require you to prove any risk of harm. Using form SR01, you can apply to suppress a residential address shown on the public register — for example, where it was once used as a registered office or default address — and, since 21 July 2025, your day of birth (only where it appears — i.e. on documents filed before 10 October 2015), signature, and business occupation. The document itself stays on file, but the specified detail is removed from public display (it remains available to law enforcement and certain authorities). There is a per-document fee of £34, and Companies House reviews each application. This is the route to fix the most common privacy regret — a home address sitting on an old AP01 or confirmation statement that you assumed was stuck there forever.

What ECCTA identity verification means for your privacy

Since 18 November 2025, identity verification under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) has been mandatory for all newly appointed directors and PSCs, with existing directors and PSCs required to verify during a 12-month transition period (usually by their next confirmation statement). This requires sharing personal identity documents — a passport or driving licence — either directly via GOV.UK One Login (free) or through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) like Filing HQ.

A common concern is whether identity verification exposes additional personal data on the public register. It does not. The identity documents you submit — passport numbers, biometric data, photographs — are processed by Companies House or the ACSP for verification purposes only. They are not published on the public register. The public register continues to show exactly the same fields as before: name, service address, partial date of birth, nationality, and country of residence.

Identity verification is a one-off per person — once verified, you do not need to repeat it for future appointments at other companies. Your verification status is tied to you as an individual, not to a specific company.

ECCTA also introduces the requirement for companies to provide a registered email address to Companies House. This email address is for Companies House correspondence and is not made available on the public register — a deliberate decision to keep it private while giving Companies House a direct electronic channel to reach the company.

Frequently asked questions

Can anyone search the Companies House register for free?

Yes. The Companies House public register is entirely free to search. Anyone can visit the Companies House service, search by company name or number, and view the full company record — including director details, PSC details, filing history, and accounts. You can also search for individuals by name to find every company they are associated with as an officer. No account, login, or payment is required.

Does my home address have to appear on the public register?

No. Your residential address (home address) is not shown on the public register — it has been protected information since 1 October 2009. What is shown publicly is your service address. If you used your home address as your service address, then yes, your home is on the register — but this is avoidable. You can use any UK address where documents can be delivered, including a professional service address. Similarly, your company's registered office is public, so avoid using your home for that too.

Can I use a PO Box as my service address?

Companies House generally requires that a service address be an address where documents can be physically delivered and effectively served, not merely collected. A PO Box does not meet this requirement in most cases. A professional service address at a physical location — such as a virtual office, an accountant's premises, or a dedicated service address provider — is the standard approach and avoids any risk of rejection.

Is my full date of birth visible on the register?

No. The day of birth is suppressed. Only the month and year are displayed on the public register. So if you were born on 14 March 1988, the register shows "March 1988." However, the full date of birth (including the day) is held by Companies House internally and may be disclosed to certain authorised bodies such as credit reference agencies.

Can I remove my name from the Companies House register entirely?

Not while you are a serving director or PSC. Your name must appear on the register for as long as you hold those roles — this is a fundamental transparency requirement of UK company law. After you resign as a director (form TM01) and cease to be a PSC, your details move to the historical record but remain publicly visible. Companies House does not delete filings. The public register is a permanent record, and historical information is retained to support due diligence, anti-fraud measures, and legal transparency.

What information appears if I am both a director and a PSC?

Your personal details appear twice — once in the officers section (as a director) and once in the PSC section. Each has its own address field: a service address for the director record and a correspondence address for the PSC record. These are separate filings and can contain different addresses, though it is sensible to use the same professional service address for both. If you use your home address for one but a service address for the other, your home is still on the register through the one you missed.