Companies House Alerts: How to Monitor New Companies and Filing Changes

Staying on top of company changes is essential for sales teams, compliance professionals, and business researchers. Whether you want to know the moment a new company is registered in your target sector, or you need to track director changes at a specific company, setting up the right alerts can save hours of manual checking and give you a genuine competitive edge.

This guide walks through every method for monitoring Companies House data, from the free official tools to professional-grade alert services that deliver filtered data to your inbox.

What types of Companies House alerts exist?

There are several categories of changes you might want to monitor at Companies House:

New company incorporation alerts

These notify you when new companies are registered. This is the most common type of alert for sales and marketing teams. Over 2,500 companies are incorporated every working day in the UK, so filtering by sector, geography, or company type is essential to keep alerts manageable and relevant.

Filing change alerts

Companies must file various documents with Companies House throughout their lifetime. Key filings include annual accounts, confirmation statements, director appointments and resignations, registered address changes, and charges (mortgages). Filing alerts let you track changes at specific companies you are interested in.

Director and officer change alerts

When a company appoints a new director, or an existing director resigns, this is filed at Companies House. Director changes can signal business expansion, restructuring, or ownership transitions. For sales teams, a new director appointment is often a trigger event that creates buying opportunities.

Company status change alerts

Companies can move between different statuses: active, dormant, in liquidation, dissolved, or struck off. Monitoring these transitions is important for credit risk management, debt recovery, and compliance teams.

Method 1: Companies House Follow Service (free)

Companies House offers a free "Follow" feature on their website. To use it:

1. Create a free account at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk
2. Search for the company you want to monitor
3. Click the "Follow" button on the company's page
4. You will receive email notifications when new filings are made

Limitations: This only works for individual companies you already know about. You cannot set up alerts for all new incorporations in a sector, all director changes across an industry, or any other bulk monitoring. It is useful for tracking specific competitors or clients, but not for lead generation.

Method 2: Companies House Streaming API (technical)

For developers, Companies House provides a streaming API that delivers real-time filing events. This includes new incorporations, director changes, address changes, and all other filings. The streaming API uses Server-Sent Events (SSE) and pushes data as it becomes available.

The streaming API is powerful but requires significant technical investment:

• You need a server running continuously to receive and process the stream
• The stream includes all filing types for all companies, so you must build filtering logic
• You need to handle connection drops, backfill gaps, and data storage
• There is no built-in alerting; you must build your own notification system

This approach is best suited for technology companies building their own data products, rather than businesses that simply want to receive alerts.

Method 3: Third-party monitoring services

Several commercial services provide Companies House alerts with varying levels of sophistication:

Services like NewCo Data specialise in new incorporation alerts. We process every new company registration daily, enrich the data with director details and SIC code descriptions, and deliver filtered reports to your inbox each morning. You choose which sectors and regions you want to monitor, and we handle everything else.

Setting up effective company alerts

The key to useful alerts is filtering. Without filters, you would receive notifications for thousands of companies every day, most of which are irrelevant to your business. Here is how to set up alerts that actually drive results:

Step 1: Define your target sectors

Use SIC codes to identify the industries you serve. For example, if you sell insurance to construction companies, you would filter for SIC codes 41 (construction of buildings), 42 (civil engineering), and 43 (specialised construction activities). If you provide accounting services to technology firms, filter for SIC codes 62 (computer programming and consultancy) and 63 (information service activities).

Step 2: Set geographic boundaries

If you operate locally or regionally, filter by postcode area or city. A web design agency in Manchester does not need to see new companies registered in Cornwall. Geographic filtering reduces noise and lets you focus on prospects you can realistically serve.

Step 3: Choose your alert frequency

For new incorporation alerts, daily delivery works best. New companies are making purchasing decisions quickly, so a weekly digest means you are already a week behind your competitors. For filing change alerts on existing companies, weekly or even monthly may be sufficient depending on your use case.

Step 4: Act quickly on alerts

The value of an alert diminishes rapidly over time. A new company contacted within 48 hours of incorporation is far more receptive than one contacted a month later. Build a process where alerts flow directly into your CRM or sales workflow, and your team follows up the same day.

Common use cases for Companies House alerts

Sales prospecting: The most popular use case. B2B service providers use new incorporation alerts to build a daily pipeline of fresh leads. Accountants, insurance brokers, web agencies, telecoms providers, and business consultants all benefit from reaching new companies early.

Competitive intelligence: Track specific competitors to see when they file accounts, appoint new directors, or change their registered address. This can reveal expansion plans, financial health, or strategic shifts.

Credit risk monitoring: Financial institutions and trade credit providers monitor customers' Companies House filings for warning signs: late accounts, charges being filed, director resignations, or winding-up petitions.

Supply chain due diligence: Procurement teams monitor key suppliers' filings to ensure they remain active, financially healthy, and properly governed. A sudden director resignation or late filing can be an early warning sign.

Recruitment: Recruitment agencies monitor new incorporations in specific sectors to identify growing businesses that will soon need to hire. A burst of new company formations in a sector often precedes a recruitment wave.

What to look for in a Companies House alert service

If you are evaluating third-party alert services, look for these features:

• Daily delivery - weekly is too slow for sales prospecting
• SIC code filtering - essential for targeting specific sectors
• Geographic filtering - important for local and regional businesses
• Director data included - you need the decision-maker's name, not just the company name
• Clean, structured format - CSV or spreadsheet that can be imported into your CRM
• Reliable delivery - the service should deliver consistently every business day
• Transparent pricing - no hidden fees or per-lead charges that make costs unpredictable

Key takeaways

Companies House alerts help you monitor new registrations, filing changes, and director movements. The free Companies House Follow service only tracks individual companies you already know about. For monitoring new incorporations by sector, you need either the streaming API (technical) or a third-party alert service (turnkey). The most effective alerts are filtered by SIC code and geography and delivered daily. Speed matters: contacting new companies within 48 hours of incorporation dramatically increases response rates.

Related reading

• Companies House Alerts: Monitor New Directors
• Companies House Data Explained
• Cold Email Templates for Newly Incorporated Companies