🇬🇧How to verify a supplier in United Kingdom
To verify a supplier in United Kingdom, look the company up for free in the official Companies House and confirm it is registered and currently active. The registry returns registered name, company number, incorporation date, registered office, filing history, SIC activity codes, and named directors.
The official registry
- Registry
- Companies House
- Company ID
- company number (8 digits)
- Cost
- Free basic lookup
- Active status
- The status field reads "Active" or "Dissolved"; a real supplier is Active and files accounts on time.
- Since Brexit, GB VAT numbers are not in the EU VIES system, validate a GB VAT number with HMRC's free checker (gov.uk/check-uk-vat-number) instead.
Sector export licences
Being a registered, active company is not the same as being allowed to export a specific product. In United Kingdom, these sectors carry their own export licence or certificate from a named regulator, so a genuine exporter of these goods holds a current one. Ask for it, then check it at the source.
- alcohol/winemandatory
excise warehouse licence from the HM Revenue and Customs.
Verify WOWGR or excise registration status via the HMRC public verification tool.
Official source - pharmaceuticalsmandatory
GMP certificate from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Search the MHRA public register of licensed manufacturers and wholesalers for valid GMP compliance.
Official source
This is a factual pointer to public records, not legal advice, and the list is not exhaustive.
Before you sign: five asks no registry can answer
The register proves the company exists and who signs. It says nothing about whether the supplier survives a bad quarter, a fire or a key person leaving. Serious suppliers answer these five asks without friction; hesitation on any of them is information too.
- Business continuity: what happens to your order if their plant loses power, a strike hits or their systems go down? Ask for the plan, not a reassurance.
- Liability insurance: is product or professional liability insured, with which insurer and to what ceiling? A certificate of insurance is a one-page email for a real firm.
- Exit terms: how do you terminate if it goes wrong, what notice and fees apply, and how do you get your tooling, molds or data back?
- Support in numbers: ask for response and resolution times as figures, not adjectives. A supplier who commits to hours in writing has a support process; one who writes fast support does not.
- Named people: who exactly runs production and who owns your account? Continuity of a named team matters more than a polished sales deck, and employee-review sites often show whether that team stays.
General commercial hygiene, not legal advice.
Verify it in four steps
- 1
Open the Companies House
Companies House is the official government record of companies in United Kingdom. Basic name or number search is free.
- 2
Search the exact legal name or ID
Search the supplier's registered name or its company number (8 digits). If the name does not match cleanly, treat it as a red flag, it may be a trade name, a different entity, or wrong.
- 3
Confirm it is active, not struck off
The status field reads "Active" or "Dissolved"; a real supplier is Active and files accounts on time.
- 4
Check it makes what it sells
A real factory carries a manufacturing activity code and a consistent trade history; a middleman reselling everything is the most common mismatch.
This is a factual pointer to public records, not legal advice. For the full method, see the 7 checks that separate a real supplier from a scam.
We do this check for you
On every United Kingdom company we list, we show what the open record says, each linked to its free public source so you can re-check it yourself, no paid badge. And we go past the big directories to the local and craft makers who are too small for them but real, then verify and sort them, so you find genuine United Kingdom suppliers, not just the loudest.
United Kingdom suppliers by sector
Every company on these pages shows what the open record says about it, each fact linked to its free public source.
Related guides
Questions
Is checking a United Kingdom supplier free?
Yes. A basic name or number lookup in the Companies House is free. Some full official extracts are paid, but confirming a company exists and is active costs nothing.
What ID does a United Kingdom company have?
Its company number (8 digits). Ask the supplier for it, then confirm it in the Companies House and check the registered name matches.
How do I know a United Kingdom supplier is a real manufacturer, not a reseller?
The registry's activity code is the tell: a manufacturing code means a real maker, a wholesale or retail code means a trader. Since Brexit, GB VAT numbers are not in the EU VIES system, validate a GB VAT number with HMRC's free checker (gov.uk/check-uk-vat-number) instead.