The UK business database you can count before you buy

What is in the UK business database?

The database holds companies, their sites and the named contacts who work there. Each contact has a job title and level, a work email with a verification result, and a telephone number where one is held.

Each company holds its Companies House number, status, type, SIC 2007 codes, incorporation date and employee band, and each site holds a postcode with its ONS geography codes. Every fact carries its source and the date we last confirmed it.

Version 2.0 is UK only. A dataset of Irish contacts is planned for a later phase, and a labelled partner dataset of global contacts would arrive only after a written agreement permits it.

What is not in the database?

• Consumer data. MyDataHub holds business contacts only.
• Intent, technographic or LinkedIn-derived data, which we never resell.
• Contacts outside the UK, until later datasets launch.
• Turnover for most companies, because filings hold it for only about 4 percent.
• Records of people who objected to marketing, which are suppressed and removed from counts.
• Officer lists as a product of their own: officer data joins only to contacts we already hold.

How is the data modelled?

Eleven entities cover everything the database holds. Every fact carries the same five-part provenance: its source, the method, when it was captured, the licence it came under and a confidence. Every entity records when it was first and last seen, and every row in the serving copy carries its dataset version.

Public identifiers are ULIDs, so a rebuild can renumber the internal engine without breaking the keys your CRM holds.

How many UK companies and contacts are in it?

The database holds 1,605,275 named business emails at active UK companies, about 1.6 million, as of 26 September 2026.

Each filter is added to the one above it. Counted through MyDataHub on 26 September 2026.

The first row is the full contact universe, including postal-only and telephone-only records. The later rows narrow it to people you can email by name.

What counts as a named contact?

A named contact has an email address that belongs to a person, such as a first name and surname at a company domain. We separate three email types: named, generic local part (info@ or sales@) and generic domain part.

Generic addresses are not deleted. They stay in the database, out of the default count, and you can switch them back in. Each toggle shows the number it adds, so a role address never enters a list by accident.

How big is the UK register?

Companies House publishes how much the register moves, and the movement is why freshness matters. These figures are from the register's own statistics.

A register that records 815,277 incorporations and 787,120 dissolutions in a year is a register that goes out of date quickly. That is why default counts exclude dissolved companies and why Companies House changes reach the database within one build.

Where does the data come from?

Officer data joins only to contacts we already hold and never creates a new contact. Records that use Companies House data carry the attribution "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0".

How do raw records become filters?

Raw fields are not useful filters, so four clean-ups turn them into facets that a person or an agent can use without learning our jargon.

Which company types are included?

Companies House types cover private limited companies, public limited companies, LLPs, community interest companies and more, and the database adds classes for organisations with no registration. Sole traders and ordinary partnerships are flagged as individual subscribers under PECR, which matters for email.

Company status defaults to active. Dissolved, liquidated and struck-off companies keep their status and dissolution date. Default counts exclude them and show how many there are. We never delete them, because a licensed copy may still refer to them.

Which organisations are not registered companies?

Beyond Companies House types, the database carries classes for organisations with no registration number. They include sole traders and partnerships, unregistered companies, government bodies, hospitals, colleges and universities, and charities such as churches, plus an unknown class.

The class matters because it sets the PECR rule. A sole trader or an ordinary partnership is an individual subscriber, so the record is flagged and left out of email audiences by default.

Which company statuses exist?

Companies House gives each company one of about 20 statuses. Active is the default. The others include proposal to strike off, dissolved, liquidation, administration, receivership, voluntary arrangement, closed, converted-closed and the insolvency proceedings variants.

You can switch any of them in, and each shows its own count. The default keeps your counts to companies that are active.

Which industries are covered?

Industry follows the UK SIC 2007 hierarchy: section, division, group and class. Companies House supplies the codes, and a company with several codes appears under each section.

SIC 2026 codes are carried alongside SIC 2007 through the ONS correspondence table of 3 August 2026.

How do SIC codes work?

A SIC 2007 code has four levels: a letter for the section, then a division, a group and a class. The four-digit class equals the European NACE Rev 2 code at that depth, so a UK code can be compared with a European one.

You can count at any level. A section such as Manufacturing is the widest, and a four-digit class is the narrowest. The 2,163 business classes that MyDataHub already used remain as search synonyms, so a search for "accountants" finds the right SIC class.

How big and where are the companies?

Company size comes in 13 employee bands, and place comes from the ONS Postcode Directory. Both are filters, and both are breakdowns you can count by.

Employee bands and turnover bands come from Emailmovers research. We never promise turnover for every company, because filings hold it for only about 4 percent.

Fleet size is a third size filter, in seven bands, built from Traffic Commissioners operator licences. It suits audiences such as haulage and logistics companies.

Every site carries ONS codes for region, county, local authority and ward, so a place filter means the same thing every time. London appears once, with its 33 boroughs available as a named set.

Which company signals can you filter on?

Signals are events seen on the Companies House register, with a source and a date, never bought intent. Seven are free filters on every plan and cost no credits.

The date on a signal is the filing date, not the date we ingested it. A company that has just been incorporated is a different audience from one that has just moved office.

How is the database kept current?

Every Monday the pipeline builds an immutable dataset version. Companies House streams land within 15 minutes and appear in the next build, SIC tables refresh when the ONS releases them and title dictionaries refresh weekly.

Opt-outs, objections and erasure requests do not wait for Monday. A same-day overlay removes them from every count and every delivery.

What does a dataset changelog contain?

Each version publishes a changelog at GET /v1/datasets/uk_contacts/versions/{version}. It lists the records added, retired and re-verified, the companies dissolved, the job changes confirmed, the suppressions applied, the coverage by field and the input snapshots the build used.

The last 52 versions stay queryable, so a count from the last 12 months can be rerun exactly. Coverage by field covers the share of contacts with a named email, a direct phone, a mobile, a postal address and a Companies House number.

How do you count companies, not just contacts?

A count returns contacts and companies together, so one call tells you how many contacts sit at how many companies. You can set the level to company, and you can ask for one contact per company or one per site.

A company-level count suits sizing a market, and a contact-level count suits sizing a mailing. Use the app, the REST API or an MCP client. All three run the same engine, so the same audience gives the same count and the same id. How we count explains each rule, and the API guide shows a worked request.

How does it compare with company intelligence tools?

Tools such as Endole, DataGardener and Beauhurst are built around company profiles. MyDataHub is built around named contacts at companies, priced per record.

Frequently asked questions

Is it legal to use a UK business database for marketing?

Yes, with the right basis. Company facts such as the Companies House number are public registers under the Open Government Licence. Named contacts are personal data, so our lawful basis is UK GDPR Article 6(1)(f), legitimate interests, and PECR regulation 22 asks for consent only for email to individual subscribers. Read the guide.

How accurate is the company data?

Company status, type, SIC codes and dates come from Companies House, and the daily stream updates them. Contact records are verified on a schedule, and every verification figure is dated. We publish no accuracy percentage until a measured audit supports it.

Which industries and roles are in the database?

Every SIC 2007 section, with 13 job levels and title keywords.

How many UK companies does it cover?

The database holds 1,605,275 named business contacts at active UK companies (as of 26 September 2026). The ONS counted 3,232,415 UK local units in 2026 (Nomis), and Companies House recorded 815,277 incorporations in the year to 31 March 2026.

Do I need consent to contact a company in the database?

You do not need consent to email a person at a corporate subscriber, such as a limited company, LLP or public body. You do need a lawful basis, a clear opt-out and the notice wording that tells people where you obtained their details. Sole traders and ordinary partnerships are flagged and excluded from email audiences by default.