Vetting a UK Research Supplier on the Public Registers

Which free UK public registers confirm that a research-reagent supplier is a real, current, registered business, and what does each register prove and not prove?

Three free UK registers answer most of the questions a buyer has about a supplier's existence. Companies House says whether a limited company is real, current and who runs it ^[1]. The HMRC VAT checker says whether a VAT number is valid and to whom it is registered ^[2]. The Information Commissioner's Office register says whether an organisation is registered as a data controller ^[3].

Each one proves something narrow. Together they can rule out a supplier that does not exist, that has been dissolved, or whose paperwork contradicts its website. They cannot say whether the goods are what the label claims, and they are not a character reference. This article sets out what each register shows, in the order worth checking it, and where the registers stop.

What the registers can and cannot prove

A register records a legal fact at a point in time: that a company was incorporated, that a number was allocated, that a fee was paid. It is not an inspection and it is not an endorsement. A company can be perfectly in order on every register and still sell poor goods, and a young company can be perfectly honest.

What registers do well is catch the cheap failures. A supplier that claims to be a UK company but has no Companies House entry, a VAT number that belongs to a different business, or an invoice naming a company that was dissolved last year has told you something important before you have spent anything. These are the checks worth doing before a first order.

Companies House: status, officers and the registered office

Search by company name or number on the Companies House service ^[1]. If the supplier gave you a number, search by number, because names are not unique and similar names are common. The entry opens on an overview, with tabs for filing history, people and more.

Read the status first. An active company is trading as far as the register is concerned. Entries marked dissolved, in liquidation or subject to a strike-off notice mean the company is ending or has ended, and an invoice from it should be questioned. Then read the incorporation date. A company incorporated a few months ago is not suspect on that ground alone, but it has no track record and deserves a smaller first order.

Check the registered office. It is the address for legal documents and need not be where the stock is kept, so a formation agent's address is common and not alarming in itself. What matters is that the address on the register is consistent with what the supplier tells you. Then look at the officers. The people listed as directors should be findable, and a company whose directors resign and are replaced repeatedly in short order is worth noting.

The filing history shows when accounts and confirmation statements were last filed. A company that is overdue with both has stopped meeting its legal obligations. The type of accounts filed can also be informative: a company filing as dormant, meaning it has had no significant accounting transactions, is not a trading business in any normal sense, whatever its website says.

Matching the number across website, invoice and bank

A single company should present one consistent identity. Compare the registered name and number on the register with the footer of the website, the header of the invoice, and the account name your bank returns when you enter the payee details. A difference in the middle of the chain is the most useful finding of the whole exercise.

Some differences are innocent. A seller may trade under a brand name while the company has another name, or take payment through an agent. Ask about it. A reasonable supplier will say which legal entity you are contracting with and why the account is held as it is. A supplier that cannot say, or whose number belongs to a company in an unrelated line of business, has given you a reason to stop.

The HMRC VAT checker and the dated record

The GOV.UK service checks whether a UK VAT number is valid and shows the name and address of the business it is registered to ^[2]. You must already have the number, as you cannot look up a business by name. The service does not cover EU numbers, for which GOV.UK points to a separate European service ^[2].

Compare the name and address returned with the company name on Companies House and with the invoice. A valid number registered to a different business than the one invoicing you is a serious mismatch. A VAT number on an invoice that fails the check is a defect for any buyer who intends to reclaim VAT.

If you are yourself VAT-registered, the page says the service can be used to prove when you checked a number ^[2]. That gives you a dated record for your own file. Look at the live page for how the confirmation is presented, since this article does not describe the reference format. Absence of a VAT number is not suspicious by itself: a small business under the registration threshold is entitled to have none, though then it should not be charging VAT.

The ICO register

The Information Commissioner's Office keeps a public register of organisations and people registered with it under the Data Protection Act 2018, searchable by registration reference, name or postcode ^[3]. A business that takes orders holds names, addresses and payment details, so a seller operating normally in the UK would ordinarily be expected to appear.

Treat the result as one signal and not a verdict. Some organisations are exempt from the data protection fee, and a search can miss a business listed under a variant name. An absent entry for a trading company is worth a question to the seller; a present entry confirms only that a fee has been paid and a registration exists. It says nothing about product quality or even about how the business actually treats personal data.

The details a UK website must show

The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 require a service provider to make certain information easily, directly and permanently accessible. Regulation 6 lists the provider's name, its geographic address, contact details including an email address, details of any trade register and registration number, and a VAT number where the provider carries out VAT-liable activity. It also requires prices to be indicated clearly and unambiguously, including whether they include tax and delivery costs ^[4].

Company law adds its own disclosure rules: a company's website is expected to show its registered name, number, place of registration and registered office. Together these mean a legitimate UK seller's footer should let you search the registers above without asking anyone for help.

• A full legal name that matches the register, not only a brand.
• A company number you can paste into Companies House.
• A postal address, not only a contact form, and a working email address.
• A VAT number where the business is VAT-registered.
• Prices that say whether VAT and delivery are included.

An incomplete footer has three possible explanations: the seller overlooked it, the seller does not know the rules, or the seller prefers not to be found. The first two usually correct on request. The third is why the checklist is worth running.

Trading names, dormant companies and newcomers

Not every legitimate seller appears under the name on its website. Sole traders and partnerships are not on the Companies House register at all, since they are not companies, so absence from Companies House proves nothing about them. For these, ask for the name of the individual or partnership, a postal address, and a VAT number if applicable.

Overseas sellers are outside every register above. A supplier selling to the UK from another country should be checked on its own country's company register, and the question of who is responsible for customs and tax becomes yours as an importer. A site that presents itself as British but cannot be found on any British register is a mismatch worth resolving.

Recent incorporation and dormant status deserve proportionate caution. They are facts about history and activity. Respond by limiting the size of the first order and keeping a record, not by assuming bad faith.

Where the registers stop

Everything above establishes that a company exists and is who it says it is. It says nothing about whether the compound in the vial is the compound on the label, at the stated purity. That is a laboratory question, answered by independent analysis, not by a register. A short Q&A on how you can tell whether a peptide is real covers that side.

Within this series, the articles on testing explain what a named laboratory can and cannot show, and what the phrase in-house testing means when a supplier uses it. Company vetting and product testing answer different questions, and a careful buyer does both.

A short routine before a first order

1. Take the company name and number from the website footer and search Companies House by number.
2. Record the status, incorporation date, registered office and the last filing dates.
3. Check the VAT number on the GOV.UK service and compare the name and address returned.
4. Search the ICO register by name and postcode.
5. Compare all of these with the invoice and the bank account name.
6. Save the pages or a dated screenshot to your supplier file.