Company doesn't exist here but exists in WebCheck

Data Issues
#1

Hi there

I can’t find any detail about what is and what is not included in the data set behind this API.

If I search for company number “05846625” in WebCheck it returns the company details for “Howson Evans Ltd”. If I request the company detail for this company though the API it returns no data.

Is this a data error or expected?

#2

It was dissolved more than 6 years ago.
CHS/Beta/API only has live and up to 6 years worth of dissolved company data.

#3

Perfect, thank you Mark.

Do you know if this is the permanent data set or is this because this interface is only in Beta?

Is the XML Gateway similarly limited?

Many thanks.

#4

It is currently the permanent data set, but that is under review and it could get put back to the standard 20 years worth.
XML currently has 20 years.

#5

That would be excellent - indeed why stop at 20 years? That is an arbitrary “standard” and you must be aware that many third-party sites keep the data forever and that they will be commercially able to charge for it when it is no longer available on the free UKCH site. So I think you should reinstate and keep the entire archive of documents, directorships and other data online.

To the privacy bods who moan that the data shouldn’t be kept “longer than is relevant” I say relevance is in the eye of each beholder. It is for the reader to determine whether something is relevant to them and only by making it available can the reader judge for herself. For example, the fact that someone has left a trail of corporate dissolutions stretching back more than 6 or 20 years or has repeatedly dissolved and incorporated companies sharing the same name may or may not be relevant to a reader.

#6

Sorry, by ‘standard’ I meant other Companies House services’ standard of 20 years for CHD, XML, URI, WebCheck.
Not some arbitrary ‘standard’.
Sorry for the confusion.

#7

I understand that, but what I mean by “arbitrary” is that there isn’t any logic to 20 years, or to having any expiry date.
In reality, does UKCH internally and irrevocably delete records of dissolved companies 20 years after dissolution, or just remove them from public view? Currently that would mean that a company dissolved in 1998 is no longer visible in WebCheck or URI, but does that mean that all records of it are deleted?
If records are kept internally then under Freedom of Information and Archive Law principles they should be kept online.

#8

No we do not irrevocably delete records of dissolved companies 20 years after dissolution.
They do not show up on WCK/CHD/URI.
All records are kept, but they are not required to be kept online.
We comply with all FOI and data protection laws.
Hope this clears up your questions.

#9

Thanks Mark. I am interested to learn how these limits are set. Are the 6-year and 20-year periods a matter of policy, or are there any statutory requirements as to the periods during which:

  1. Records must be kept online
  2. Records must be removed from online access
    If it is a matter of policy rather than statute, then who makes the policy and what is the process for review - you mention above that it “is under review”? Is there any public consultation when policy is made or reviewed?

Under FOI, you would have to provide the offline (older) records upon request. I assume there is a general obligation on Government to deliver services as cost-efficiently as possible. Delivering data automatically through a browser is usually the lowest-cost way of responding to information requests - you will not need any human request-handling department for older records if everything is kept online.