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Corporate services
Yes. If lenders, solicitors or company owners rely on your searches, formations or filings, you need professional indemnity insurance. A charge left out of a search report, a confirmation statement that never went in or a director’s details keyed wrongly can cost a client real money without anything being damaged, so public liability will not respond. PI covers your legal liability for that kind of loss and the cost of defending it, subject to the policy terms.
Part of: Professional indemnity for consultants
In short
Company search, formation and filing agents stand between their clients and Companies House. Claims usually allege that a search missed a registered charge or a gazetted winding-up petition that a lender or buyer relied on, that a filing deadline was missed, or that officer details were wrong. Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, identity verification became compulsory for new directors and people with significant control on 18 November 2025, with a 12-month transition for existing ones. Agents who verify identities must register as Authorised Corporate Service Providers and stay under anti-money laundering supervision. Formation agents must register with HMRC as trust or company service providers unless another supervisor covers them.
Last reviewed 5 October 2026 by the Apex professional indemnity team.
Professional indemnity (PI) insurance usually responds when a client, or someone your client let rely on your work, says your professional service fell below a reasonable standard and cost them money. For a company search agent that service covers status and charge searches for lenders and law firms, due diligence packs, company formations, registered office and address services, confirmation statements and other filings, and registering charges for lenders.
Public liability (PL) is built for accidents: a courier tripping over a box in your office, or water from your premises damaging the unit below. It does not deal with a report that said “no charges registered” when there was one. That is a financial loss caused by your work product, which is what PI is for.
Your clients pay you because the register needs reading with care. Companies House itself says the information on its Find and update company information service is not intended to be comprehensive, and that it cannot take any responsibility for the consequences of errors or omissions. When a lender acts on a search, the professional judgement it relies on is yours.
These scenarios are illustrative. They show the kinds of allegation search, formation and filing agents face; they are not real claims.
Each allegation is that you did not take the care a competent search or filing agent would take. That is the territory PI is written for.
Search and filing work is measured against Companies Act deadlines, insolvency procedure and, since 2023, a rebuilt Companies House regime. These are the points that most often decide whether you got it right.
| Rule or source | What it says | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| Registering a charge (Companies House guidance) | A charge should be registered within 21 days, starting the day after it is created. After that, only a court order can allow late registration, and an unregistered charge may make the debt hard to recover if the company becomes insolvent. | A search is clear only as at its date, and a lender’s security can depend on your filing. |
| Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016, rule 7.10 | Notice of a petition to wind up a company must be gazetted, normally at least seven business days after service on the company and at least seven business days before the hearing. | A thorough pre-lending or pre-completion search covers the Gazette as well as the company register. |
| Late filing penalties (Companies House) | Private company accounts filed up to a month late attract £150; more than six months late, £1,500. Penalties double if accounts are late in two successive years. Not filing accounts or confirmation statements is a criminal offence, and the registrar can take steps to strike a company off. | If a deadline is missed on your watch, the client will look to you for the consequences. |
| Identity verification (Companies House) | A company cannot file its confirmation statement unless all its directors are verified. Directors who keep acting after their deadline without verifying commit an offence, and the company may too. | Filing agents now have to track verification as well as dates. |
| Companies House search service | The free service shows charge data and insolvency information, but is not intended to be comprehensive. Companies House says occasional inaccuracies occur and that it cannot take responsibility for errors or omissions. | Your report should state what you searched, when, and what it cannot show. |
Rule 7.10 applies in England and Wales only. Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own registrar of companies, so check the local position for companies registered there.
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 is changing who may deal with Companies House and how. Companies House’s transition plan sets out the timetable so far:
Being an ACSP carries its own legal duties. You must stay registered with at least one UK anti-money laundering supervisor, tell Companies House about changes to your details within 14 days, provide information about your filings and identity checks on request, and keep records of identity checks for seven years. Failing to comply is an offence, and Companies House can suspend or end your status. If that happens, people you verified may have to verify again, and your clients’ filings stall.
Formation agents have a second registration to manage. HMRC treats any business that forms companies, sells off-the-shelf companies, provides registered office or correspondence addresses, or acts or arranges for others to act as directors or secretaries as a trust or company service provider. You must register with HMRC unless another supervisor covers you, and you must not trade until HMRC confirms your application.
For your PI, these changes create new ways to get things wrong: accepting a forged document when verifying someone, losing the records behind a verification, or letting a client’s verification deadline slip. Tell your insurer you verify identities, make sure the policy’s description of your business includes it, and expect questions about your anti-money laundering supervision. PI wordings commonly exclude fines and penalties imposed on you, so treat compliance as your job, not your insurer’s.
| Usually covered by PI | Often excluded or limited | Needs a different policy |
|---|---|---|
| Searches that miss a registered charge, an insolvency notice or a disqualification | Fines and penalties imposed on you as an agent or ACSP | Injury to a visitor at your office (public liability) |
| Missed or late filings that cause a client a loss, subject to the policy terms | Liability you take on as a nominee director, secretary or shareholder, unless declared and accepted | Injury to your own staff (employers’ liability) |
| Errors in formation documents and in officer or PSC details | Indemnities or warranties in lender panel terms that go beyond reasonable care | A hacked filing account or leaked client identity documents (cyber insurance) |
| Negligent identity verification, where your business description includes it | Dishonest acts by you or your staff | Theft of client money by an employee (fidelity or crime cover) |
| Defence costs, including the cost of correcting the register | Claims arising from problems you knew about before the policy began | Claims against you as an appointed director of a client company (directors’ and officers’ liability) |
Cover depends on the insurer’s acceptance and the policy wording. If a client claims back a late filing penalty it paid because of your delay, whether the policy responds depends on how its fines and penalties wording is drafted, so ask before you need to know.
No statute or regulator sets a PI limit for search, formation or filing agents. In practice the figure is set by the people who rely on you: lenders and law firms often require a minimum limit on their panels or in their terms of engagement, and some ask for evidence each year.
Size your limit to the transaction your search supports, not to the fee for the search. A missed charge on a large loan can produce a claim for the lender’s whole shortfall. Think too about systemic errors. A misconfigured search template, or a reminder system that fails across hundreds of client companies, can produce many claims from one cause, so check whether your limit is each and every claim or aggregate and how related claims are grouped.
PI is claims-made, so the policy that pays is the one in force when the claim arrives. Search errors often come to light only when a borrower fails or a company is wound up, which may be years after the report. Keep cover continuous, protect your retroactive date when you change insurer, and buy run-off if you sell the business or stop trading. See run-off cover explained and what to do when a contract requires a higher PI limit.
A complete proposal gets better terms than a bare one, and a broker can only present what you tell us. Have these ready:
Speak to a broker
PI for company search agents, placed by a named broker
Start the online proposal and save it as you go, or leave your number and a named broker will call you back, usually the same working day.
Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker based in Bristol, established in 2009 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are not tied to one insurer: we work with over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates through wholesale brokers, and every client has a named broker who handles the placement, mid-term changes, certificates for clients and the renewal.
Yes. Lenders, solicitors and company owners rely on your searches, formations and filings, and an error such as a missed charge or a late filing causes financial loss rather than accidental damage. PI covers your legal liability for that loss and your defence costs, subject to the policy terms. Public liability does not.
No law requires it. The legal requirements are different: ACSPs must stay under anti-money laundering supervision, and trust or company service providers must register with HMRC unless supervised elsewhere. GOV.UK’s guidance on those regimes does not mention PI. Lenders and law firms commonly require it in their panel terms or engagement letters.
For now, only if you verify identities for Companies House. Companies House plans to require all third-party agents filing on behalf of companies to be ACSPs no earlier than November 2027, with at least six months’ notice. To register you must be supervised by a UK anti-money laundering supervisory body.
Usually, if the miss was negligent, subject to the policy terms. The claim is typically for the lender’s or buyer’s loss, which can far exceed your fee. Notify your insurer as soon as you discover the error, and do not admit liability or offer compensation without its agreement.
Companies House imposes the penalty on the company, and directors remain personally responsible for delivering accounts. The client may then claim the penalty and other losses from you. Whether PI pays that claim depends on the wording, because policies commonly exclude fines and penalties, so check how yours is drafted.
It can, if your policy’s business description includes identity verification and the insurer has accepted it. Errors such as accepting a forged document or losing verification records can lead to claims and to regulatory action. Tell your insurer you are an ACSP rather than assuming existing cover extends to it.
Apex arranges professional indemnity insurance for company search agents across the UK. Tell us about your work and we’ll find cover that fits. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Start your PI proposal Call 0117 325 0027Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information, not advice on your individual circumstances. Cover is always subject to the insurer’s acceptance and the policy terms, and this page does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.
