Lockley
Intelligence

What the index sees.

Sectors mapped, the month's signals and data reports, computed from the public record every night. Counts only: no page lists a company or a person.

Guides

Apollo.io vs Lockley: which suits UK prospecting?Apollo.io is a contact database with sequencing, priced per user. Lockley is a daily short list of UK companies with the public record behind each. Which fits depends on whether you need contacts or a reason to call.Best UK tools for finding prospects with a reason to call, comparedApollo.io, ZoomInfo and Cognism centre on contact data; Beauhurst and Endole on UK company data; Lockley on a daily short list with the public record behind each company.Can a UK seller use Companies House data for cold outreach?Companies House data is public, but using it for outreach is still regulated. Live calls and emails to businesses fall under PECR, and personal data under UK GDPR. This is a guide, not legal advice.Can you download Companies House data free to build a UK prospect list?Yes. Companies House publishes a free monthly bulk file of basic company data. It gives you a register, not a reason to call, so it needs other records laid over it.Cognism vs Lockley: which suits a small UK B2B sales team?Cognism is a contact-data tool known for phone-verified mobiles and European coverage. Lockley is a daily list of UK companies with the public record that says why now. They solve different problems.Companies House search vs a sales intelligence tool: when is free enough?Companies House is free and authoritative but gives you records, not a call list. A sales tool adds filtering and timing. Here is when each suits a small UK B2B team.Contracts Finder or Find a Tender: which should a UK seller search?Contracts Finder lists UK public contracts above £12,000 including VAT; Find a Tender covers the higher-value ones. A seller looking for contract wins or endings should check both.Do you need to check the CTPS before cold calling UK businesses?In general, yes. No prior consent is needed for a business live call, but you must not call numbers on the TPS or CTPS, or ones that have objected. Sole traders count as individuals. A guide, not legal advice.Endole vs Beauhurst vs Lockley: which suits a small UK B2B sales team?Endole is credit and company data from £25 a month, Beauhurst is high-growth company data priced by quote, and Lockley is a daily call list with the record behind each company. Who each suits.How can a small UK B2B team find ten prospects a morning, with evidence?Pick one or two public-record signals that match what you sell, filter hard, and write one factual line per company. Here is a routine for ten evidenced prospects a day.How can a UK asset finance broker find companies worth calling?Read the public record: new charges, new premises, contract awards and hiring show a company investing. Each is dated and checkable, and gives a broker an opening that a generic data list cannot.How can a UK founder start B2B outbound using only free public records?Use Companies House and Contracts Finder, both free to search, to pick ten companies with a dated reason to call. It takes more time than a paid tool but costs nothing.How can a UK insurance broker find companies that have just taken new premises?Watch planning registers for new sites and Companies House for new charges. Lockley recorded 2,421 new sites across 2,069 UK companies in September 2026.How can a UK managed service provider find companies hiring for the first time?A company advertising its first role in a function has just created a need. Lockley recorded 116 first-of-function hires in the week to 10 October 2026; check each posting before you call.How can a UK recruitment agency find employers that are hiring right now?Track significant roles posted by employers and first-of-function hires. Lockley counted 662 significant roles posted this week, and 1,149 manager-level-and-above roles across 680 UK companies in September 2026.How can a UK sales team find companies that just won a public contract?Read the award notices on Contracts Finder and Find a Tender, which name the winning supplier. Lockley recorded 8 awards this week and 20 contracts ending, so check the dates.How do I check a UK buying signal is real before I call?Open the source record, confirm the company number and date, and read what the record actually says. A signal you cannot link to a public record is a guess.How do I check a UK company in five minutes before a sales call?Confirm the company is active, read its officers and recent filings on Companies House, check its website, then note one recent change to open the call with.How do I find decision-makers at UK companies without buying a contact list?Start from the company, not the person: Companies House lists directors for free, and company websites name leadership. Check both before calling. Lockley does not sell contact lists.How do I find fast-growing UK companies from public records?Combine records that show money, people and space: new charges, funding rounds, significant hires and new sites. No single record proves growth, but two or three together make a sound reason to call.How do I find newly formed UK companies in a specific sector?Filter the free Companies House advanced search by SIC code and incorporation date, then read each company's site. New companies are a starting point; a recent record tells you which to ring first.How do I find UK businesses that registered a new charge at Companies House?Search each company's charges register, or watch new charge filings in bulk. A new charge means a lender has taken security, which is a dated reason to call. Lockley counted 3,630 this week.How do I find UK companies by SIC code, and what are the limits?Companies House advanced search filters active companies by SIC code and exports results to CSV. It gives you a list by sector, not a reason to call; for that you need a dated event.How do I find UK companies hiring for the first time in a function?A first-of-function hire, such as a first finance or marketing role, signals a new need. Lockley recorded 136 this week and 316 across September 2026, each tied to the job posting.How do I find UK companies in administration or liquidation?Search The Gazette, the official public record, for insolvency notices, and cross-check Companies House. Then decide whether the notice is a reason to call the company, its creditors or its buyers.How do I find UK companies like my best customers?Describe your best customers by what they sell, who they sell to, their size and their sector code, then match on those and add a dated public record for timing. A scan of your own website is a quick start.How do I find UK companies opening new premises or sites?Planning registers record new sites before they open. Lockley recorded 2,421 new premises or operating centres across 2,069 UK companies in September 2026; here is how to use them.How do I find UK companies that are about to file their first accounts?A private company's first accounts are due 21 months after incorporation. Companies House shows the date, so you can find young companies approaching a first accountant, adviser or lender conversation.How do I find UK companies that filed a planning application?Planning applications sit with about three hundred local planning authorities, and the national dataset is still incomplete. Search the council portals, then match applicants to Companies House.How do I find UK companies that have announced an expansion?Watch news, planning registers and Companies House for expansion signals, then confirm on the company's site. Lockley counted 138 expansions reported in public news in the week to 11 October 2026.How do I find UK companies that have changed their registered office?A change of registered office is filed at Companies House and shows in the company's filing history. It can mean a move, a new accountant or a restructure, so read the filing and check before calling.How do I find UK companies that have just raised funding?Funding rounds show up in Companies House filings and public announcements. Lockley counted 11 this week against 3 the week before; here is how to find them and what to say.How do I find UK companies that have just satisfied a charge?A satisfied charge means a lender has been repaid and the security released. Companies House records it on the company's charges page, and it can be a sound reason to call about refinancing or new borrowing.How do I find UK companies that need a recruitment agency?Look for employers advertising senior roles, hiring in a function for the first time, or opening new sites. All three are public records. Lockley reads them nightly and links each one.How do I find UK companies whose directors changed this month?Director changes are filed at Companies House and are public. Lockley counted 43,850 filed in the week to 4 October 2026, so filter by sector and by who left or arrived before you call.How do I find UK companies whose public contracts are about to end?Contracts Finder lists end dates, so you can call suppliers before a public contract lapses. Lockley counted 20 contracts ending this week and 28 across 25 companies in September 2026.How do I find UK employers hiring warehouse staff this week?Filter dated job postings to the last seven days, group them by employer, then check each on Companies House and look for a second record before you ring.How do I follow up a UK prospect with something new to say?Check the prospect's public record for anything dated since your last contact: a filing, a hire, a contract, a new director. Open the follow-up with that fact rather than 'just checking in'.How do I open a UK cold call with a public record as the reason?Name the record, give its date, say what it means for the company and ask one question. A cited, dated fact earns the next thirty seconds better than a generic opener.How do I prioritise a list of UK companies that show buying signals?Rank by freshness of the record, fit with what you sell, and whether two or more dated signals point the same way. Call the top few each morning and log the outcome.How do I read a Companies House charge before I call the company?A registered charge is security a company has given for a loan. Read who the lender is, the date it was created, what it covers and whether it has been satisfied, then use it as a reason to call, not an assumption.How do I spot a UK company about to be struck off before I call?Check the Companies House status for 'Active proposal to strike off'. It means a Gazette notice has been published and the company may soon be dissolved, so a sales call is likely wasted.How do you estimate the size of a UK company before you call?Companies House does not list headcount. Combine the average employees in filed accounts, the people named on the company's website and its live job postings to place it in a rough size band.How does a UK commercial cleaning firm find companies worth calling?Watch for new sites, public contract changes and first-of-function hires: each leaves a dated public record that gives a cleaning firm a specific, checkable reason to call.How fresh does a UK buying signal need to be before I call?Judge freshness by the date on the public record and the signal type: live job postings turn over within weeks, contract end dates are known months ahead. Rank by fit first, freshness second.How many director changes are filed at UK Companies House each week?In the week to 13 October 2026 Lockley counted 32,242 director changes filed, against 57,788 the week before. Most are routine; the useful ones are the small number that suggest a company is changing.How many new charges are registered at Companies House each week?Lockley counted 1,424 new charges registered in the week to 13 October 2026, against 8,522 the week before. A charge is security for a loan, which is why it can signal a company raising finance.How many new UK sites appear on planning registers each week?Lockley counted 449 new sites on UK planning registers in the week to 16 October 2026, against 77 the week before. The count swings, so judge a week against several others.How many significant roles do UK companies post each week?Lockley counted 360 significant roles in job postings for the week to 16 October 2026, against 462 the week before. Here is what that count covers and how a seller or recruiter can use it.How many UK companies are there, and how many can you actually research?Lockley's index lists 5,576,889 active UK companies; 550,929 have a confirmed website and 194,782 have been read. The gap shows why a prospect list needs evidence, not just a name.How many UK companies have a website on record, and what does that mean?Of 5,578,656 active UK companies in the Lockley index, 675,043 have a website found and confirmed. Most UK companies cannot be researched from their own site, so public records matter.How many UK companies make a first-of-function hire each week?The Lockley index recorded 101 first-of-function hires in the week to 15 October 2026, down from 130 the week before. A first hire in a function is a rare, dated reason to call.How many UK funding rounds are announced each week?In the Lockley index, 395 funding rounds were recorded in the week to 15 October 2026, against 795 the week before. Weekly counts swing widely, so read them as a range.How many UK public contracts are awarded and ending each week?In the week to 7 October 2026 Lockley recorded 51 public contracts awarded and 13 ending. In September 2026, 29 contracts reached their end date across 26 UK companies.How should a UK sales manager run a weekly review of buying signals?Spend thirty minutes on Friday: count calls by signal, mark what reached a person, retire signals that did not, and set next week's one change. Keep the record behind every call.Intent data vs public-record signals: which gives a UK seller a better reason to call?Intent data infers interest from online behaviour. Public-record signals are dated facts in registers, such as a new charge or a contract ending. For UK sellers, the second can be checked before you call.Is a director appointment or a resignation the better reason to call a UK company?An appointment usually gives a better opening than a resignation, because it points to someone new with a brief to change things. Both are filed at Companies House and both are dated.Kaspr vs Lockley: which suits a small UK B2B sales team?Kaspr finds contact details for people you have already chosen on LinkedIn; Lockley chooses the companies, each with the public record that says why to call now. They solve different problems.LinkedIn Sales Navigator vs Lockley: which suits a small UK B2B team?Sales Navigator finds people and tracks job and company changes on LinkedIn; Lockley finds UK companies with a public-record reason to call. They answer different questions.Lusha vs Lockley: which suits UK B2B prospecting?Lusha reveals contact details through a credit-based extension and service. Lockley picks UK companies worth calling and shows the public record why. One finds a person, the other a reason.UK business signals in the week to 10 October 2026: what changedDirector changes fell from 57,929 to 38,582 and new charges from 9,698 to 1,992, while new sites rose from 39 to 77. Week-on-week counts from UK public records.UK business signals in the week to 11 October 2026: what changedDirector changes fell from 56,830 to 38,382 and new charges from 9,702 to 1,980, while new sites rose from 39 to 483 and contract awards from 132 to 171. Counts from UK public records.UK business signals in the week to 4 October 2026: hiring, charges, contractsDirector changes, new charges, hiring, public contracts and first hires compared week on week from Companies House, Contracts Finder and Adzuna records, with the exact counts.UK business signals in the week to 8 October 2026: what changedDirector changes fell from 55,538 to 33,557, new charges from 10,100 to 1,823, and funding rounds rose from 319 to 362. Full week-on-week counts from UK public records.UK business signals this week: week to 21 October 2026 against the week beforeLockley's counts for 14 to 21 October 2026 against 7 to 14 October: charges, director changes, contracts, hires, funding and new sites, with what each swing means for a seller.UK business signals, week to 14 October 2026: counts from the public recordIn the week 7 to 14 October 2026, Lockley's index recorded 30,021 director changes, 2,366 new charges, 74 public contract awards and 437 new sites, each counted by the date on the record.UK business signals, week to 17 October 2026: what rose, what fellNew planning sites rose to 446 from 91, while public contract awards halved to 111 and new charges fell to 2,457. Counts for the week 10 to 17 October 2026, with what each means for a seller.UK business signals, week to 20 October 2026: hiring up, charges and funding downSignificant roles rose from 343 to 508 in the week to 20 October 2026, while new charges fell from 6,906 to 2,062 and funding rounds from 818 to 430. What each count means for a seller.UK public-record signals, week to 12 October 2026, against the week beforeNew sites rose from 24 to 483 while new charges fell from 9,130 to 1,228. The counts by signal, how they are measured and what a seller should and should not conclude.What can a small UK company's filed accounts tell a seller?Often less than you expect. Small and micro companies can file a balance sheet without a profit and loss account. You can usually read net assets, debtors and creditors, and the average number of employees.What does a change in persons with significant control tell a UK seller?A PSC change means someone who owns or controls a company has changed. It often points to a new owner or decision-maker, which can be a reason to call, but the record does not say why it happened.What does a late accounts filing tell a UK seller?A late filing signals a company that is stretched on admin or cash, or has no finance support. Penalties run from £150 to £1,500 for private companies, so the cost is real. Here is when it is a reason to call.What does a UK company name change tell a seller?A name change is filed at Companies House, usually after a special resolution. It can signal a rebrand, new ownership or new direction, and it is a dated record you can cite. Here is how to use it.What is a buying signal in UK B2B sales, and which come from public records?A buying signal is a dated event suggesting a company may need what you sell. In the UK, hiring, charges, contracts, new sites, funding and director changes are published on public registers.What is an alternative to a data list for finding UK prospects?Use signals instead of a list: dated public records, such as a new charge or a contract ending, that give you a reason to call a named company this week.Which services show UK tender awards by supplier?Award notices on Contracts Finder and Find a Tender name the winning supplier, but neither groups them by supplier. Search, group and match to Companies House. Lockley counted 171 awards this week.Which tools read a company's website to tell you what it sells?Few sales tools read each company's own website. Lockley does, writing one card per company and counting 258,309 so far; the alternative is reading sites yourself with a short checklist.Which UK company research tools use public registers, not scraped contacts?Register-based tools record dated events you can check at source; scraped-contact tools record people and numbers. Start from registers to choose whom to call, then add contacts.Which UK public-record signal should you use for the product you sell?Match the signal to the problem you solve: charges for finance, hires for recruitment and software, contract ends for suppliers, planning sites for premises services. Start with one signal, not all of them.Which UK public-record signals are common, and which are rare?In the week to 5 October 2026, Lockley saw 37,637 director changes but only 22 public contracts ending. Rare signals are the more selective reasons to call.Which UK sectors have the most new companies in 2026?Retail has the most: 113,971 companies formed in the last twelve months, ahead of property letting (68,218) and software (67,936). Relative to size, commercial cleaning and marketing form fastest.Why do weekly UK business signal counts swing so much?Charges fell from 8,177 to 2,473 in a week, and new sites from 102 to 10. Here is how to read swings in public-record counts before you change who you call.ZoomInfo alternatives for a small UK B2B team: what to check firstCognism, Kaspr, Apollo.io and Lusha supply contact data; Lockley supplies UK companies with a public-record reason to call. Which fits depends on whether you need contacts or timing.ZoomInfo vs Lockley: which suits UK prospecting?ZoomInfo is a large contact-data service strongest in North America. Lockley is a daily short list of UK companies with the public record behind each. Which fits depends on whether you need contacts or a reason to call.

Data reports

State of prospecting in UK recruitment, October 202650,334 active UK recruitment agencies, 7,052 formed in the last twelve months; 1,567 senior roles advertised by employers in the last 30 days.

Sectors mapped

Accountancy and bookkeeping in the UK63,010 active companies; 4,998 formed in the last twelve months.Architecture and engineering consultancy in the UK106,945 active companies; 14,522 formed in the last twelve months.Civil engineering in the UK34,466 active companies; 3,619 formed in the last twelve months.Commercial cleaning in the UK44,863 active companies; 10,824 formed in the last twelve months.Construction of buildings in the UK226,184 active companies; 27,651 formed in the last twelve months.Domiciliary and social care in the UK46,391 active companies; 8,448 formed in the last twelve months.Education and training in the UK157,261 active companies; 27,497 formed in the last twelve months.Energy and renewables in the UK18,191 active companies; 1,440 formed in the last twelve months.Estate agents in the UK40,403 active companies; 5,512 formed in the last twelve months.Facilities management in the UK11,556 active companies; 1,963 formed in the last twelve months.Financial services in the UK218,651 active companies; 34,324 formed in the last twelve months.Food and drink manufacturing in the UK32,305 active companies; 5,100 formed in the last twelve months.Healthcare in the UK197,184 active companies; 23,257 formed in the last twelve months.Hotels, restaurants and bars in the UK310,268 active companies; 57,548 formed in the last twelve months.Insurance and brokers in the UK15,005 active companies; 1,063 formed in the last twelve months.Legal services in the UK23,201 active companies; 2,469 formed in the last twelve months.Management consultancy in the UK288,829 active companies; 45,631 formed in the last twelve months.Manufacturing in the UK230,412 active companies; 26,518 formed in the last twelve months.Marketing and advertising in the UK68,238 active companies; 15,579 formed in the last twelve months.Motor trade in the UK119,408 active companies; 18,775 formed in the last twelve months.Property letting and management in the UK548,120 active companies; 67,896 formed in the last twelve months.Recruitment agencies in the UK50,334 active companies; 7,052 formed in the last twelve months.Residential care in the UK43,356 active companies; 5,632 formed in the last twelve months.Retail in the UK505,867 active companies; 114,028 formed in the last twelve months.Road haulage and logistics in the UK115,045 active companies; 20,306 formed in the last twelve months.Security services in the UK27,831 active companies; 4,299 formed in the last twelve months.Software and IT services in the UK338,257 active companies; 68,472 formed in the last twelve months.Specialist construction trades in the UK346,219 active companies; 44,445 formed in the last twelve months.Telecommunications in the UK19,048 active companies; 1,655 formed in the last twelve months.Wholesale trade in the UK212,667 active companies; 37,067 formed in the last twelve months.

Signals by month

First hires in a function, September 2026Lockley recorded 318 roles in a function Lockley had not seen the company hire for before (its job records begin in September 2026) across 285 UK companies in September 2026.Hiring at manager level and above, September 2026Lockley recorded 1,155 roles advertised at manager level and above across 682 UK companies in September 2026.New sites, September 2026Lockley recorded 2,421 new premises or operating centres recorded across 2,069 UK companies in September 2026.Public contracts ending, September 2026Lockley recorded 34 public contracts reaching their end date across 31 UK companies in September 2026.