Among the many things on councils’ plates right now, supporting the local economy through the unprecedented disruption is a major area of concern. With implications for the employment status and welfare of their residents, the administration of business rate collection, and their longterm business rate income, not to mention the direct impact on the council’s supply chain, councils are already trying to reach out to the businesses operating on their patch.
Local businesses are clamouring for advice and financial support, (see our resource page for the SME sector) and it is in the council’s interests to proactively work with their local players and be equipped to answer their queries. However, many councils are finding it difficult to contact their local businesses directly and to find out useful information about their local business landscape in order to target their support.
As the leading provider of company data in the UK, Beauhurst monitors every UK registered business and holds additional data on those deemed ‘high growth’. In light of current circumstances, we are providing this data for free to help councils contact businesses ASAP.
We have already been approached by several London boroughs for information on and contact details for their local businesses, and believe this could be of use to other local authorities around the UK.
On every business, we can draw down live Companies House data which includes basic details, registered addresses, financials, director names and also their current service addresses (often a home address, which may be more useful in the current circumstances). An example search might be, “Find me every business in my borough with <£5m assets who have been trading for more than 1 year”.
We can provide this information in any format you’d find most useful, whether that’s a spreadsheet containing details of all businesses operating in your area, including directors’ names and addresses, or free temporary access to the online platform so you can search and export using your own parameters. There might be specific information you’d find useful, eg local businesses which are high growth, companies in a specific sector, which we can get for you too.
We hope this will prove useful to the local government sector in helping to keep local jobs, support businesses and maintain business rate revenue in the future. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss. Email me at jim.saggers@beauhurst.com or visit the website.
