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Methodology

Sources & methodology.

Every figure in CompaniesIQ is real and sourced. We pull live from public APIs where one exists, and use published official statistics as clearly-marked reference where one doesn't. Nothing is fabricated.

4 live sources2 reference baselines
SourceProviderStatusWhat it powers
Companies House registerOpen Government Licence v3.0Companies HouseLive APICompany search, profiles, officers, PSCs, filing history, charges, and all register counts/trends (active, new, dissolved, incorporation trend).
Annual Population SurveyOpen Government Licence v3.0Nomis / ONSLive APIRegional employment rate and economic activity rate (latest period) in the company report's economic indicators.
Annual Survey of Hours & Earnings (ASHE)Open Government Licence v3.0Nomis / ONSLive APIRegional median gross weekly pay in the report's economic indicators and the discover hotspots.
Mid-year population estimatesOpen Government Licence v3.0Nomis / ONSLive APIRegional population in the report's economic indicators.
Business DemographyOpen Government Licence v3.0Office for National StatisticsReference1/3/5-year business survival benchmarks in the company report.Published as an annual statistical bulletin (no queryable API). Used as an indicative reference baseline by sector; not pulled live.
Business Population EstimatesOpen Government Licence v3.0ONS / Dept. for Business & TradeReferenceSector business population (active companies by sector) and sector growth rates.Annual spreadsheet release (no queryable API). Companies House counts a different universe (registered companies, not the BPE enterprise base), so these are kept as the authoritative sector reference rather than recomputed.
How to read it

Live vs. reference.

Live API

Fetched in real time from a public API and cached briefly. Companies House powers all company and register data; Nomis/ONS powers regional labour-market indicators. These reflect the latest published period.

Reference baseline

Drawn from official ONS annual releases that have no queryable API (Business Demography survival rates; Business Population Estimates sector totals). Used as indicative baselines and always labelled as such — we don't recompute them from a different data universe and present the result as official.

Derived figures

A few report figures (e.g. local market density) are transparently derived by combining live register data with reference baselines. These are marked “derived” wherever they appear.

Licence

All underlying data is © Crown copyright and reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Attribution is shown on every report and in the footer.