Before you extend credit to a new supplier, read this 602 company monitor: 0% worsened, but 98.84% had too little history to trust that signal

This month’s read is stable, but stability alone is not a clean bill of health. Across 602 companies assessed to 1 August 2026, none landed in a worsening pattern for how late companies are filing. The surprise is what sits behind that headline number: 595 businesses, or 98.84%, were classed as insufficient data. Only seven had enough history to fall into a usable trajectory tier, made up of four mixed cases, one always clean, one mixed history, and one stabilising.

What the source says For a creditor, that means the 0% deterioration figure is not a broad all clear. It is a narrow reading from a very small usable subset. Companies House still expects firms to meet its annual filing requirements, including accounts and confirmation statements, because those filings are the basic record most suppliers and lenders check first. Alongside that, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 is the 2023 law that now requires directors to verify their identity with Companies House. That identity check became mandatory on 18 November 2025, so it is now a past deadline, not a future one.

Why it matters for UK creditors A director who remains unverified after that deadline deserves closer scrutiny, especially if the business is also filing late or irregularly. In plain English, that combination can point to fronting or repeat failure behaviour, both of which matter when you are deciding payment terms, deposit levels, or whether to supply at all.

Run a full forensic check on any UK company. recoup-iq.tech/forensic-report (£167) The practical point is simple. A clean looking month in filing data does not remove the need to check who is actually behind the company. The Companies House guidance on identity verification sets out what a compliant director should have done by now.

What SMEs should do now Use filing timeliness as one signal, not the whole decision. Where the history is too thin to read, lean harder on ECCTA verification status, recent accounts delivery, and confirmation statement discipline before you extend trade credit. Check ECCTA verification status on any UK Ltd: recoup-iq.tech/check-a-debtor.

This report is generated by the RecoupIQ News Engine based on algorithmic