Every limited company in the UK has to show a few basic details on its website: its registered name, company number, where it is registered and its registered office address. It is a small legal requirement, and it matters for trust, because it is how a customer checks who they are actually hiring. In September 2026 we looked at the websites of local trade businesses in Luton and Bedford to see how many do it. Most do not.
The headline numbers
- We checked 130 websites of plumbers, electricians, builders, roofers, locksmiths, decorators, bathroom fitters, heating engineers and tree surgeons in Luton and Bedford. 118 loaded properly and were included.
- 51 of those businesses describe themselves as Ltd or Limited on their homepage.
- 25 of the 51 (49%) did not show a company registration number on the homepage.
- 42 of the 51 (82%) did not say where the company is registered, for example “Registered in England and Wales”.
- Only 9 of the 51 (18%) showed both the company number and the country of registration.
- Across all 118 sites, 51 (43%) had no link to a privacy policy on the homepage, even though almost all of them ask visitors to get in touch.
Luton and Bedford side by side
| Luton | Bedford | |
|---|---|---|
| Websites included | 48 | 70 |
| Say they are Ltd | 17 | 34 |
| Ltd with no company number on homepage | 7 (41%) | 18 (53%) |
| Ltd with no country of registration | 14 (82%) | 28 (82%) |
| Ltd showing number and country | 3 (18%) | 6 (18%) |
| No privacy policy link (all sites) | 23 (48%) | 28 (40%) |
The two towns tell the same story. This is not a Luton problem or a Bedford problem. It is what happens when a website is put together by someone who knows design but not the rules, or when a business becomes a limited company after the website was built and nobody updates the footer.
What the law says
The Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015 require every UK company to show on its websites its registered name, its registered number, the part of the UK it is registered in and its registered office address. The same details belong on business letters, order forms and emails. If a website collects personal information through a contact form, UK GDPR also requires a privacy notice explaining what happens to that information.
Why it matters to customers
If a job goes wrong, a customer needs to know which legal entity they contracted with. A company number lets anyone look the business up for free on Companies House and see how long it has traded, who the directors are and whether its accounts are up to date. For a homeowner choosing between three roofers, that is useful. For the roofer, showing it is an easy way to look more established than the competition.
How we did it
- We searched Google for common trades in Luton and in Bedford and took the independent business websites that appeared, leaving out directories, national chains and franchise networks.
- We checked the homepage of each site only, because that is where most businesses put their company details in the footer. A business may show its details on another page, such as a contact or terms page, so these figures describe what a visitor sees on arrival rather than the whole site.
- We counted a business as a limited company if its homepage described it as Ltd or Limited.
- We looked for a company registration number, the phrase “registered in England”, “Wales” or “Scotland”, and any link to a privacy policy. Every site recorded as missing a company number was then checked by hand. Sites where “Ltd” only appeared in a web designer’s credit were removed from the limited company count.
- 12 sites that did not load or showed almost no text were excluded. Checks were carried out on 28 and 29 September 2026.
- We are not naming any business. The aim is to show a common gap, not to single anyone out.
How to fix it in five minutes
Add one line to your website footer so it appears on every page, for example:
Example Plumbing Ltd. Registered in England and Wales, company number 01234567. Registered office: 1 High Street, Bedford MK40 1AA.
Then link a short privacy notice from the footer and from your contact form. The ICO’s free privacy notice generator is written for small businesses. If you are setting up a new company, our New Business Launch website includes the company details footer and a privacy notice as standard.
Want us to check your website?
If you run a trade business in Luton, Bedford or nearby and want to know whether your website shows what it should, get in touch and we will check it for free. Journalists are welcome to use these figures with a credit to Ivy Hive. Contact us for the underlying data.
