The government business registry has revealed in its annual report that use of common commercial and other tools has played a growing role in communicating with citizens across the country
Companies House has revealed that artificial intelligence has been used to help the organisation chat with hundreds of citizens each day and respond to thousands of emails to the public.
In its recently published annual report, the business register reveals that, during the 25/26 year, it “introduced a chatbot offering 24/7 digital support with escalation to webchat when needed”.
“The chatbot handles around 300 chats a day, contributing to a 5% shift away from phone calls,” the report adds. “Around 30% of customers resolve their query without adviser support, with satisfaction averaging 80%. This gives customers quicker answers and greater choice, while enabling advisers to focus on complex queries.”
The launch of the artificial intelligence-powered contact tool was one of a number of deployments of new technology undertaken by Companies House during the year. As the organisation rolled out mandatory identity verification for millions of company leaders, there was a large spike in email correspondence “increasing handling times and risking delays for customers during a period of change”, according to the report.
“Digital, operational and knowledge teams responded quickly by working together to trial a Copilot AI agent to help colleagues respond to common identity verification queries and improve consistency” the document adds. “During the trial, the AI agent helped respond to more than 3,600 customer emails, with much faster handling times than manual processing and responses needed little or no editing. This freed up colleague time, eased pressure at peak demand and supported colleague wellbeing. Following the successful trial, we rolled out the AI agent into day-to-day operations. This shows how an agile approach enabled rapid testing, learning, and scaling of solutions to improve customer experience and operational resilience.”
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Elsewhere, the organisation “used artificial intelligence safely and ethically to improve services and how we work, applying it across communications, customer operations, intelligence and enforcement, HR, and software development”. Specific use cases included a trial of “AI tools to help identify suspicious activity and improve data quality at scale”.
The new verification process launched during the year requires directors and major shareholders to prove their identity via the GOV.UK One Login tool. Other options include the use of an authorised corporate services provider, or in-person verification at a Post Office branch.
An estimated six to seven million individuals across the country are required to complete this process, and the report reinforces that Companies House expects to complete the rollout by its target date of November 2026.
During the first six months of FY26 – when verification was offered on a voluntary basis – more than one million company leaders went through the process.
“This allowed us to test services and understand the customer experience,” the report says. “We worked with customers and industry partners to address issues, using insights to refine guidance, user journeys, communications and internal processes. This helped make identity verification as straightforward as possible, minimising the burden on customers.”
Last year Companies House also worked on updating its tech and infrastructure “migrated 90% of our online filing service to a more modern cloud platform, providing improved access to filing, management, and administration services”.
The report adds: “We also updated and migrated our finance system to a secure cloud platform, which is easier to maintain and adapt, strengthening financial control and business continuity. Alongside this, we made a range of system improvements to support more efficient ways of working, delivering technology efficiency savings. Together, these actions help ensure our systems are more efficient, reliable and responsive to user needs.”