Complaining to Companies Investigation Branch

Companies Investigation Branch (CIB) is part of the regulatory arm of the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS). It forms part of the Insolvency Service’s Investigations and Enforcement Services business although it is not limited to companies that have become insolvent. In fact, most of its investigations are into companies that are actively trading or which have ceased trading without going into formal insolvency proceedings.

If you are considering making a complaint to CIB please first read the information about CIB by clicking here

If, having looked at the information about CIB, you feel that you have a complaint against a company that you would like us to consider, you can make a complaint by completing our online CIB complaint form

Submitting an online CIB complaint form

Please provide as much of the requested information as you can. This will give us the best start when considering your complaint and will inform us where we might go for further information.

When you have completed the form, click on the ‘submit’ button. The following will happen automatically:-

• We will instantly receive a copy of your complaint.
• You will receive immediate confirmation that the complaint has been received.
• You will receive an immediate* acknowledgement by e-mail (provided you have entered your e-mail address correctly) together with a copy of the completed complaint form and a unique reference number.

* There is currently a technical problem with automated acknowledgements which we are working to resolve. In the meantime, you will receive an acknowledgement by e-mail within 3 working days.

Submitting complaints by e-mail or by post

We also accept complaints by e-mail  enquiry@cib.gsi.gov.uk or post (but you will find the above online complaint form simple to complete and it gives us the best start)

Our address for correspondence is;

Companies Investigation Branch
Ground Floor
21 Bloomsbury Street
London WC1B 3QW

If you decide not to use the online complaint form, it would help if you could provide the same basic information as required on our complaint form. Otherwise, we will have to request it later which could delay consideration of your complaint.

Contacting us by telephone

Our telephone number is: 020 7596 6100. Please note that whilst we are happy to assist you in deciding whether to submit a complaint, (if you are unsure whether it is appropriate for us) we cannot accept complaints by telephone.

Providing us with supporting documentation

You may have a number of documents that you feel support your complaint. This should not prevent you from using the online complaint form or make you feel that you must submit your complaint by post. The complaint form asks you to state what information you have, and our staff may call for relevant information when they consider your complaint. In fact, if your concerns are more appropriate for another public body, there may be no benefit in sending the documents to us.

Can I complain anonymously?

You can, but there is no real benefit in doing so. We will treat any information you provide in strictest confidence. In particular, if we do investigate, we do not tell the company who has made the complaint or what we are looking at. If we decide not to investigate, we do not tell the company that a complaint has been received.

If your concerns are more appropriate for another public body, we would normally pass on your complaint. However, if you do not wish us to do so, please make that clear in your complaint.

Also, if you complain anonymously, we will not be able to obtain further information from you or discuss your concerns, and this could reduce the prospect of an investigation being commenced (by us or any other body).

What information do I receive following my complaint?

We are unable to tell you whether or not we are investigating a particular company, and by law we are prevented from providing you with information which we may have obtained from our investigations (unless you are one of the public bodies to whom information can be disclosed).