The standard industrial classification (SIC) code for local authorities/councils
Published 6 February 2023
© Crown copyright 2023
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1. Date released
27 April 2022
2. Summary of request
Standard industrial classification (SIC) codes for local authorities/councils.
3. Information Released
The SIC code list is owned by the Office of National Statistics and it is for a company to determine which code from the list best describes its business activity when providing that information to Companies House.
To be of assistance, a company can have the word ‘council’ in its name without being a local authority. A local authority could possibly be an incorporated body under various legislation but is not likely to be a commercial company. If a local authority/council have a commercial arm, this may be registered as a company with Companies House.
Companies House provides access to company information, you may wish to conduct some searches to ascertain if there are any councils/local authorities listed and what SIC code they have chosen to use. Companies House does not collate information by sector but does provide products to allow you to interrogate the register yourself.
Find and update company information - GOV.UK (company-information.service.gov.uk)
Companies House only registers information relating to companies and some other entities, so it possible that we may not have these listed on our records.
‘Section O’ of the SIC code list provides for ‘Public administration and defence; compulsory social security’ activities. You can search for companies that have opted to use these codes by using the ‘Advanced Search’ option via the link above. You can search by ‘nature of business’ using the SIC code.