API reference

Three read-only endpoints. Responses are JSON, records carry the same 30 fields as the CSV export, and every response repeats the licence the data is published under.

Authentication

Send your key as a bearer token. Keys are shown once when issued and stored here only as a hash, so a lost key is replaced rather than recovered.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer sd_live_…" "https://sponsordirectory.co.uk/api/v1/sponsors?limit=5"

A missing or unknown key answers 401, a revoked or unpaid key 403, and either limit below 429 with a retry-after header.

Limits

Requests a month: 50,000 on the £29 plan. Every response carries x-quota-remaining.
Requests a minute: 120, per key.
Rows a page: 100 by default, 500 at most. Page with cursor from next_cursor.

GET /api/v1/sponsors

The register, filtered, oldest identifier first.

town: Town slug, as in the site's own URLs: london, milton-keynes.
industry: SIC section slug or letter: construction, F.
route: Route slug or key: skilled-worker, gbm_senior_specialist.
rating: One of A, B, mixed, provisional.
matched: 1 for sponsors linked to a Companies House record, 0 for the rest.
on_register: 0 returns only sponsors that have been removed.
updated_since: ISO date or timestamp. The cheap way to stay in step.
limit, cursor: Paging.

{
  "data": [
    {
      "url": "https://sponsordirectory.co.uk/acme-care-ltd-leeds",
      "slug": "acme-care-ltd-leeds",
      "name": "ACME CARE LTD",
      "town": "Leeds",
      "routes": "Skilled Worker",
      "rating_summary": "A",
      "company_number": "07654321",
      "size_band": "small",
      "employees": 42,
      "updated_at": "2026-09-04T03:14:00.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "next_cursor": "cmtn93r1g01oshkmi4kpu5ayz",
  "licence": { "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0" }
}

GET /api/v1/sponsors/{slug}

One sponsor by slug, or by Companies House number. Includes up to 100 changes, newest first.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer sd_live_…" "https://sponsordirectory.co.uk/api/v1/sponsors/07654321"

GET /api/v1/changes

What moved between publications, oldest first, so a poller can keep the last publication date it saw and never miss a row.

since, until: ISO dates, against the publication the change was found in.
type: added, removed, rating_changed, route_added, route_removed, moved.
week: A single ISO week, as 2026-W36.
limit, cursor: Paging.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer sd_live_…" \
  "https://sponsordirectory.co.uk/api/v1/changes?since=2026-09-01&type=removed&limit=200"

Using what you get

The underlying register is Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence v3.0, so you may republish and build on it, commercially, as long as you attribute the source. Do not present it as advice, and do not imply the Home Office endorses what you build. What you are paying for.