Institrace launches: UK public records in one place

Institrace opens to the public today, 5 October 2026. It is a searchable index of what UK public bodies publish, from council minutes and NHS board papers to spending, contracts, land titles, Parliament and the courts. Every record links to its original source.

What Institrace is

UK public bodies publish a great deal, and much of it is hard to find. Councils post agendas, minutes and decisions on their own committee sites. NHS trusts publish board papers. Councils and departments publish their spending and the contracts they award. Parliament, the Electoral Commission, HM Land Registry and the courts each keep their own records. Many older files are scanned PDFs with no searchable text.

Institrace brings these into one index. You can search the words inside a paper, open a public body and see what it has published, and open a company or a person to see the public records that name them. Each record shows who published it and when, with a link to the original, so a reader can check it at the source.

What it holds

As of 5 October 2026, the index holds:

• More than 6.6 million papers from 3,127 public bodies: councils, NHS bodies, police and fire services, combined authorities, pension funds, regulators and more.
• 49.9 million spending lines published by 559 public bodies.
• 567,378 contract awards.
• 4,541,254 land titles in England and Wales held by UK and overseas companies.
• 41,534 public roles, as the bodies published them.
• 649 current MPs and 816 peers, with 402,544 speeches and 182,466 written questions from both Houses since July 2024.
• 93,323 political donations and 290 loans reported to the Electoral Commission.
• 215,709 court judgments and tribunal decisions, for signed-in users.

The counts grow as bodies publish. Current figures are on the home page and each body's page on Sources.

Who it is for

Institrace is for people who need to find, check and cite public records:

• Journalists, local and investigative, following decisions, spending and people.
• Researchers and think tanks counting across bodies and years.
• Due diligence and compliance teams checking companies, officers, contracts, land and judgments.
• Legal teams reading judgments, tribunal decisions and public body papers.
• Public affairs teams following boards, registers and Parliament.

How to use it

The catalogue is free. Anyone can browse the public bodies on the index, with titles and counts, without an account. A seat opens full-text search and every section: people, money, land, Parliament, donations, judgments and registers.

The Researcher and Practice plans start with a 14-day trial, and a card is required. Newsroom and firm seats are quoted. Plans and prices are on Pricing.

Research tools and AI assistants can use the same index through the API. A key searches, opens a paper and adds to an investigation you keep on the site. The developer page sets out the calls and the allowance on each plan.

What comes next

Institrace will publish regular reports from the data: a count, a method and a chart, with links to the records behind them. The first, on adult social care spending by region, is published today. Coverage grows as new bodies and datasets are added.

Questions, corrections and press enquiries: access@institrace.co.uk.