Date field data - non-ISO values e.g. "Unknown" / blank

CH seems to have gone a bit quiet on responding here on the documentation front or for data issues. I suspect this will be the case 'till the Swagger-compatible docs are available. However - they clearly do take note. And their documentation is quietly being updated over time.

As noted, I’ve found it’s wise to trap the following:

  • Values of “unknown” and “null” for non-text fields.
  • Values of “null” for objects e.g. address / registered_office_address
  • Integers possibly starting with 0 e.g. month and year in
    date_of_birth.
  • Dates as YYYY-MM-DD or Epoch format (and if you want to poke inside
    fields e.g. filing history good old DD/MM/YY put in by humans).
  • Undocumented constant values in lookup fields.
  • Unusual-looking markdown in e.g. filing history description constants “[ < link text > ]” for links.
  • UK company registration numbers missing leading / internal zeros (for corporate officers / PSCs).

The company reg. number mentioned last may be missing entirely. This is a nuisance but we’re probably stuck with it - see Officer List return company number for corporates?. So to find company data on such officers we’re back to hoping given names match company names - see Comapny Name matching question

I think the policy is of “just recording what we get on the form”. (In a perfect world some of these might be validated / corrected where it’s “obvious” what is meant…some things e.g. dates, filings get put into formats…)