How to Get the WhatsApp Business API in the UK: Documents, Verification, Your +44 Number and First Templates
What a UK limited company, LLP or sole trader needs before starting, the order to do things in, and the small mistakes behind most rejections.
Short answer: you need a Meta business portfolio, a +44 number that can receive an SMS or a voice call, and a website or email on your own domain. You can connect and start messaging the same day. For Meta business verification, a limited company or LLP normally uses its Companies House record (certificate of incorporation and company registration number); a sole trader, who has no Companies House entry, uses HMRC documents, a business bank statement or a utility bill in the trading name. A newly created portfolio starts at 250 unique customers per 24 hours, and verification is one of three ways to reach 2,000. If your number is already on the WhatsApp Business app, Coexistence lets you keep the app and add the API on the same number.
Before you start: the five things to have ready
- Your exact legal name and registered address, as they appear on Companies House or your HMRC paperwork. Not the shop sign, not the Instagram handle.
- A Meta business portfolio (formerly Business Manager) in the business's name, with at least two admins. When the one person who set it up leaves, a second admin is what keeps you in.
- A website on your own domain, ideally with the legal or trading name in the footer. An address like [email protected] is better evidence than a Gmail address.
- A UK number you control that is not currently registered on ordinary WhatsApp Messenger. A WhatsApp Business app number can be used through Coexistence.
- A card or payment method for Meta, because Meta invoices message fees to your WhatsApp Business Account, and since October 2026 replies beyond the free allowance are charged.
Step 1: get your documents in order
Meta's business verification checks that the business exists and that the name and address (or phone number) you type match an official record. Which documents you use depends on your legal form. The list below follows the UK-specific document list that 360dialog, a Meta Business Solution Provider, publishes for Meta verification; Meta's own upload screen shows the list for your country when you start.
| Your business | Strongest documents | Where to get them | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private limited company (Ltd) or PLC | Certificate of incorporation; a Companies House document showing your company registration number (CRN) | Companies House, via the free Find and update company information service (filing history) | The legal name must match exactly, including "Limited" or "Ltd" as registered |
| Limited liability partnership (LLP) | Certificate of incorporation of the LLP; Companies House record | Companies House | "LLP" is part of the name; include it |
| Sole trader | HMRC VAT registration certificate or an HMRC account statement; business bank statement; utility bill | Your HMRC online account, your bank, your energy or broadband supplier | No Companies House record exists, so the name on the HMRC or bank document is your legal name for Meta |
| Ordinary partnership | HMRC documents in the partnership name; business bank statement; utility bill | HMRC, your bank | Use the partnership name exactly as HMRC and the bank hold it |
| Any of the above, for address or phone | Utility bill, business bank statement, certificate of public liability insurance | Supplier, bank, insurer | Recent, complete, readable, in the business name |
Limited companies
Every company registered in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland has a Companies House number; Scottish companies start with SC and Northern Irish ones with NI. Download the incorporation certificate from the company's filing history and type the name into Meta character for character. If the company changed its name, the current name is on the latest change-of-name certificate, not the original incorporation certificate. If your registered office is your accountant's address, use a utility bill or bank statement to prove the trading address or phone number instead.
Sole traders
This is the case most UK guides skip. A sole trader is registered with HMRC for Self Assessment and receives a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), but does not appear on Companies House. For Meta, that means relying on documents that show your name or trading name together with an address: a VAT certificate if you are VAT-registered, an HMRC account statement, a business bank statement, or a utility bill. If you trade as "Jane Smith trading as Smith Interiors", pick the version that appears on the document you upload and use exactly that in Meta.
Step 2: create the WhatsApp Business Account
The quickest route is Meta's embedded signup, which your provider opens from its dashboard. In QuickWA it sits under Settings: you log in with Facebook, choose or create your business portfolio, create the WhatsApp Business Account, add your number and confirm it with a code. The account belongs to your portfolio, not to the provider, so your number, templates and quality history stay yours if you ever move platform.
Next, add a payment method to the WhatsApp Business Account in Meta Business Suite. This is also where the billing currency is set. Meta supports sterling, and its pricing page notes that a currency cannot simply be changed once chosen, so pick GBP now if you want sterling invoices. Rates are explained in our UK pricing guide.
Step 3: choose your +44 number
UK numbers are written in international format by dropping the leading 0 after +44. A mobile such as 07700 900123 becomes +44 7700 900123; a London landline such as 020 7946 0123 becomes +44 20 7946 0123. Never enter both the +44 and the 0.
- Mobile (07xxx xxxxxx, or +44 7xxx xxxxxx): works, with SMS or voice verification.
- Geographic landline (01 or 02): works with voice verification, since a landline cannot receive the SMS.
- Non-geographic 03: possible if the line reaches a person; Meta says numbers behind an IVR menu are not supported.
- Freephone 0800 / 0808: often behind an IVR and may not accept international calls, which is why Meta flags toll-free numbers.
- Short codes: not accepted.
Meta's phone number rules are short: the number must be able to receive a voice call or SMS, must have a country and area code, and call forwarding or IVR must be off while you verify. A new business portfolio can register two phone numbers; Meta raises the cap to 20 once the business is verified or reaches the 2,000 messaging limit.
A number already registered on WhatsApp Messenger must be deleted from that app first. A number on the WhatsApp Business app does not have to be: that is what Coexistence is for.
Coexistence or a new number?
Plenty of UK businesses, from a Bristol florist to a Birmingham driving school, have run customer service from one WhatsApp Business app number for years, and the number is printed on vans, receipts and Google profiles. Coexistence connects that same number to the API without leaving the app. Earlier versions of Meta's Coexistence documentation excluded some regions, including the UK; Meta's current onboarding page lists no country restriction, so check the screen during setup rather than relying on older blog posts.
| Question | Coexistence (keep your app number) | New number on the API only |
|---|---|---|
| Customers keep the number they know? | Yes | No, you announce a new one |
| Phone app still works? | Yes, WhatsApp Business app 2.24.17 or later; messages appear in both | Not on that number |
| Chat history | Messages from the previous 180 days can sync; group chats do not | Starts empty |
| What stops working in the app | Broadcast lists become read-only; disappearing, view-once and live-location messages are switched off in one-to-one chats; companion devices are unlinked | Not applicable |
| Throughput | Fixed at 20 messages per second | Meta's standard Cloud API throughput |
| Keep it connected | Open the app regularly; Meta lists about 14 days of phone inactivity as a disconnection reason | Not applicable |
Two practical points. Coexistence is set up on a computer while you hold the phone with the WhatsApp Business app, because Meta shows a QR code to scan with that phone. And the app's own tools, such as labels, quick replies and away messages, are not available for the connected number, so you work from the platform's inbox instead; QuickWA provides inbox equivalents. Our Coexistence guide walks through the screens.
Step 4: pick a display name that will pass
The display name is what customers see at the top of the chat. Meta reviews it against its display name guidelines, and the safest choice is the name customers already know from your website, shopfront or Companies House record. Names that tend to be rejected:
- Generic words or places on their own: "Plumber Leeds", "London Lettings".
- Words that suggest endorsement, such as "Official" or "Verified".
- Slogans and offers: "Best Brows in Brighton 20% Off".
- Emojis, symbols or odd capitalisation that does not match your branding.
- A person's name with no visible link to the business, which is common with sole traders. If you trade under your own name, make sure your website shows it alongside the business.
Step 5: submit your first templates
Outside the 24-hour customer-service window, every message you start must use an approved template. For the UK, choose English (UK), code en_GB, so spelling such as "colour", "cancelled" and "personalised" is right. Start with three: one utility, one marketing, and an authentication template if you send login codes.
Utility: appointment reminder (salon or clinic)
Hi {{1}}, just a reminder that your appointment at {{2}} is on {{3}} at {{4}}. Reply YES to confirm or CHANGE if you need to rearrange.
Utility: dispatch update (online shop)
Good news, {{1}}: your order {{2}} has been dispatched with {{3}} and should arrive by {{4}}. Track it here: {{5}}. Any questions, just reply to this message.
Marketing: seasonal offer (opted-in customers only)
Hi {{1}}, our winter sale at {{2}} starts on Friday: up to 30% off knitwear, in store and online, until Sunday evening. Have a look at the link below. Reply STOP if you'd rather not get offers from us.
Languages other than English
The 2021 Census for England and Wales found Polish (612,000 people), Romanian (472,000), Panjabi (291,000) and Urdu (270,000) to be the most common main languages after English. Meta supports template translations in Polish (pl), Romanian (ro), Punjabi (pa), Urdu (ur), Bengali (bn) and Gujarati (gu), among others, so a Midlands builders' merchant or a Leicester sweet shop can reach customers in their own language. Only send a language a customer has actually chosen. Welsh is not on Meta's list of template languages, so a business in Wales cannot submit a Welsh template under its own language code. Replies typed by your team inside the customer-service window are free-form, so you can answer in Welsh there.
Why templates get rejected
- A variable at the very start or end of the text, or two variables side by side with nothing between them.
- Missing or unrealistic sample values for each variable.
- Offer wording inside a template submitted as utility. Meta can also move such a template to marketing after approval.
- The wrong language code, for example English text filed under Polish.
- Vague content like "Hi {{1}}, {{2}}" that tells Meta nothing about what will be sent.
Step 6: understand your messaging limits
The messaging limit caps how many unique customers you can start conversations with, using templates, in a moving 24-hour window. Meta calculates it for the whole business portfolio, so every number in the portfolio shares one limit. Replies to customers who wrote to you first do not count.
| Level | Unique customers per 24 hours | How you get there |
|---|---|---|
| Starting level | 250 | Every newly created business portfolio |
| Level 2 | 2,000 | Any one of: verify your business; have the partner who onboarded you verify it; or deliver 2,000 messages outside customer-service windows to unique users within 30 days using high-quality templates |
| Level 3 | 10,000 | Automatic within 6 hours when quality is high and you used at least half your current limit in the last 7 days |
| Level 4 | 100,000 | Same automatic rule |
| Level 5 | Unlimited | Same automatic rule |
An established portfolio that already sends at a higher level keeps that limit for numbers added to it, so check WhatsApp Manager rather than assuming you start at 250. For a UK retailer planning Black Friday, the practical lesson is timing: a new portfolio cannot jump from 250 to 10,000 in a weekend, so start sending good, wanted messages in October.
Quality rating
Meta rates each number on how people react to it. Blocks and reports pull the rating down, and only high-quality senders move up the levels; repeated problems lead to template pauses and sending restrictions. Messaging only people who opted in, and stopping the moment they ask, is the simplest protection. The UK legal side of that is covered in our UK marketing rules guide.
Your first week
- Monday: connect the number, add a GBP payment method, submit three en_GB templates.
- Tuesday: start business verification with your Companies House or HMRC documents. Import only contacts who opted in, with the date and source of each consent.
- Wednesday: set your sending window in QuickWA's Settings so scheduled broadcasts never land at 11pm; it is off until you switch it on.
- Thursday: turn on an after-hours AI or chatbot reply for the questions you answer every day: opening times, parking, delivery charges.
- Friday onwards: send small, well-targeted batches. Steady, wanted messages are what move you up the levels.
QuickWA plans start at $5/month with no setup fee and no per-seat fees; every plan and limit is shown after sign-up. See the QuickWA UK page for what is included.
Sources
- Meta, messaging limits (portfolio-level limits, routes to 2,000, automatic increases): developers.facebook.com (checked 26 Oct 2026)
- Meta, business phone numbers (eligibility, landlines, IVR, number caps): developers.facebook.com (checked 26 Oct 2026)
- Meta, onboarding WhatsApp Business app users (Coexistence): developers.facebook.com (checked 26 Oct 2026)
- Meta, template supported languages (en_GB, pl, ro, pa, ur, bn, gu; Welsh not listed): developers.facebook.com (checked 26 Oct 2026)
- Meta, pricing and billing currencies: developers.facebook.com (checked 26 Oct 2026)
- 360dialog, Meta business verification, UK document list: docs.360dialog.com (checked 26 Oct 2026)
- Companies House, Find and update company information: company-information.service.gov.uk (checked 26 Oct 2026)
- Ofcom, what are 03 numbers: ofcom.org.uk (checked 26 Oct 2026)
- ONS, Language, England and Wales: Census 2021: ons.gov.uk (checked 26 Oct 2026)
Frequently asked questions
What documents do I need for WhatsApp Business API verification in the UK? +
A limited company or LLP normally uses its Companies House certificate of incorporation or another Companies House document showing the company registration number. Sole traders, who are not on Companies House, use HMRC documents such as a VAT certificate or account statement, a business bank statement, or a utility bill. The legal name in Meta must match the document exactly.
Can a sole trader get the WhatsApp Business API in the UK? +
Yes. You do not need a limited company. You can connect straight away and verify later with HMRC documents, a business bank statement or a utility bill in your name or trading name.
Do I have to verify my business before using the WhatsApp API? +
No. You can connect and message immediately. A newly created business portfolio can start conversations with 250 unique customers per 24 hours, and verification is one of three ways to reach 2,000.
Can I use a UK landline or 0800 number for WhatsApp Business? +
A geographic landline (01 or 02) works if it can receive Meta's code by voice call. Freephone and 03 numbers often sit behind an IVR menu, which Meta says is not supported for registration, so they only work if the verification call reaches a person.
Can I keep my WhatsApp Business app number and use the API? +
Yes, with Coexistence. You need WhatsApp Business app version 2.24.17 or later; up to 180 days of chat history can sync, but broadcast lists become read-only and some app features stop working on that number.
Can I send WhatsApp templates in Welsh? +
Not under a Welsh language code: Welsh is not on Meta's list of supported template languages. You can reply in Welsh in free-form messages while a customer-service window is open.