Use accurate dates and explain what the records actually show about the relevant service period.
Keep location and employment facts distinct
Do not assume a trip proves either continuous qualifying work or a break without reviewing the circumstances. Resolve discrepancies rather than choosing a convenient date range.
With ownership records for both companies showing the same individual or group owns and controls each in roughly the same proportions: share registers, articles, shareholder agreements and, where relevant, tax filings that list owners. Ask what the destination entity can actually produce: signed customer agreements, a premises lease, equipment in service, employees on a payroll, tax registrations and any trade licensing the work requires. Useful records can include formation papers, share ledgers, payroll history, organization charts, budgets, approvals, and examples of decisions actually made. Line up the payroll statements, the employment agreement, tax slips and any pension or benefits statement, and for each one note the entity named, the period covered, and the instrument connecting that entity to the present employer. Signed contracts with pricing schedules, a purchase ledger and bank records showing payments made give a dated picture of what the business has actually committed, as opposed to what a forecast projects. Payroll registers, entity-level employment agreements and organisational charts carry dates and legal-entity names on their face; a curriculum vitae carries neither reliably.