PSC04 Form: Notify Companies House of a Change of PSC Details

At a glance

• What PSC04 does: notifies Companies House of a change to the required particulars of an existing individual PSC — name, service address, nationality, country of residence, date of birth, or which of the five statutory conditions they now meet.
• Statutory deadline: 14 days from the date the company has confirmation of the change — not 14 days from when the change occurred (Companies Act 2006, s.790LD).
• Legal basis: Part 21A of the Companies Act 2006, originally inserted by the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, substantially restructured by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023). The notify-the-registrar duty now sits in Chapter 2A (s.790LD); the older provision some guides still cite (s.790VA) was removed when local PSC registers were abolished.
• Key ECCTA 2023 change (18 November 2025): the requirement for companies to hold their own local PSC register is abolished — Companies House now holds the central register directly. PSC04 filings go straight to that central record.
• Identity verification: existing PSCs must verify their identity within an individual 14-day window that falls sometime in the 12 months from 18 November 2025 — tied to the company's confirmation statement date (if the PSC is also a director) or the PSC's birth month (if not). There is no single fixed date for everyone.
• Filing fee: none — PSC04 does not appear on the Companies House statutory fees list (check GOV.UK fees for the current position, as other fees rose from 1 February 2026).
• Do not confuse PSC04 with the confirmation statement: PSC04 is event-triggered and time-bound. It cannot be deferred until the annual filing.

This guide covers the law in England and Wales. It is general information only and is not a substitute for legal advice on your specific situation.

What is form PSC04?

Form PSC04 is the Companies House notice a UK company uses to update the required particulars of an individual who is already recorded on the PSC register. The form tells the registrar that an existing entry needs to be corrected — not that a new PSC has arrived or that someone has ceased to be a PSC.

The information the form can update includes:

• Name — including a change of surname on marriage or deed poll
• Service address — the address shown on the public register (which does not have to be a residential address)
• Country or state of usual residence
• Nationality
• Date of birth — where a correction is needed
• Which of the five statutory conditions apply, and the share or voting-rights band, where the nature or extent of the person's control has changed

PSC04 does not cover:

• Adding a PSC who was not previously on the register — use PSC01 (individuals), PSC02 (relevant legal entities), or PSC03 (other registrable persons)
• A change of details for a relevant legal entity — use PSC05
• A change of details for an other registrable person — use PSC06
• Reporting that someone has ceased to be a PSC — use PSC07
• Notifying Companies House of a PSC statement, or withdrawing one — use PSC08 or PSC09

Choosing the wrong form does not suspend the statutory clock. If you file the wrong PSC form, the obligation to file PSC04 remains outstanding — and the 14-day window is still running.

Who counts as a PSC?

Understanding the five PSC conditions is essential before deciding whether PSC04 applies, because the form is only ever relevant to someone who has already been correctly identified and registered as a PSC in the first place.

Under Schedule 1A to the Companies Act 2006, an individual is a PSC in relation to a company if one or more of the following five conditions is met:

Condition 1 — more than 25% of shares. The person holds, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the company's share capital (the threshold is strict: exactly 25% does not qualify; the holding must exceed 25%).

Condition 2 — more than 25% of voting rights. The person holds, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the voting rights in the company.

Condition 3 — right to appoint or remove the majority of the board. The person holds, directly or indirectly, the right to appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors.

Condition 4 — significant influence or control. The person has the right to exercise, or does exercise, significant influence or control over the company. This condition is not defined purely by percentage thresholds; it is assessed against the statutory guidance on the meaning of significant influence or control, published under Schedule 1A (see the full PSC guidance collection for the current version).

Condition 5 — trust or firm control. The person has the right to exercise, or does exercise, significant influence or control over the activities of a trust or firm — where the trustees or members of that trust or firm would themselves meet conditions 1 to 4 in relation to the company.

A person can satisfy more than one condition simultaneously, and each relevant condition is recorded separately. If a change in a PSC's personal details occurs, PSC04 is the right form. If the change is to which conditions are satisfied, or the share/voting band, that is also reported on PSC04 — there is no separate form for a change in the nature of control alone; it is one of the required particulars PSC04 exists to update.

The two 14-day deadlines you need to know

There are two separate time limits operating in the PSC notification regime, and they run to different lengths. Conflating them is one of the most common compliance errors in this area.

Deadline 1 — the PSC notifies the company

Under section 790H of the Companies Act 2006, a person who knows they are a registrable PSC and knows their details have changed must notify the company — generally within one month — where the company has not already found out and notified them first. Companies sometimes treat this as someone else's problem, but the company's own compliance exposure starts the moment it has confirmation of the change, which may arrive well before the PSC's month is up.

Deadline 2 — the company notifies Companies House

Once the company has confirmation of the change, it must file PSC04 with Companies House within 14 days, under section 790LD. Confirmation means more than a rumour or an informal email: it means the company has enough information to state the new particulars accurately, together with the date they changed. That is the point from which the 14-day clock runs.

GOV.UK's own summary is direct: "You must tell Companies House about any changes to your PSC information, such as a change of personal details or nature of control, within 14 days of confirming the change."

The practical implication: a company that receives a PSC's change-of-address notification on a Monday and waits a month before filing PSC04 is already in breach. Set a compliance calendar reminder the moment a change notification arrives — do not wait for the PSC's own one-month deadline to elapse.

What ECCTA 2023 changed — and why it matters for PSC04 filers

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 made two changes that directly affect how PSC04 operates in practice, and a third that affects the underlying law behind it.

1. Local PSC registers abolished (from 18 November 2025)

Before 18 November 2025, companies had two separate obligations: update their own internal PSC register, and then file separately with Companies House (or, for companies that had elected to do so, keep the information on the central register instead of a local one). From 18 November 2025, the requirement to maintain a local, company-held PSC register has been abolished entirely. Companies House now holds the single central PSC register for every company.

This simplifies the process in one sense — there is only one register to update — but it increases the stakes of PSC04 filings. When a local register existed, an incorrect Companies House entry could at least be cross-referenced against the company's own record. Now, the PSC04 filing is the record. An error or omission has nowhere to hide.

2. The statutory basis was restructured

As part of the same reform, Parliament removed the old machinery that governed the (now-abolished) local and elective central registers — including the provision some older guides cite as the source of the notify-the-registrar duty, section 790VA. That provision, and the chapter it sat in, no longer has effect. The equivalent duty for the current, mandatory central-register regime is section 790LD, inserted into a new Chapter 2A of Part 21A, with the associated offence at section 790LJ. If you are working from an older PSC compliance memo or a third-party guide that cites s.790VA, treat that citation as superseded.

3. Mandatory identity verification for PSCs

ECCTA 2023 also introduced mandatory identity verification for PSCs. From 18 November 2025:

• Any new PSC being registered must verify their identity (or provide their personal code) as part of, or shortly after, being added to the register.
• Existing PSCs face an individual 14-day verification window during the 12 months following 18 November 2025. If the PSC is also a director of the same company, that window starts the day after the company's confirmation statement date. If the PSC is not a director, the window is the first 14 days of their birth month. Because these trigger dates are spread across the calendar, there is no single deadline that applies to every existing PSC — each has their own.

Identity verification is a separate process from filing PSC04. It is done through the Verify your identity for Companies House service (which uses GOV.UK One Login) or through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). Once verified, the personal code is provided against the PSC role using the Provide identity verification details for a PSC service. Failing to verify in time can be an offence and may attract a financial penalty; a 14-day extension can be requested online before the deadline passes if more time is needed.

How to file PSC04

Online — recommended

The fastest and most reliable route is the Companies House WebFiling service at ewf.companieshouse.gov.uk. You will need:

• Your company's registered number
• Your Companies House WebFiling authentication code (a six-character code sent to your registered office; request a replacement if you have lost it — allow several working days for delivery)
• The PSC's current registered details as they appear on the Companies House register
• The correct new details, including the date on which the change took effect

WebFiling provides an immediate on-screen confirmation and a submission reference number. Save both. Online filing typically processes faster than paper and reduces the risk of rejection for minor formatting issues.

Paper

A paper PSC04 form is available to download from GOV.UK. Complete it in typescript or bold black capitals, using GOV.UK's standard list of nationalities and countries (only entries from that list are accepted). Send it to the appropriate Companies House address for your company's jurisdiction. Allow additional processing time; paper filings take longer to appear on the public register.

No fee

PSC04 does not appear on the Companies House statutory fees list, so there is nothing to pay and no cheque to include. Check the current Companies House fees before filing if you want to confirm the current position, since fee schedules do change — several other Companies House fees rose from 1 February 2026.

What to record internally

Even though the local PSC register has been abolished, good governance still calls for an internal note of:

• The date you received notification of the change from the PSC
• The date you obtained confirmation of the new details
• The date PSC04 was filed and the submission reference
• A copy of the completed form

This paper trail protects the company if a question ever arises about timing or accuracy, and makes your next confirmation statement straightforward.

What happens if PSC04 is not filed on time?

Failing to notify Companies House of a change to a PSC's particulars is a criminal offence under section 790LJ of the Companies Act 2006. Both the company and any officer in default can be prosecuted. The maximum fine on summary conviction is level 3 on the standard scale (currently £1,000), with a daily default fine for continued contravention.

ECCTA 2023 also inserted section 1132A, giving Companies House the power to impose a civil financial penalty of up to £10,000 as an alternative to prosecution for most Companies Act offences, following the enforcement policy it has published. A civil penalty does not require a criminal conviction and can be issued after a warning notice giving the company an opportunity to respond.

Beyond the legal sanctions:

• An inaccurate or stale PSC entry can flag a company as a due-diligence risk, creating problems with banks, investors, and counterparties carrying out Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.
• HMRC may query apparent inconsistencies between PSC records and tax filings.
• Companies House has active powers to query, annotate, and in some cases restrict entries it has reason to believe are incorrect.

The practical guidance is simple: the moment you receive a PSC's notification of a change, set a diary reminder for day 13. Filing on day 13 gives you a one-day safety margin.

Step-by-step checklist for directors and company secretaries

1. Receive and record the PSC's notification. Note the date. The PSC has their own duty to tell you, generally within one month of a change occurring, but your 14-day window to file PSC04 begins as soon as you have confirmation of the correct new details — which may be sooner.

2. Confirm the new details in writing. Ask the PSC to provide the new information in writing (email is sufficient). Check the spelling of names and the exact service address — errors on the form create a second correction filing.

3. Check the correct form. Is this a change of an existing individual PSC's particulars — name, address, nationality, residence, or nature of control? If yes, PSC04 applies. If the PSC is a relevant legal entity or other registrable person, PSC05 or PSC06 applies instead. If the person has ceased to be a PSC, use PSC07.

4. Note the effective date of the change. PSC04 asks for the date the change actually took effect — this is not the same as the date you are filing. Record both.

5. File PSC04 within 14 days of confirmation. Use Companies House WebFiling for speed and certainty. Save the submission reference.

6. Check the public register. After filing, use the Find and update company information service to confirm the update appears correctly.

7. Confirm identity verification status. If the PSC was already registered before 18 November 2025, check whether they have verified their identity — the deadline is individual (tied to the company's confirmation statement date or the PSC's birth month), not a single date for everyone. See GOV.UK's guidance on when to verify.

8. Update internal records. File the submission reference, date, and a copy of the completed form.

This guide provides general information about PSC04 and the PSC notification regime in England and Wales. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your specific circumstances. The law described was accurate as at July 2026 and is subject to change — always check GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk for the current position.

Last reviewed: July 2026 by a non-practising solicitor · Next review due: July 2027 or on legislative change.