PSC Register UK: Who Counts, ID Verification & How to File

At a glance

• What a PSC is: an individual who owns or controls a UK company, LLP, or eligible Scottish partnership — usually by holding more than 25% of shares or voting rights, but there are five separate tests.
• Since 18 November 2025, companies no longer keep their own local PSC register. The duty to maintain a separate internal register was abolished; the record now lives centrally on the public register at Companies House.
• Identity verification is now mandatory for PSCs. Every PSC has a 14-day window to verify their identity and provide their Companies House personal code, or risk a public note against their name and a financial penalty.
• The register can never be blank. If no one meets the tests, the company must file a prescribed statement (form PSC08) saying so.
• Changes must be notified within 14 days of the company confirming the details — there is no longer a separate "update your own register first" step.
• Non-compliance is a criminal offence under Part 21A of the Companies Act 2006, with a maximum of 2 years' imprisonment on indictment, a fine, or both.

Overview

A Person with Significant Control is the individual (or, in limited cases, a Relevant Legal Entity) who ultimately owns or controls a UK company. The concept was introduced by the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 and sits within Part 21A of the Companies Act 2006.

It exists to lift the corporate veil: instead of only seeing the registered shareholders, the public and law enforcement can see who is actually in charge. Every private limited company, LLP, eligible Scottish partnership, and most unlisted public companies must identify their PSCs and report them to Companies House.

Two major changes took effect on 18 November 2025, driven by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA):

1. Local PSC registers were abolished. Companies previously had to maintain their own internal PSC register (and separate registers of directors and secretaries) as well as reporting to Companies House. That local-register duty has now gone — the PSC record is maintained centrally at Companies House instead. You must still retain your old local registers as a historical record for the lifetime of the company, but you no longer update them.
2. Identity verification became mandatory. PSCs must now personally verify their identity with Companies House and supply a unique Companies House personal code, within set deadlines. This is separate from, and additional to, the existing duty to be identified and reported as a PSC.

The register information itself remains free to view on the public register: names, month and year of birth, nationality, and nature of control are visible to anyone. Full dates of birth and home addresses stay protected. For most small owner-managed companies, the sole director and shareholder will be the only PSC, but any company with multiple shareholders, a group structure, or outside investors needs to look carefully at all five conditions.

Key steps

1. Identify anyone who meets the conditions. Go through the five PSC conditions one by one and list every individual or legal entity that meets at least one of them. Remember that shares and voting rights held through nominees, trusts, or other companies can still count as indirect holdings, so trace ownership back to the real people.
2. Confirm the details with each PSC. You must take reasonable steps to contact each person and confirm their particulars before submitting them to Companies House. This includes their full name, service address, country of residence, nationality, date of birth, usual residential address, and which of the conditions they meet (including the relevant percentage band).
3. File the information with Companies House. New companies report PSC details on incorporation. Existing companies notify changes using PSC forms PSC01 to PSC09 — for example PSC01 to register an individual PSC, or PSC08/PSC09 to give or withdraw a "no registrable PSC" statement. Since 18 November 2025, there is no separate internal register step: the filing goes straight to the central register at Companies House. Most filings can be submitted online through the Companies House WebFiling service, which is quicker and gives you immediate confirmation.
4. Make sure each PSC verifies their identity. Every PSC has a 14-day window to verify their identity with Companies House and submit their personal code using the dedicated verification service. The start date of that window depends on whether the person was already registered before 18 November 2025 and whether they are also a director. A one-off 14-day extension can be requested before the deadline passes if more time is needed.
5. Keep everything up to date. When a PSC's circumstances change, when someone becomes or stops being a PSC, or when their percentage band shifts, you have 14 days from confirming the change to notify Companies House. The annual confirmation statement then confirms the position is current, but it does not replace the ongoing duty to report changes as they happen.

What changed on 18 November 2025 — and why it matters

If you last checked the PSC rules before late 2025, two things will look different.

No more local PSC register. Previously, every company had to keep two parallel records: an internal PSC register held at the registered office (or a single alternative inspection location), and the filing at Companies House. That duplication has gone. Companies House now holds the PSC register centrally, and the local-register duty for PSCs, directors, and secretaries was abolished on 18 November 2025 as part of the wider ECCTA reforms. In practical terms: stop updating your old internal PSC register going forward, but keep it safe as a historical record — you cannot destroy it, because directors remain responsible for retaining historical statutory records for the life of the company.

Identity verification is now compulsory. This is a wholly new duty, layered on top of the existing requirement to be identified and registered as a PSC. Since 18 November 2025:

• If you are a PSC but not a director of the same company, your 14-day verification window starts on the first day of your birth month (for example, a birthday of 22 January means the window opens on 1 January).
• If you are both a PSC and a director of the same company, you must verify separately for each role — as a director, through the company's confirmation statement; as a PSC, through the dedicated PSC verification service, within 14 days starting the day after the confirmation statement date.
• If you became a PSC after 18 November 2025, you can provide your personal code when first added to the register, or within 14 days of being added.

Failing to verify in time does not (on its own) automatically constitute the criminal offence that applies to failing to be identified as a PSC at all, but Companies House will place a note against the person's name on the public register and the person may have to pay a financial penalty. Given the visibility of the public register to banks, investors, and counterparties, that note is a real reputational cost even before any formal enforcement follows.

Practical checklist for existing companies

• Check whether every existing PSC on your company's Companies House record has verified their identity yet, or knows their 14-day window.
• Stop maintaining your internal PSC register as a live document — archive it safely instead.
• If your company has never had a PSC (or you are unsure), confirm the correct PSC08 "no registrable PSC" statement is filed and current.
• Build a reminder into your confirmation statement process each year, since director verification is tied to that filing date, while PSC verification (for non-director PSCs) is tied to birth month — these are two separate clocks.