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 by meeting at least one of five statutory conditions — most commonly, holding more than 25% of shares or voting rights.
• Since 18 November 2025, companies no longer keep their own local PSC register. That duty 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 note against their name on the public register and a financial penalty.
• The register can never be blank. If no one meets the conditions, the company must file a prescribed statement — typically 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 section 790F of the Companies Act 2006, with a maximum of 2 years' imprisonment on indictment, a fine, or both.

What is a person with significant control?

A person with significant control (PSC) is the individual — or, in limited cases, a Relevant Legal Entity (RLE) — who ultimately owns or controls a UK company. The concept was introduced by the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, which inserted Part 21A and Schedule 1A into 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.

For most small owner-managed companies, the sole director and shareholder will be the only PSC. Any company with multiple shareholders, a group structure, or outside investors needs to work through all five conditions carefully, because shares and voting rights held through nominees, trusts, or other companies can still count as indirect holdings.

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.

The five PSC conditions

Schedule 1A to the Companies Act 2006 sets out five specified conditions. A person is a PSC of a company if they meet any one of them — meeting more than one just means more than one condition is recorded against their name.

Condition 1: more than 25% of the shares

Holding, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the shares in the company. This is the most common route into the register, and it is why a sole shareholder-director is almost always their own company's only PSC.

Condition 2: more than 25% of the voting rights

Holding, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the voting rights in the company. Shares and voting rights usually move together, but not always — some share classes carry enhanced or restricted voting rights, so the two conditions have to be checked separately.

Condition 3: the right to appoint or remove a majority of the board

Holding, directly or indirectly, the right to appoint or remove a majority of the company's directors. This can arise from shareholders' agreements or class rights even where the person's shareholding alone would not otherwise put them over the 25% thresholds.

Condition 4: significant influence or control

Otherwise having the right to exercise, or actually exercising, significant influence or control over the company — a catch-all for control exercised through other means, such as a dominant shareholder agreement, veto rights over key decisions, or a person whose recommendations are routinely followed by the board even without a formal role. Companies House guidance is explicit that this condition applies only in limited circumstances and should not be read too broadly.

Condition 5: control through a trust or firm

Having the right to exercise, or actually exercising, significant influence or control over the activities of a trust or firm that is not itself a legal entity, where the trustees or members of that trust or firm would satisfy any of the first four conditions if they were an individual. Where this applies, the trustees or partners themselves are recorded as PSCs of the company.

Worked example: identifying a PSC in a simple company

Priya and Tom each hold 50 of the 100 issued shares in a private limited company, with one vote per share and no special class rights. Each of them holds exactly 50% of the shares and 50% of the voting rights — both comfortably over the 25% threshold in Conditions 1 and 2. Both Priya and Tom are PSCs of the company, each recorded against the "more than 50% and less than 75%" percentage band, under both conditions. Neither Condition 3, 4 nor 5 needs to be considered further once a condition is already met, though the company must still check whether anyone else satisfies Condition 3 or 4 independently (for example, a majority-board appointment right held by an outside investor).

Percentage bands and what the public register shows

For Conditions 1 and 2, you do not record the exact percentage held — you record which of three bands it falls into:

| Band | Range | |---|---| | Band 1 | Over 25% up to (and including) 50% | | Band 2 | More than 50% and less than 75% | | Band 3 | 75% or more |

If a PSC's shareholding moves from one band to another — for example, a shareholder buying out a co-founder and moving from Band 1 to Band 2 — that is a reportable change, with the usual 14-day notification window running from when the company confirms the new position.

Where a person is a PSC only under Condition 3, 4 or 5, no percentage band applies — the register records the relevant condition itself as their "nature of control."

How to identify, confirm and file your PSCs with Companies House

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. Trace indirect holdings — through nominees, trusts, or other companies — back to the real people behind them.
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: full name, service address, country of residence, nationality, date of birth, usual residential address, and which 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, filing goes straight to the central register at Companies House — there is no separate internal-register step first. Most filings can be submitted online through the Companies House WebFiling service, which gives immediate confirmation.
4. Make sure each PSC verifies their identity. Every PSC has a 14-day window to verify their identity and submit their personal code (see the next section for the detail).
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.

Worked example: two shareholders, two PSCs, one filing round

A new company incorporates with two founders, Priya (60% of shares) and Tom (40%). On incorporation, the company reports Priya as a PSC under Conditions 1 and 2 (Band 2: more than 50% and less than 75%) and Tom is not a PSC, because 40% is below the 25%-threshold conditions and he holds no other rights of control. Eighteen months later, Priya sells 15% of her shares to Tom, taking her to 45% and Tom to 55%. This crosses both a band change for Priya (from Band 2 down to Band 1) and triggers PSC status for Tom (now over 25%, moving him into Band 1 too). The company has 14 days from confirming the sale to notify Companies House of both changes — it does not need to wait for the next confirmation statement.

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. Both changes were driven by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA).

Local PSC registers abolished

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. In practical terms: stop updating your old internal PSC register going forward, but keep it safe as a historical record — directors remain responsible for retaining historical statutory records for the life of the company.

Identity verification is now mandatory

This is a 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.
• You can request a 14-day extension through the Companies House service on up to two occasions online (any further extension requires a separate application with supporting evidence), but only before your current deadline passes.
• A PSC who has died does not need to complete identity verification — they remain on the register until a grant of probate or letters of administration is received.

Missing the window does not automatically mean the criminal offence that applies to failing to be identified as a PSC at all, but Companies House confirms you may be committing an offence and could have to pay a financial penalty or fine — and a note will be placed against your name on the public register regardless. Given the visibility of the public register to banks, investors, and counterparties, that note carries a real reputational cost even before any formal enforcement follows.

Worked example: working out your 14-day verification window

Amara was registered as a PSC of her company in 2019 and is not a director. Her date of birth is 22 January. Under the birth-month rule, her 14-day verification window opens on 1 January and closes on 14 January each year until she completes it — once verified, she does not need to repeat the process annually. If Amara realises on 12 January that she will not manage it in time, she can log in to the PSC verification service before 14 January and request a 14-day extension (available on up to two occasions online), moving her deadline to 28 January.

If your company has no PSC, or details change

Relevant Legal Entities (RLEs)

Only individuals are recorded as PSCs. If a company or other legal body meets one of the five conditions and is itself subject to an equivalent transparency regime — broadly, it is itself required to keep its own PSC-equivalent register, or its shares are admitted to trading on certain regulated markets — it can be recorded as a Relevant Legal Entity instead of the company having to look further up the ownership chain. Where the entity above does not qualify as an RLE, the company must look through it to identify the individuals who actually control it.

No PSC statements

Your company's PSC information at Companies House cannot be left blank. If there is genuinely no one who meets any of the five conditions, or you have not yet been able to confirm someone's details, you must file the correct prescribed statement — this is typically done using form PSC08 (giving the statement) and PSC09 (withdrawing it once a PSC is identified), or the equivalent step in WebFiling.

Reporting changes

Since the local PSC register was abolished, there is no separate internal step before notifying Companies House. You have 14 days from confirming any change — a new PSC, someone ceasing to be a PSC, or a shift in percentage band — to file it directly.

Getting PSC compliance wrong: penalties and practical risk

Failure to comply with the PSC regime is a criminal offence for the company and its officers under section 790F of the Companies Act 2006. On conviction on indictment, the maximum is 2 years' imprisonment, a fine, or both; on summary conviction in England and Wales, the maximum is 12 months' imprisonment, a fine, or both.

Separately:

• Anyone who fails, without reasonable excuse, to respond to a company's information notice within one calendar month, or who gives false information, also commits a criminal offence.
• Companies House can apply restrictions to a PSC's shares or voting rights where they repeatedly refuse to respond to information requests — meaning they can derive no benefit from those shares or rights until the restriction is lifted.
• Failing to complete identity verification in time can result in a note against your name on the public register plus a separate financial penalty, even where no prosecution follows.

Because the PSC register is public, inaccurate or incomplete filings also create practical problems well before any formal enforcement — banks, investors, and counterparties routinely check it as part of due diligence, and a note flagging unverified identity or an outstanding PSC statement is a visible red flag.

What to do — a practical checklist

1. Work through the five conditions for every shareholder, investor, and control arrangement, not just the obvious majority shareholder — indirect holdings through trusts or other companies are easy to miss.
2. Check whether every existing PSC on your company's Companies House record has verified their identity, or knows their 14-day window and its start date.
3. Stop maintaining your internal PSC register as a live document — archive it safely instead of updating it.
4. If your company has never had a PSC, or you are unsure, confirm the correct "no registrable PSC" statement is filed and current.
5. Build a reminder into your confirmation statement process each year, since director verification is tied to that filing date, while non-director PSC verification is tied to birth month — these are two separate clocks that are easy to conflate.
6. File any changes within 14 days of confirming them — do not wait for the next confirmation statement, which only confirms the position, it does not replace the notification duty.
7. If your ownership structure involves trusts, multiple share classes, or overseas entities, take advice early. These are exactly the situations where the five conditions stop being obvious and getting the analysis wrong carries real regulatory and reputational risk.

This guide provides general information about the People with Significant Control regime in England and Wales. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your company's specific ownership and control arrangements. The law described was accurate as at August 2026 and is subject to change — always check GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk for the most current position.

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