What is a person with significant control (PSC)?

What is a person with significant control?

A person with significant control is an individual who meets one or more of five conditions set by law, usually by holding more than 25% of a company's shares or voting rights. The conditions are about real ownership and control, not job titles, and GOV.UK says PSCs are sometimes called beneficial owners.

A director is not a PSC just because they are a director. Many small company directors are also PSCs, but that is because they own shares or control votes, not because of their board seat.

Your company's PSC information cannot be blank. If you have no PSC, or you have not been able to confirm their details yet, you must register a PSC statement with Companies House explaining why.

Source: People with significant control (PSCs)

Is there still a PSC register?

No. Since 18 November 2025, companies no longer keep their own PSC register. The duty to keep one, in section 790M of the Companies Act 2006, was omitted on that date. The PSC information held by Companies House is now what counts, so every PSC change must be reported to Companies House.

The other duties have not changed. The company must still take reasonable steps to find its PSCs, confirm their details and keep the information at Companies House up to date. The old option to elect to hold this information on the central register instead of a local register ended on the same date.

Registers of directors, directors' residential addresses and secretaries ended on 18 November 2025 too. The register of members, which lists the shareholders, is still kept by the company.

Source: Companies Act 2006, section 790M (duty to keep register), omitted from 18 November 2025

The five PSC conditions in plain English

Someone is a PSC if they meet any one of these conditions. Meeting just one is enough.

Note the words 'more than 25%'. Someone with exactly 25% of the shares does not meet the shares condition. They could still be a PSC under another condition.

Holdings can count even when they are not held directly. Shares held through another company, or under a joint arrangement with someone else, can be added together when working out whether the 25% line is crossed.

Source: Summary guidance for companies: register of people with significant control

What counts as significant influence or control

Condition 4 catches people who control a company without owning enough shares or votes.

Some people are not PSCs for that reason alone. The guidance lists professional advisers such as lawyers and accountants, lenders, suppliers, regulators, liquidators, employees acting in their job and directors carrying out normal director duties. They only become PSCs if they meet a condition in some other way.

The statutory guidance gives these examples of people who can meet condition 4:

• A person with absolute decision rights over running the business, such as adopting or changing the business plan.
• A person with an absolute veto, such as over borrowing.
• A person who is significantly involved in the management and direction of the company.
• A person whose recommendations are always or almost always followed by the shareholders.

Source: Statutory guidance on the meaning of significant influence or control over companies

When another company owns your company: relevant legal entities

A PSC is always an individual. But many small companies are owned by another company, such as a holding company. Then the question is whether the owning company is a relevant legal entity (RLE) and, if so, whether it is registrable.

A legal entity is relevant if it meets any of the five conditions in relation to your company and either has to report its own PSCs to Companies House, or has voting shares traded on a regulated market in the UK or the European Economic Area, or on certain markets in Switzerland, the USA, Japan or Israel. A UK limited company holding more than 25% of your shares will usually be one.

A relevant legal entity is registrable only if it is the first one in your company's ownership chain. You report that entity and stop there. You do not look through it to its owners, because the entity reports its own PSCs. You can add a corporate PSC through a separate route from individual PSCs. GOV.UK says identity verification for officers of corporate PSCs will be introduced at a later date.

If the owner is not relevant, for example an overseas parent whose shares are not traded on one of those markets, it cannot be reported as an RLE. Look at who owns or controls it instead, and report any individual or relevant legal entity with a majority stake in it. If that stake is held by another entity that is not relevant, keep looking up the chain the same way. If no one meets these tests, your company must report that fact.

For a registrable RLE, Companies House needs:

• Its name and the address of its principal office.
• Its legal form and governing law.
• The register it appears on, and its registration number if it has one.
• The date it became registrable.
• Which conditions it meets.

Source: People with significant control: guidance on regime for legal entities

Worked examples: a company with two shareholders

These examples are illustrations only. They assume one class of ordinary shares with one vote per share and no special rights in the articles or a shareholders' agreement. Real arrangements can change the answer, so always check your own documents.

Example 1: Amira and Ben each own 50 of the company's 100 shares. Each holds 50% of the shares and 50% of the votes. Both are over 25%, so both are PSCs. Each is recorded in the 'more than 25% but not more than 50%' band for shares and for voting rights.

Source: People with significant control (PSCs)

What information is recorded about a PSC

The company must take reasonable steps to find its PSCs and contact them to confirm their details. If a company cannot identify a PSC, or cannot confirm their details, it registers a PSC statement instead.

The home address must not be disclosed on the public register. Most of the other details are public, so a service address is often used for correspondence.

For each individual PSC, the company must collect and confirm the details below. For the shares and votes conditions, the band must be given too.

• Name, date of birth and nationality.
• Country or state of residence.
• A service address and their usual home address.
• The date they became a PSC and the date their details were confirmed.
• Which conditions they meet.

Source: Summary guidance for companies: register of people with significant control

The 14-day time limits

There are two separate 14-day rules, and they are easy to mix up.

First, the company must give Companies House new PSC information within 14 days. Changes, such as a new address or a change in the nature of control, must be reported within 14 days of the company confirming the change.

Second, each individual PSC has their own 14-day period to provide their Companies House personal code. This is covered in the next section.

Changes to PSCs are reported separately when they happen. They are not left to the next confirmation statement. No Companies House fee is shown for the standard notices that add, change or remove a PSC.

Source: People with significant control (PSCs)

PSC identity verification

Since 18 November 2025, individual PSCs must verify their identity for Companies House. Once verified, they get a personal code. They then give that code to Companies House for their PSC role.

Every PSC has a 14-day period to do this. Which 14 days applies depends on when they became a PSC and whether they also sit on the board, as the table shows. Someone who is both a director and a PSC gives their code once for each role. Verification is not needed for a PSC who has died.

GOV.UK says that if someone does not meet the identity verification requirements, they may be committing an offence and may have to pay a financial penalty or fine. Companies House will also show a note against their name on the public register.

Source: When you need to verify your identity for Companies House

Common PSC mistakes

Failing to comply is serious. GOV.UK says it can be a criminal offence, with a fine, imprisonment or both. Watch out for these:

• Treating every director as a PSC, or assuming a shareholder with exactly 25% is one. The test is more than 25%, or one of the other conditions.
• Forgetting rights in the articles or a shareholders' agreement. Rights to appoint directors or veto decisions can make a minority shareholder a PSC.
• Not reporting a change after a share transfer or new share issue. A move between bands is a change, and so is someone crossing the 25% line. Our guide to the stock transfer form (J30) covers the rest of a share transfer.
• Reporting the people behind a UK holding company instead of the holding company itself. If the holding company is a registrable relevant legal entity, it is the entity you report.
• Assuming the confirmation statement verifies a PSC. A director-PSC must provide their code for the PSC role through the separate PSC verification service, described in our Companies House identity verification guide.

Source: People with significant control requirements

Report a PSC with SimpleFilings

This guide is an explainer. When you are ready to file, SimpleFilings can help you add a new individual PSC, change an existing PSC's details or link a PSC's personal code to their role. We check the details with you and submit only after you approve. Our £4.99 SimpleFilings service fee applies to each filing. The PSC must complete their own identity verification first. Corporate owners, trusts and protected details need a different route.

Source: File changes to a company with Companies House