Briefed Atlas
The UK PSC register: what it contains and what it misses.
The persons with significant control regime is one of the UK's main ownership and control disclosure systems. In 2026 it also includes mandatory identity verification for PSCs. That improves identity assurance, but it does not turn the register into a complete or independently verified ownership graph.
Checked against current Companies House and DBT guidance on 11 September 2026.
What qualifies as a person with significant control.
For a typical UK company, the PSC tests look beyond the name on the share certificate and ask who has meaningful ownership or control. More complex structures can involve registrable legal entities as well as individual PSCs.
More than 25 per cent of shares
Holding, directly or indirectly, more than 25 per cent of the shares in the company can satisfy the first PSC condition.
More than 25 per cent of voting rights
The second test is voting power. This matters where share classes or other arrangements mean economic ownership and voting control are not identical.
Right to appoint or remove the majority of directors
Board-control rights can qualify even without a matching equity stake. The company's constitution and contractual rights therefore matter alongside the shareholder list.
Significant influence or control
The fourth condition captures a right to exercise, or the actual exercise of, significant influence or control that is not already captured by the first three tests. The Department for Business and Trade publishes statutory guidance on how this condition should be interpreted.
Why the register uses bands, not exact percentages.
For the share and voting-right tests, Companies House records which statutory band applies. It does not turn that band into a precise holding for you.
Over 25% up to 50%
The first reporting band for shares or voting rights.
More than 50% and less than 75%
The middle reporting band for shares or voting rights.
75% or more
The highest reporting band for shares or voting rights.
A filing that says “over 25% up to 50%” supports that range and no more. Converting it into 30%, 40% or 49% without another source invents precision the public record does not provide.
What changed with Companies House identity verification.
Identity verification became a legal requirement from 18 November 2025. A PSC now needs a Companies House personal code and must connect the verified identity to the PSC role during the applicable filing window.
It verifies the person
Verification is designed to reduce impersonation and improve confidence that the person attached to the register is who they claim to be.
It does not prove the whole ownership claim
A verified identity does not independently establish that a reported share band, voting arrangement or indirect-control chain is economically complete. Those are separate facts that still need documentary evidence.
Where the public record still stops.
The PSC register is a statutory disclosure system. It is highly useful evidence, but a serious ownership investigation needs to distinguish what the record proves from what still has to be resolved elsewhere.
Identity verification is not ownership verification
PSC identity verification is now a legal requirement, and Companies House uses personal codes to connect a verified identity to a PSC role. That is a material improvement over the old regime. It does not, by itself, independently prove that the filed ownership percentage, control rights or corporate chain are substantively correct.
A registrable legal entity can sit between the company and a person
In some ownership structures the public record shows a registrable relevant legal entity rather than a natural person. Understanding ultimate control can therefore require following the legal-entity chain and checking whether the next entity has its own PSC, shareholder or market-disclosure record.
Historical state is spread across filings
Current PSC information is easy to retrieve, while reconstructing who controlled a company at a particular point in the past can require reading filing history, cessation dates and earlier statements. For investigations into past transactions, current-state data alone is not enough.
The UK register cannot describe every overseas layer
The PSC regime applies to in-scope UK entities, but an ownership chain can continue through overseas companies, trusts or other structures governed by different disclosure regimes. The UK record may therefore be one part of the evidence rather than a complete global ownership graph.
Common questions.
What is a person with significant control?
A person with significant control (PSC) is an individual who meets one or more statutory control conditions in relation to an in-scope UK company. The common tests are holding more than 25% of shares, holding more than 25% of voting rights, having the right to appoint or remove a majority of directors, or having the right to exercise or actually exercising significant influence or control. A fifth condition covers control exercised through a trust or firm.
Who has to report PSC information?
UK companies and other in-scope entities generally have to identify and report their PSCs. There are exemptions for certain companies whose voting shares are admitted to trading on qualifying regulated or specified markets, where separate market-transparency rules apply. Complex structures should be checked against the current Companies House and Department for Business and Trade guidance rather than inferred from the company type alone.
What does the PSC register contain?
For an individual PSC the record can include name, month and year of birth, nationality, country of residence, service address, the date the person became a PSC and the nature of control. Residential addresses are not made public. For share and voting-right conditions, Companies House records a band rather than an exact percentage.
Do PSCs have to verify their identity?
Yes. Identity verification became a legal requirement from 18 November 2025. PSCs must use a Companies House personal code to connect their verified identity to each PSC role during the applicable 14-day period. The timing depends on when the person became a PSC and, for existing PSCs, whether they are also a director.
Is a PSC the same as an ultimate beneficial owner?
Not exactly. PSC is a specific UK statutory disclosure concept with defined tests and exemptions. Ultimate beneficial ownership is a broader research and compliance concept concerned with the natural person or persons who ultimately own or control an entity. A PSC record can be strong evidence in that analysis, but it is not automatically a complete beneficial-ownership conclusion.
How do I work through a corporate ownership chain?
Start with the company record and identify the PSCs or registrable legal entities shown. Where a legal entity is recorded, inspect that entity's own ownership and control disclosures and continue through the chain. For listed issuers, use the relevant market-disclosure regime, including major-shareholding notifications, rather than expecting a conventional PSC record.
Primary sources.
The legal and filing rules change. These are the records to check before treating a PSC conclusion as current.
Companies House PSC guidance
Current identification, filing, change and identity-verification requirements.
2026 statutory guidance
Department for Business and Trade guidance on significant influence or control.
Identity verification
Companies House rules for personal codes and connecting verified identities to PSC roles.
FCA DTR 5
Major-shareholding disclosure rules relevant to listed-company ownership research.
Beyond the PSC register.
Ownership research rarely ends with one register row. Briefed Atlas is built around resolving corporate records into a connected evidence trail, while preserving the distinction between what a filing states and what further research has inferred.
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