Person with significant control explained

By Team Starling

A person with significant control (PSC) is someone who controls or owns your company. A company can have just one PSC or several.

Some business types, such as limited companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs), require that you keep a ‘person with significant control’ (PSC) register. You then need to share the information on the register with Companies House.

Why? Because it helps Companies House determine who controls a company, especially in large businesses with more complex ownership structures. But they’re not just for big businesses - even smaller ones are required to maintain a PSC register.

Companies House is a Government agency. Their main responsibilities are to register company information, make it available to the public and to incorporate and dissolve limited companies.

What is a person with significant control?

A PSC needs to meet one or more of the following conditions:

• Someone who holds more than 25% of shares in the company

• Someone who holds more than 25% of voting rights in the company

• Someone who has the right to appoint or remove the majority of the company’s board

• Someone who otherwise has the right to exercise significant influence or control

After identifying your company’s PSC(s), you should ask them to confirm and share their details so you can add them to the PSC register. Got all the information together? Then you’re ready to submit your PSC register to Companies House.

What details are needed for the PSC register?

According to Companies House, your company’s PSC(s) need to provide the following information:

• Name

• Date of birth

• Nationality

• Country of residence

• Service address

• Usual residential address (not displayed to the public)

• The date they became a PSC of the company

• The date you entered them into your PSC register

• Which conditions of control are met

You can submit your company’s PSC details though your account on the Companies House website.

What if my company doesn’t have any PSCs?

It’s possible for a company not to have anyone with significant control. If you think your company doesn’t have any PSCs (that no one meets any of the requirements above), you should declare it with Companies House.

Find out more about PSCs and how to submit to the register.

Getting it right

It’s important to give an accurate picture when you submit your PSC information. Companies House is tracking completions of the PSC data and it does have an Enforcement Team, who will contact companies they believe have misunderstood the requirements. They can also pursue companies that haven’t provided PSC information in their confirmation statement, which companies are required to file each year, to confirm that the information Companies House holds on them is accurate and up to date.