What Is a Person with Significant Control (PSC)?

Since 2016, every UK limited company must identify and report its people with significant control — known as PSCs. This is part of the UK's effort to increase transparency around who really owns and controls companies.

If you're a director and sole shareholder of your own company, you're almost certainly a PSC. Here's what that means and what you need to do.

What is a PSC?

A person with significant control is someone who:

• Holds more than 25% of the company's shares, or
• Holds more than 25% of the company's voting rights, or
• Has the right to appoint or remove a majority of directors, or
• Has the right to exercise significant influence or control over the company, or
• Has the right to exercise significant influence or control over a trust or firm that meets any of the above conditions

In practice, for most small companies, the PSC is simply the founder or majority shareholder. If you own more than 25% of the shares, you're a PSC.

What information must be reported?

For each PSC, you must report to Companies House:

• Full name (first name and surname)
• Date of birth (only month and year are shown publicly)
• Nationality
• Country of residence (country only, not full address)
• Service address (a correspondence address — can be the registered office)
• Residential address (kept private by Companies House, not shown publicly)
• The nature of their control — which of the five conditions they meet
• The date they became a PSC

Companies House protects residential addresses. Only the service address and country of residence are shown on the public register.

How do I register a PSC?

PSC information is included when you first register your company. After that, any changes are reported via your confirmation statement or individual PSC filings:

• New PSC: File a PSC01 notification
• PSC details changed: File a PSC04 notification
• PSC ceased: File a PSC07 notification

You can file these through Companies House WebFiling at any time. Changes should be filed within 14 days of the change occurring.

What if there's no individual PSC?

Some companies don't have an individual who meets the PSC criteria. In that case, you still need to file a statement:

• The company has no PSC — if no individual or entity meets the criteria
• The company has not yet completed its PSC investigation — temporary, while you identify PSCs
• A relevant legal entity (RLE) is the PSC — when a parent company holds the controlling interest

Even if there's no individual PSC, you cannot leave the PSC register blank. You must file one of the above statements.

What are the penalties for not reporting?

Failure to maintain your PSC register or report to Companies House is a criminal offence. Directors can face:

• Fines — up to an unlimited amount
• Criminal prosecution — in serious cases
• Company restrictions — Companies House can place restrictions on the company

In practice, most enforcement action is taken against companies that deliberately conceal beneficial ownership. But keeping your PSC register up to date is a legal requirement for all companies.

PSC for sole director-shareholders

If you're the sole director and sole shareholder, the PSC setup is simple:

• You are the only PSC
• Your nature of control is: owns more than 75% of shares, holds more than 75% of voting rights, and has the right to appoint or remove directors
• Report yourself with the required details when you register the company
• Update via your confirmation statement if anything changes

Most sole traders who've incorporated don't need to think about PSCs beyond the initial setup. Just confirm the details are correct each year when you file your confirmation statement.

Can a company be a PSC?

Not exactly. A company can be a Relevant Legal Entity (RLE) — which is similar but reported differently. An RLE is a company or other legal entity that:

• Would be a PSC if it were an individual, and
• Is itself subject to its own PSC reporting requirements (e.g., it's a UK company or an entity on a regulated market)

If a parent company owns more than 25% of your shares, that parent company should be reported as an RLE rather than reporting its individual shareholders as PSCs of your company.

Key takeaways

• A PSC is anyone who owns more than 25% of shares or has significant control over your company
• PSC information is reported to Companies House and most of it is publicly visible
• Report changes within 14 days — it's a legal requirement
• If you're the sole owner-director, you are the PSC — just confirm details annually
• Failure to report is a criminal offence with potentially unlimited fines