Companies House Persons with Significant Control: a 2026 guide

Persons with Significant Control (PSC) is the UK regime for transparent disclosure of company ownership + control. Mandatory disclosure since April 2016 under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015; the post-2024 Companies House reforms added Identity Verification (IDV) requirements for every PSC + director.

Who qualifies as a PSC:

- Owns >25% of the company's shares - Holds >25% of the voting rights - Has the right to appoint or remove the majority of directors - Has significant influence or control over the company - Has the same level of control over a trust or firm that meets any of the above

The PSC register is public + free at Companies House. Each PSC entry includes name, date of birth (year + month only after the 2024 reforms), nationality, country of residence, nature of control (e.g. "ownership-of-shares-25-to-50-percent"), and IDV status.

IDV is the post-2024 addition. Every PSC + director must verify their identity through Companies House's verification scheme by 2026-Q4. Unverified individuals will be removed from being able to file or be a director. The IDV status appears on each officer record.

For regulated UK firms, the practical implications:

1. **AML / KYB**: walking the PSC tree is mandatory under MLR-2017 reg 5(1)(a). See [PSC tree](/knowledge/psc-tree-when-to-walk). 2. **IDV check on the PSC**: the IDV status is a useful signal — an unverified PSC at a corporate counterparty is a yellow flag. 3. **Cycle detection**: PSC structures can have cycles (Company A's PSC is Company B; Company B's PSC is Company A). Defensive walking with path-set tracking is required. 4. **Non-UK parents**: PSC walks stop at non-UK corporate leaves; you have to supplement with the foreign-registry data.

The Stratum CH Watch API handles all of this — depth-5 walk, cycle detection, lower-bound stake aggregation, IDV status on every officer.

Source: Companies House PSC Guidance

Last updated 2026-05-06.