The Companies House register is one of the most accessible corporate records in any common-law jurisdiction. Control over an English or Welsh company is recorded through three overlapping layers: the shareholder register, the director register, and the PSC register introduced under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015. Each layer is publicly filed. Each layer has a ceiling.
The ceiling matters as much as the content. A shareholder verifying an asset across 35 jurisdictions needs to know not only what England and Wales disclose, but where the English record stops and where a parallel instrument — a trust deed, a nominee agreement, a foreign holding vehicle — begins.
What Companies House records and what it does not
Companies House maintains the statutory register for companies incorporated in England and Wales. The register holds incorporation documents, confirmation statements, director appointments and resignations, shareholder lists as filed in confirmation statements, PSC entries, and filed accounts.
The PSC register requires any individual who holds more than 25 percent of shares or voting rights, or who otherwise exercises significant influence or control, to be named. The threshold is statutory. Arrangements structured below it, or through intermediaries, may not produce a PSC entry.
Filed accounts show the financial position as reported. For small and micro companies, the filing obligation is reduced: a small company may file abridged accounts; a micro-entity may file a balance sheet only. Neither format discloses revenue, detailed profit, or granular asset composition.
The register records what has been filed. It does not verify the accuracy of what is filed. A confirmation statement reflects the company's own declaration at the date of filing.
Source: Companies House · verified 2026-09-05
The shareholder layer: what is visible and what is not
The shareholder register as filed in a confirmation statement names the registered holder of each class of share and the number held. This is the legal owner on record.
Beneficial ownership — the person for whose economic benefit the shares are held — is a separate question. Where shares are held by a nominee, the nominee appears on the register. The beneficial owner does not, unless they also qualify as a PSC and have been declared as such.
A trust holding shares in an English company is not itself a registrable entity at Companies House. The trustee appears as shareholder. The trust deed, the settlor, and the beneficiaries are not on the public record. They may appear in a separate register — the Register of Overseas Entities at Companies House, if the trust holds UK land through an overseas entity — but that is a distinct instrument with its own scope and gaps.
The practical consequence: the shareholder layer establishes legal title. It does not establish economic interest. For an asset verification, both questions need to be put separately.
Source: Companies House · verified 2026-09-05
The PSC layer: declared control
The PSC regime was designed to close the gap between legal and beneficial ownership for control purposes. A person with significant control must be named, with their nature of control stated. The entry is public.
The regime has known structural limits. A PSC entry reflects a declaration. It is not independently verified by Companies House at the point of filing. Enforcement of accuracy is a matter for HMRC and the Serious Fraud Office, not the register itself.
Where control is exercised through a chain of companies, each link in the chain must file its own PSC entry. The chain is traceable through successive filings — provided each entity in the chain is incorporated in a jurisdiction that maintains a comparable register. A holding company incorporated in a jurisdiction with no public beneficial ownership register breaks the chain at that point.
The PSC register therefore establishes declared control within the English entity. It does not establish the ultimate beneficial owner where the chain passes through an opaque jurisdiction.
Source: Companies House · verified 2026-09-05
Director appointments and enforcement capacity
Directors are named on the public register with their appointment date, date of birth (partial), nationality, and correspondence address. Resignation and removal are also filed.
The director register allows a shareholder to identify who is currently authorised to act on behalf of the company. It does not show the terms of any service agreement, the scope of any delegation, or the existence of shadow directors — persons whose instructions the board is accustomed to follow without formal appointment.
For enforcement purposes, the register establishes who holds the formal mandate. Whether that mandate is exercised independently or under instruction from an undisclosed principal is a question the register cannot answer.
Disqualified directors are recorded on the Companies House disqualification register. A search against that register is a separate step from a standard company search.
Source: Companies House · verified 2026-09-05
Filed accounts: financial position and its limits
English companies file accounts at Companies House. The filing obligation, the format, and the level of detail depend on the company's size classification under the Companies Act 2006.
A large company files full statutory accounts including a profit and loss account, balance sheet, notes, and an auditor's report. A medium company files slightly reduced information. A small company may file abridged accounts with no profit and loss account. A micro-entity files a balance sheet only.
The practical consequence for asset verification: the financial picture available from the public record varies significantly by company size. A large operating company's filed accounts provide a substantive financial baseline. A small holding company's filed accounts may show little beyond net assets and share capital.
Accounts are filed after the financial year end. The statutory filing deadline allows a gap of several months between the period end and the public record. The most recent filed accounts may therefore reflect a position that is over a year old at the date of a search.
Source: Companies House · verified 2026-09-05
The Register of Overseas Entities
The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 created the Register of Overseas Entities at Companies House. An overseas entity that owns or acquires UK land must register and disclose its beneficial owners.
This register extends the PSC-style disclosure obligation to foreign vehicles holding UK real property. It does not extend to shares in English companies held by overseas entities, nor to other asset classes.
For an asset verification involving UK land held through a foreign structure, the Register of Overseas Entities is a primary source. For an asset verification involving shares or other interests, it is not directly relevant unless the foreign entity also holds UK land.
The register was introduced in 2022. Historical ownership before that date is not captured in the register itself; it may appear in Land Registry title records.
Source: Companies House · verified 2026-09-05
HM Land Registry: property title
Where the asset includes real property in England and Wales, HM Land Registry holds the title register. The register records the registered proprietor, the class of title, charges and restrictions, and the price paid on the most recent registered transaction.
The registered proprietor is the legal owner. As with the Companies House shareholder register, beneficial ownership may differ. A restriction on the register may indicate a trust or other equitable interest, but the terms of that interest are not on the public record.
Price paid data is publicly available for residential property. Commercial property price paid data has more limited public availability.
Source: HM Land Registry · verified 2026-09-05
The limit of what the sources allow
The Companies House register, the PSC register, the Register of Overseas Entities, and HM Land Registry together constitute a high-coverage public record by international standards. Coverage level A reflects the depth and accessibility of these sources.
The ceiling is nonetheless real and must be stated before any payment is made.
What the sources establish: - The legal owner of shares and the legal proprietor of registered land - Declared persons with significant control, at the threshold set by statute - Current and historical directors - Filed financial statements, at the level of detail required by the company's size classification - Charges registered at Companies House
What the sources do not establish: - Beneficial ownership where it differs from legal ownership and has not been declared as PSC - The terms of nominee agreements, trust deeds, or shareholder agreements filed nowhere - Shadow directors or undisclosed principals - Financial position more current than the most recently filed accounts - Assets held outside England and Wales by the same corporate group
Where the chain of control passes through a jurisdiction with no comparable public register, the English record establishes the English link only. The analysis names the point at which the chain becomes opaque and identifies which instrument — if any — might extend it.
Where the sources disagree
A confirmation statement and a PSC entry may name different individuals as the controlling party. This occurs where a shareholder update has been filed but the PSC register has not been updated to reflect the same change, or vice versa.
A filed account and a charge register entry may present an inconsistent picture of the company's financial obligations. A charge registered at Companies House is a public record of a security interest; whether that charge has been satisfied or released is a separate filing step that may not have been completed.
Where the Register of Overseas Entities and a Land Registry title record name different entities as proprietor, the discrepancy may reflect a transaction that has completed at Land Registry but not yet been updated in the overseas entities register, or an error in one of the filings.
Discrepancies between sources are themselves a result. The report identifies them and states which source is more current and which carries the higher statutory weight.
What is included at each tier
| Tier | Price | What is included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €890 | Companies House search: incorporation documents, current officers, shareholder list from most recent confirmation statement, PSC register entry, charges register. Summary of filing status and any gaps. | Filed accounts analysis. Land Registry search. Register of Overseas Entities. Disqualification search. Cross-jurisdictional chain tracing. |
| Standard | €1,900 | All Signal content, plus: filed accounts review for the most recent two financial years, disqualification search against all current directors, Register of Overseas Entities search where relevant, HM Land Registry title search for identified UK property. Written analysis of discrepancies between sources. | Cross-jurisdictional chain tracing beyond England and Wales. Legal qualification of findings. Advice on enforcement options. |
| Extended | €4,200 | All Standard content, plus: historical confirmation statements and PSC entries for the preceding five years, cross-jurisdictional tracing of the ownership chain through identified holding jurisdictions, analysis of charge history and satisfaction filings, written report identifying the point at which the chain becomes opaque and the instrument that would be required to extend it. | Legal advice. Representation. Any instrument requiring a court order or regulatory authorisation. |
Frequently asked questions
Does a PSC entry confirm who actually controls the company? A PSC entry records who has declared themselves — or been declared — as a person with significant control under the statutory threshold. It reflects a filing obligation. Companies House does not independently verify the accuracy of the entry at the point of filing. The entry is the starting point for a control analysis, not its conclusion.
What does the shareholder list in a confirmation statement show? It shows the registered legal holder of each class of share and the number held at the date of the statement. It does not show beneficial ownership where that differs from legal ownership, and it does not show the terms of any shareholder agreement.
Can filed accounts establish the current financial position of the company? Filed accounts establish the financial position at the end of the accounting period to which they relate. The statutory filing deadline means the most recent public accounts may be several months to over a year old at the date of a search. For a small or micro company, the accounts filed may show only a balance sheet.
What happens when the ownership chain leads outside England and Wales? The English record establishes the English link. Where the chain passes through a foreign holding vehicle, the analysis identifies that vehicle and states whether a comparable public record exists in its jurisdiction of incorporation. The Extended tier includes tracing through identified holding jurisdictions.
Is the Companies House register free to access? The register is publicly searchable without charge. Certified copies of documents carry a statutory fee set by Companies House. This register is public and free of charge for basic searches. What the report provides is the removed path: identification of the relevant entities, extraction of the relevant filings, language, cross-source reconciliation, and a structured written analysis.
Does the Register of Overseas Entities cover all foreign-owned assets in England and Wales? No. It covers overseas entities that own or acquire UK land. It does not cover shares in English companies held by overseas entities, nor other asset classes. Its scope is specific and must not be read as a general beneficial ownership register for foreign-held assets.
Sources
Companies House — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk — verified 2026-09-05
HM Land Registry — https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry — verified 2026-09-05
Register of Overseas Entities, Companies House — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/register-of-overseas-entities — verified 2026-09-05
Companies House Disqualified Directors Register — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/search?q=&type=disqualified-officer — verified 2026-09-05
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Disclaimer: This report is a factual compilation from official registers and public sources. It is provided for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and contains no legal qualification of the facts established. VLO Law Firm assumes no liability for actions taken or not taken based on this material. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@vlolawfirm.com.
Author: James Whitfield — Partner, UK & Common Law, VLO Law Firm
