Before signing a shareholders agreement, the question is not who appears on the cap table. The question is who controls the company and what the shareholder can enforce against that person. England and Wales provides more publicly accessible data than most jurisdictions. The gap between what the sources show and what control actually means is the subject of this page.
Director registerCompanies House lists current and resigned directors by name, date of birth (month and year), correspondence address, and appointment date. Source: Companies House — verified 2026-09-10. PSC registerPersons with Significant Control are disclosed by name, nature of control, and date of registration. Source: Companies House PSC register — verified 2026-09-10. Filed accountsMicro and small companies may file abbreviated accounts. Full profit-and-loss is not always available. Source: Companies House — verified 2026-09-10. Access conditionCompanies House data is published under OGL v3.0. Redistribution with attribution is permitted. No registration is required for search.Source: Companies House · extracted 2026-09-10
Companies House maintains a live register of every appointed director. Each entry records the individual's name, month and year of birth, service address, nationality, country of residence, and date of appointment. Resigned directors remain on the record with their termination date.
The register does not confirm whether a director acts under instruction from a third party. A nominee director arrangement is not disclosed as such. The filing records the name; it does not record the relationship behind the appointment.
Disqualification status is held separately by the Insolvency Service. The Companies House record does not flag an active disqualification order. Cross-referencing the Disqualification Register is a separate step.
Where a director holds appointments across multiple companies, those appointments appear on the individual's Companies House profile. The pattern of simultaneous or sequential appointments is visible in the data. Interpretation of that pattern is analytical work, not a registry output.
Source: Companies House — director register · extracted 2026-09-10
The PSC register was introduced under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015. It requires companies to identify and record every person or legal entity that meets one or more of five conditions: holding more than 25% of shares, holding more than 25% of voting rights, holding the right to appoint or remove the majority of directors, having the right to exercise or actually exercising significant influence or control, or exercising that influence through a trust or firm.
Each PSC entry records the individual's name, date of birth (month and year), nationality, country of residence, service address, and the nature of control. The entry also records the date on which the person became registrable.
The PSC register is a self-reported disclosure. The company itself files the information. Companies House does not independently verify the accuracy of what is filed. An incorrectly filed PSC entry, or a PSC entry that has not been updated following a change of control, will appear on the register without any flag.
Where a Relevant Legal Entity (RLE) sits above the company in the ownership chain, the register records the RLE rather than the individual behind it. The chain continues upward only if the RLE is itself subject to disclosure requirements. A foreign holding company is not subject to UK PSC obligations. At that point, the register stops.
Source: Companies House — PSC register · extracted 2026-09-10
Every company incorporated in England and Wales must file accounts at Companies House. The depth of what is filed depends on the company's size classification.
| Company size | Accounts filing obligation | Profit and loss |
|---|---|---|
| Micro-entity | Abridged balance sheet only | Not required |
| Small | Balance sheet, optional abridged P&L | Not required if abridged |
| Medium | Full accounts with some exemptions | Required |
| Large | Full statutory accounts | Required |
A company that qualifies as small or micro may file accounts that contain no profit-and-loss statement and no notes on related-party transactions. The balance sheet will show net assets and liabilities. It will not show revenue, cost of sales, or the identity of creditors beyond aggregate figures.
Where full accounts are filed, the notes section will identify related-party transactions, loans to directors, and significant shareholdings. For small and micro companies, this information is absent from the public record.
The filing history at Companies House shows the date each set of accounts was submitted. Late filing is recorded. A pattern of late or overdue filings is visible in the data.
Source: Companies House — filing history · extracted 2026-09-10
The Individual Insolvency Register, maintained by the Insolvency Service, records bankruptcy orders, debt relief orders, and individual voluntary arrangements. It is a point-in-time snapshot. Entries are removed after a defined period following discharge. An absence from the register does not confirm that no insolvency event has ever occurred.
The Companies Court and Business and Property Courts hear winding-up petitions and company insolvency proceedings. Petitions that have been presented but not yet determined may not appear on the register. The register reflects outcomes, not pending applications.
Disqualification orders against directors are held on the Disqualification Register, also maintained by the Insolvency Service. This register is searchable by name. An order prevents the named individual from acting as a director or taking part in company management for the duration specified.
Source: Insolvency Service — Individual Insolvency Register and Disqualification Register · extracted 2026-09-10
The PSC register and the share register held at Companies House (or maintained privately by the company) may show different pictures. A company is required to file a confirmation statement annually. The confirmation statement includes a statement of capital and a list of shareholders. Between filings, the share register may have changed. The Companies House record reflects the position at the last confirmation statement date, not the current date.
Where a PSC entry records a legal entity rather than an individual, and that entity is incorporated outside the UK, the chain of ownership beyond that entity is not visible in any UK public source. The foreign entity's own jurisdiction may or may not maintain a public beneficial ownership register.
A director's service address is a correspondence address. It is not a residential address. The residential address is held at Companies House but is not publicly disclosed unless the director has applied for a different service address and the application has not been processed. The service address may be a registered office provider, a law firm, or an accountant. It does not establish where the individual is located.
Companies House is one of the most accessible corporate registers in the world. That accessibility has a ceiling.
The PSC register records who the company says controls it. It does not record who actually does. Where control is exercised through contractual arrangements — a shareholders agreement, a loan agreement with step-in rights, or a management services agreement — that control is not registrable and will not appear.
A 24% shareholding does not trigger PSC disclosure. A person holding 24% alongside a connected party holding a further 2% may together cross the threshold, but the connection between them is not visible in the register unless both are separately registered.
The register records the nature of control in broad categories: ownership of shares, ownership of voting rights, right to appoint directors, significant influence or control. It does not record the mechanism. A person registered as having significant influence or control may exercise that influence through a board seat, through a veto right in a shareholders agreement, or through an informal arrangement. The register does not distinguish between these.
Filed accounts for small and micro companies do not show revenue, related-party transactions, or the identity of major creditors. A company with substantial turnover and a complex creditor structure may file a balance sheet that shows only net assets.
The Insolvency Register removes entries after discharge. A director who was bankrupt ten years ago will not appear on the current register. The historical record is not publicly searchable.
The ceiling of what the sources allow is stated before payment.
| Tier | Price | What is included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €1,350 | Current directors and PSC entries from Companies House; confirmation statement and statement of capital; disqualification check; filing history summary; identification of any RLE in the PSC chain | Financial analysis; insolvency history beyond current register; cross-jurisdictional chain tracing; related-party transaction review |
| Standard | €2,850 | Everything in Signal; filed accounts analysis for available periods; identification of gaps in financial disclosure; cross-referencing director appointments across associated companies; insolvency and disqualification check for all named directors and PSC individuals | Tracing ownership chain beyond UK-registered entities; legal qualification of findings; advice on enforceability of shareholder rights |
| Extended | €6,300 | Everything in Standard; tracing the ownership chain through intermediate holding companies to the extent permitted by available public sources in each jurisdiction; analysis of filed accounts across the group where available; identification of the point at which the chain becomes opaque and the reason; written summary of control structure with source citations | Legal advice; representation; any finding that requires access to non-public sources; any conclusion about actual control not supported by documentary evidence |
What does the PSC register actually confirm? The PSC register confirms what the company has filed. It records the name, nature of control, and registration date of each person or entity that the company has identified as meeting the disclosure threshold. It does not confirm that the filing is accurate, complete, or current. The report identifies any discrepancy between the PSC register and the confirmation statement.
Can the ownership chain be traced if a foreign company appears in the PSC register? The chain can be traced to the extent that the foreign jurisdiction maintains a public register. Where the intermediate entity is incorporated in a jurisdiction with no public beneficial ownership register, the chain stops at that entity. The Extended tier identifies the stopping point and the reason.
Does an absence from the Insolvency Register confirm a clean record? No. The Individual Insolvency Register removes entries after discharge. An absence from the current register confirms only that no current entry exists. Historical insolvency events beyond the retention period are not visible in the public record.
What does the report cover that a Companies House search does not? A Companies House search returns raw data. The report cross-references director appointments across associated companies, identifies gaps in financial disclosure, checks disqualification status for all named individuals, and maps the PSC chain to the point where it becomes opaque. The analysis is the product, not the data retrieval.
Is the residential address of a director available? Residential addresses are held at Companies House but are not publicly disclosed. The public record shows a service address, which may be a registered office provider. The report records the service address as filed and notes where it is a third-party address.
Sources: - Companies House — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk — extracted 2026-09-10 - Insolvency Service — Individual Insolvency Register — https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/eiir/ — extracted 2026-09-10 - Insolvency Service — Disqualification Register — https://www.gov.uk/search-the-register-of-disqualified-company-directors — extracted 2026-09-10
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