Before a shareholders agreement is signed, two questions determine the risk: who controls the company, and what can that control be enforced against. In England and Wales, both questions have a defined answer in official sources — and a defined ceiling beyond which those sources say nothing.
The PSC register and Companies House filings are the starting point. They are not the endpoint. The gap between the two is where most verification failures occur.
What the sources showNamed directors with appointment and resignation dates; persons with significant control (PSC) named with nature-of-control statements. Source: Companies House — retrieved 2026-09-15 Access conditionThe register is publicly searchable without registration. Certified copies of filed documents require a formal request; bulk re-use requires a separate licence. Source: Companies House — retrieved 2026-09-15 What the sources do not showNominee arrangements, shadow directors, and the economic terms of any shareholders agreement are not filed and not visible in the register. Source: Companies House — retrieved 2026-09-15 Coverage levelLevel A — England and Wales. Scottish and Northern Irish entities are registered separately and are not covered by this report.Every company incorporated in England and Wales must maintain a register of directors at Companies House. The register shows each director's full name, service address, date of appointment, and — where a resignation has been filed — the date of termination.
A director may use a service address rather than a residential address. That is a legal right, not an anomaly. The service address appears in the public record; the residential address is withheld from public view unless the director has applied for additional suppression.
Corporate directors are permitted under the Companies Act 2006, subject to the requirement that at least one director is a natural person. Where a corporate director appears in the register, the chain of control extends into that corporate entity — which may itself be registered in a different jurisdiction.
Shadow directors are not named in the register. A shadow director is a person in accordance with whose directions the board is accustomed to act. That status is a legal characterisation, not a filing category. The register does not capture it.
Source: Companies House · retrieved 2026-09-15
The PSC register — Persons with Significant Control — was introduced under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015. Every company must identify and record each person who meets one or more of five conditions:
The register shows the PSC's name, nationality, country of residence, date of birth (month and year only), nature of control, and the date the entry was notified.
Where no individual meets the threshold, the company must state that fact. Where a Relevant Legal Entity (RLE) is the PSC, that entity is named and its own PSC obligations apply — creating a chain that, in principle, terminates at a natural person.
The PSC register is publicly accessible on the Companies House website without registration or fee. What a foreign requester pays for, when engaging a firm to compile this report, is the removed path: identifying the correct company number, navigating the filing history, reading corporate documents in English, cross-referencing multiple filings across dates, and producing a structured output that can be acted on before a signing deadline.
Source: Companies House — PSC register · retrieved 2026-09-15
Companies incorporated in England and Wales are required to file annual accounts at Companies House. The filing obligation and the level of detail depend on company size.
Small companies may file abridged accounts. Micro-entities may file a balance sheet only. Neither format discloses a profit and loss account to the public. A medium or large company files fuller accounts, including a directors' report and, where applicable, a strategic report.
What filed accounts establish: the existence of the company as a going concern at the balance sheet date, the auditor's identity (where audit is required), and — in fuller filings — related-party transactions at a summary level.
What filed accounts do not establish: the current financial position, intra-group cash flows, or the terms of any shareholder loan. The most recent filed accounts may be up to nine months old at the point of review.
Source: Companies House — filed accounts · retrieved 2026-09-15
In England and Wales, the control chain is traceable through official sources to the point where it crosses into a jurisdiction that does not publish equivalent data, or where a nominee arrangement is in place.
Where the chain runs clearly: a natural person holds shares directly, is named as PSC, and is also a director. The register shows all three facts. Cross-referencing them takes minutes.
Where the chain becomes opaque: a corporate shareholder is named as PSC. That corporate entity may be registered in a jurisdiction with no public beneficial ownership register. The chain is visible to the border of that jurisdiction and no further through Companies House alone.
Where the chain is absent from the register entirely: a nominee shareholder holds shares on behalf of a beneficial owner under a declaration of trust. The nominee appears in the register; the beneficial owner does not. The declaration of trust is a private document. It is not filed.
Shadow director arrangements: as noted above, these are not a filing category. Their existence is established through conduct, not through registry data.
The report states, at each tier, the point at which the chain becomes unverifiable through official sources.
Source: Companies House · retrieved 2026-09-15
Companies House is one of the most transparent corporate registers in the world. That transparency has a defined ceiling.
The PSC register records what a company has notified. It does not independently verify those notifications. A company that has filed an incorrect or incomplete PSC entry is in breach of its statutory duty — but the register reflects the filed entry, not the underlying reality.
The following facts are not available through any official public source in England and Wales:
Where the chain terminates at a corporate entity registered outside England and Wales, the report identifies that entity, states its jurisdiction, and describes what that jurisdiction's public sources show — within the scope of the tier ordered.
The ceiling of what the sources allow is stated before payment. No tier of this report claims to establish facts that official sources do not record.
Discrepancies between filings are themselves a result. The following patterns appear in Companies House data and are flagged in the report where found:
A PSC entry may show a date of notification that post-dates the company's incorporation by several years. This may indicate a late filing, a change in ownership, or a correction. The report notes the gap and the filing history.
A director may appear as resigned in the register but continue to be named as a signatory in filed documents. The report notes the discrepancy without characterising its cause.
A corporate PSC may have a registered address that differs from the address shown in its own jurisdiction's register. The report notes both addresses.
None of these discrepancies is characterised as fraud or error. They are recorded as discrepancies between sources, for the reader to assess.
| Tier | Price | What is included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €1,350 | Current directors (named, with appointment dates); current PSC entries (named, with nature-of-control statements); confirmation of filing status; identification of any corporate PSC and its jurisdiction | Financial statements; insolvency search; tracing of corporate PSC chain beyond jurisdiction of registration; shareholders agreement terms |
| Standard | €2,850 | All Signal content; filed accounts for the last two financial years (summary); insolvency and winding-up search; identification of any nominee indicators in filing history; cross-reference of director and PSC entries across filing dates | Tracing of corporate PSC chain beyond jurisdiction of registration; private documents (declarations of trust, shareholders agreements); legal qualification of findings |
| Extended | €6,300 | All Standard content; tracing of corporate PSC chain through up to two additional jurisdictions (subject to public source availability in those jurisdictions); shadow director indicators from filed documents; related-party transaction summary from filed accounts; timeline of control changes since incorporation | Private documents not filed at any registry; facts not available through official public sources in any jurisdiction covered; legal advice or qualification |
Does the PSC register show the full beneficial ownership chain? The PSC register shows the first layer of significant control as notified by the company. Where the PSC is a corporate entity, the chain continues into that entity's own filings. Where that entity is registered outside England and Wales, the chain is traceable only to the extent that the relevant jurisdiction publishes equivalent data. The report identifies the point at which the chain becomes unverifiable through official sources.
Can a shareholders agreement be obtained through Companies House? No. Shareholders agreements are private contracts. They are not filed at Companies House and are not accessible through any official public register. The report does not include shareholders agreement terms at any tier.
What does 'nature of control' mean in a PSC entry? The PSC register requires each entry to state which of the five statutory conditions the person meets. The entry may state, for example, 'ownership of shares — more than 25% but not more than 50%' or 'right to appoint and remove directors'. Multiple conditions may apply to a single PSC. The report reproduces the filed statement and cross-references it against the share register where that register has been filed.
What if no PSC is listed? A company may file a statement that it has no registrable PSC, or that it has not yet identified one. Both are valid filings. The report records the filed statement. It does not infer beneficial ownership from the absence of a PSC entry.
How current is the data? Companies House data reflects filed notifications. There is no real-time verification. A change in control takes effect when it occurs; the filing obligation arises within 14 days. The report states the date of each entry and the date of retrieval.
What is the turnaround time? Signal: two business days. Standard: four business days. Extended: eight business days. Timelines run from receipt of the company name or number and confirmation of the scope.
Sources:
Companies House — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk — retrieved 2026-09-15
PSC register (via Companies House) — https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk — retrieved 2026-09-15
The Insolvency Service — https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/insolvency-service — retrieved 2026-09-15
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