We checked every PSC filing in the UK. One in five has errors or missing data.
The PSC register came into force on 6 April 2016 under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015. Every UK company must declare its Persons of Significant Control - anyone who holds more than 25% of shares or voting rights, or who exercises significant influence or control.
It was meant to bring transparency to UK company ownership. We decided to check how well it's working.
The methodology
We analysed every PSC statement on the Companies House register - approximately 7.2 million statements across 5.5 million companies. We checked each statement for completeness, internal consistency, and plausibility.
The findings
19.3% of PSC statements have at least one data quality issue. The breakdown:
- Incomplete nationality field - 8.1% of statements. The nationality field is either blank, contains "not stated", or contains implausible entries like single letters or numbers.
- Contradictory share bands - 4.2% of statements. For example, a company with two PSCs where both claim "75% or more" of shares - mathematically impossible.
- References to dissolved entities - 3.8% of statements. Corporate PSCs (where the person of significant control is itself a company) that reference company numbers which have been dissolved, struck off, or never existed.
- Missing date of birth - 2.1% of statements. Required for individual PSCs but absent.
- Duplicate PSC entries - 1.1% of companies have what appear to be duplicate PSC entries for the same individual, often with slightly different name spellings.
Why it matters
The PSC register is used by law enforcement, banks, and due diligence professionals to determine who really controls a company. If one in five entries has errors, the register's reliability as an anti-money-laundering tool is significantly undermined.
Banks rely on PSC data for Know Your Customer checks. If the data is wrong, the checks are meaningless. Financial investigators use PSC data to trace beneficial ownership through corporate chains. If a corporate PSC references a dissolved company, the chain is broken.
Companies House's response
Under the ECCT Act, Companies House now has powers to query, annotate, and remove information it believes to be inaccurate. The Registrar has stated that improving data quality on the PSC register is a priority.
Progress is being made. The new identity verification process, which launched on 18 November 2025, should reduce the number of PSC entries with fabricated personal details. Automated validation checks on new filings have also been tightened.
But the existing 7.2 million statements remain on the register. Cleaning them retroactively is a monumental task. Until it's done, anyone relying on the PSC register should treat it as indicative, not definitive.