The PSC register: what every UK company director needs to know

Every UK limited company is legally required to maintain a register of Persons with Significant Control — known as the PSC register. This information must be filed with Companies House and kept up to date. Yet in our experience, a significant proportion of Arab directors running UK companies from the Gulf have never heard of it.

A Person with Significant Control is broadly anyone who meets one or more of these conditions: holds more than 25% of shares, holds more than 25% of voting rights, has the right to appoint or remove the majority of directors, or exercises significant influence or control over the company. For most small UK companies with a single Arab director-shareholder, that person is almost certainly their own PSC.

The legal requirement is to identify your PSC, notify them, and then register them at Companies House — usually done through your confirmation statement. The PSC's name, nationality, date of birth (month and year only — the day is not public), country of residence, nature of control, and date of registration are all publicly visible on the Companies House register.

What goes wrong: directors set up a UK company, file their initial documents, and never think about the PSC register again. Then they appoint a new shareholder, restructure, or bring in a partner — and forget to update Companies House. The PSC register must be updated within 14 days of a change, and companies that fail to do so can face fines and, in serious cases, criminal prosecution.

Non-resident Arab directors sometimes assume that because their company is UK-based, UK filing obligations belong to whoever is physically in the UK. They do not. The director is responsible regardless of where they live. If you are the director, the obligation is yours.

If you are unsure whether your PSC register is current, Fileminder checks PSC status as part of our compliance review. Keeping it accurate is part of what we manage for clients on our annual accounts and confirmation statement services.