How to find out who owns a UK company

Q: Which other filings help?

Incorporation documents. Section 10 requires the statement of capital and initial shareholdings to show each subscriber's shares, by number, nominal value and class. That tells you the original owners. Returns of allotment. Section 555 requires a limited company to file a return within one month of allotting shares, with a statement of capital. New shareholders who acquired shares by allotment should appear here before the next confirmation statement. Accounts. Group and related party notes sometimes name a parent company or controlling party. See reading accounts from Companies House. Transfers between existing shareholders are not filed when they happen. They surface only in the next confirmation statement.

Q: What will the public record not tell you?

Trusts. Section 126 says no notice of any trust may be entered on the register of members of a company registered in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, so trustees appear as shareholders. The PSC entries may show trustees or a person controlling the trust. See PSCs where shares are held in trust. Nominees. Paragraph 19 of Schedule 1A treats shares held by a nominee as held by the person they act for, so the PSC entry should look through a nominee even though the register of members does not. See nominee shareholders. Small stakes. Nobody holding 25% or less needs to appear as a PSC. Overseas owners of UK property are tracked separately through the register of overseas entities. Information on the register is filed by the company. It is evidence, not a guarantee, so treat inconsistencies as a reason for further questions.

Q: How might a search look in practice?

Illustration only. You are checking a supplier, Alpha Widgets Ltd. Its PSC entry names Beta Holdings Ltd as a relevant legal entity holding 75% or more. Beta's record shows two individuals, each over 25% up to 50%. Alpha's confirmation statements say shareholder information is unchanged, so you go back to the statement three years earlier, which lists Beta Holdings with 90 ordinary shares and an individual with 10. A return of allotment filed since then shows 20 new shares to a third person. Putting the pieces together gives a current picture of the legal shareholders and the two individuals controlling the group.

To find out who owns a UK company, search it on Companies House’s free register and look at three things: the people with significant control (PSC) section, the shareholder lists in its confirmation statements, and its incorporation and share allotment filings. The PSC entries show who ultimately controls the company above a 25% threshold, while the confirmation statements show the registered shareholders by name; the company’s own register of members is the definitive legal record.

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Where do you start?

Use the Find and update company information service on GOV.UK. It is free and shows the company’s registered address, date of incorporation, current and resigned officers, document images, charges, previous names and insolvency information. You can also set up free email alerts so you hear when the company changes its details. Every search below uses that service.

Keep two kinds of ownership apart. Legal ownership is about who is entered in the register of members as holding the shares. Beneficial ownership or control is about the individual who really benefits from or directs the company, which is what the PSC regime tries to show. They are often the same person in a small company but can be very different in a group or where nominees or trusts are involved.

What does the PSC section show?

A person with significant control is an individual who meets one or more of the conditions in Schedule 1A to the Companies Act 2006:

holding, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the shares;
holding, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the voting rights;
holding the right to appoint or remove a majority of the board;
having the right to exercise, or actually exercising, significant influence or control;
controlling a trust or firm without legal personality whose trustees or members meet one of the other conditions.

Shareholdings are shown in bands: over 25% up to 50%, more than 50% and less than 75%, and 75% or more. Public PSC entries show most details apart from the home address and full date of birth. Note that the share test works on nominal value: paragraph 13 of Schedule 1A treats more than 25% of the shares as shares with a nominal value exceeding 25% of the issued share capital, which can differ from the economic split where share classes have different nominal values.

Since 18 November 2025 companies no longer keep their own PSC register; Chapter 3 of Part 21A, which contained that duty, has been omitted, and the public record at Companies House is the place to look. Changes must be notified within 14 days, as explained in notifying PSC changes.

What if the PSC is another company?

Where the controlling shareholder is a company subject to its own disclosure requirements, such as another UK company, it appears as a relevant legal entity under section 790C(6) rather than naming the individual behind it. Open that company’s record and repeat the search, working up the chain until you reach individuals or a listed company. Companies with voting shares on a UK or EU regulated market are outside the regime under section 790B, and such a company states its exemption in its confirmation statement under section 853H.

A company may instead file a statement that it has no PSC or has not yet identified one. That is a signal to dig into the shareholder information.

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How do confirmation statements show shareholders?

For a company whose shares are not traded on a market, section 853F requires the confirmation statement to include the name of every person who was a member during the confirmation period, the number of shares of each class each member held at the confirmation date, and shares transferred during the period with the dates the transfers were registered. Two limits catch people out:

Under section 853F(4) the company need not repeat the information if it is unchanged, so the latest statement may say nothing about shareholders. You may have to go back several years to find the last full list and then add transfers and allotments filed since.
Only names are given, not addresses, so a common name may not identify the person.

Traded companies that are not DTR5 issuers report instead, under section 853G, holders of at least 5% of any class of shares.

Which other filings help?

Incorporation documents. Section 10 requires the statement of capital and initial shareholdings to show each subscriber’s shares, by number, nominal value and class. That tells you the original owners.
Returns of allotment. Section 555 requires a limited company to file a return within one month of allotting shares, with a statement of capital. New shareholders who acquired shares by allotment should appear here before the next confirmation statement.
Accounts. Group and related party notes sometimes name a parent company or controlling party. See reading accounts from Companies House.

Transfers between existing shareholders are not filed when they happen. They surface only in the next confirmation statement.

Can you look at the register of members itself?

Yes, with conditions. Under section 116 any person may inspect the register on payment of the prescribed fee, or ask for a copy, but the request must give the requester’s name and address, the purpose for which the information will be used and whether it will be passed to anyone else. Under section 117 the company must comply within five working days or apply to court, and the court will stop disclosure if the request is not for a proper purpose. Section 127 makes the register prima facie evidence of what is entered in it. See inspecting the register of members.

What will the public record not tell you?

Trusts. Section 126 says no notice of any trust may be entered on the register of members of a company registered in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, so trustees appear as shareholders. The PSC entries may show trustees or a person controlling the trust. See PSCs where shares are held in trust.
Nominees. Paragraph 19 of Schedule 1A treats shares held by a nominee as held by the person they act for, so the PSC entry should look through a nominee even though the register of members does not. See nominee shareholders.
Small stakes. Nobody holding 25% or less needs to appear as a PSC.
Overseas owners of UK property are tracked separately through the register of overseas entities.

Information on the register is filed by the company. It is evidence, not a guarantee, so treat inconsistencies as a reason for further questions.

How might a search look in practice?

Illustration only. You are checking a supplier, Alpha Widgets Ltd. Its PSC entry names Beta Holdings Ltd as a relevant legal entity holding 75% or more. Beta’s record shows two individuals, each over 25% up to 50%. Alpha’s confirmation statements say shareholder information is unchanged, so you go back to the statement three years earlier, which lists Beta Holdings with 90 ordinary shares and an individual with 10. A return of allotment filed since then shows 20 new shares to a third person. Putting the pieces together gives a current picture of the legal shareholders and the two individuals controlling the group.

What mistakes do people make?

Reading only the latest confirmation statement and concluding there are no shareholders.
Assuming the PSC list shows every owner, when it shows only those above the thresholds.
Stopping at a corporate PSC instead of following the chain.
Treating a “no PSC” statement as meaning nobody controls the company.
Requesting the register of members without stating the purpose, which makes the request invalid.

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Sources

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.