BEIS has published a research report on the effectiveness of the register of people with significant control (PSC), which the government will use to inform its post-implementation review of the 2016 PSC regulations, as required under section 82 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.
The research involved a survey of 500 businesses and in-depth interviews with 30 stakeholder organisations and 2 members of staff from Companies House.
Overall, the businesses that participated in this research demonstrated a high level of engagement with the requirements of the PSC register. Most (77%) had submitted information around the time the PSC register was introduced or before June 2017 (when they were required to submit this information as part of their first confirmation statement) and more than half (56%) had checked that the information they had originally submitted was still correct.
The financial cost of complying with the PSC register regulations on a per business basis was relatively small, with a mean overall cost of £287 (the median being £125).
Only a minority (22%) had used the PSC register to look up information about other businesses. Of these businesses, some 64% found the information sourced to be useful, while 29% found it very useful. Although the information held on the PSC register had only been used by a minority of businesses, it had been widely used by stakeholder organisations. All law enforcement organisations, financial institutions and civil society organisations interviewed reported using the PSC register in their field of work.
Stakeholders generally considered the PSC register to be a useful resource as it had made the process of obtaining information on beneficial ownership more efficient, with most agreeing that the register had improved corporate transparency in the UK.
However, many law enforcement organisations and financial institutions thought that there was still a lot more to be done regarding corporate transparency because the PSC register was thought to hold some inaccurate information. Some did not believe they could rely solely on the PSC register as a source of information about beneficial ownership. To improve the quality of information many stakeholders recommended that Companies House introduce validation and verification processes.
Between April 2016 and January 2019, Companies House received 903 applications for information about PSCs to be protected from either the public PSC register, or for some of their details (such as residential addresses) to be protected from credit referencing agencies. There was an even split between the number of applications for protection of residential address and the number of applications for protection of all information (50% respectively).
Companies House staff generally felt the protection regime was fulfilling its purpose. However, they did identify some areas for improvement, including digitalisation of the current paper-based application process.
BEIS has published a research report on the effectiveness of the register of people with significant control (PSC), which the government will use to inform its post-implementation review of the 2016 PSC regulations, as required under section 82 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.
The research involved a survey of 500 businesses and in-depth interviews with 30 stakeholder organisations and 2 members of staff from Companies House.
Overall, the businesses that participated in this research demonstrated a high level of engagement with the requirements of the PSC register. Most (77%) had submitted information around the time the PSC register was introduced or before June 2017 (when they were required to submit this information as part of their first confirmation statement) and more than half (56%) had checked that the information they had originally submitted was still correct.
The financial cost of complying with the PSC register regulations on a per business basis was relatively small, with a mean overall cost of £287 (the median being £125).
Only a minority (22%) had used the PSC register to look up information about other businesses. Of these businesses, some 64% found the information sourced to be useful, while 29% found it very useful. Although the information held on the PSC register had only been used by a minority of businesses, it had been widely used by stakeholder organisations. All law enforcement organisations, financial institutions and civil society organisations interviewed reported using the PSC register in their field of work.
Stakeholders generally considered the PSC register to be a useful resource as it had made the process of obtaining information on beneficial ownership more efficient, with most agreeing that the register had improved corporate transparency in the UK.
However, many law enforcement organisations and financial institutions thought that there was still a lot more to be done regarding corporate transparency because the PSC register was thought to hold some inaccurate information. Some did not believe they could rely solely on the PSC register as a source of information about beneficial ownership. To improve the quality of information many stakeholders recommended that Companies House introduce validation and verification processes.
Between April 2016 and January 2019, Companies House received 903 applications for information about PSCs to be protected from either the public PSC register, or for some of their details (such as residential addresses) to be protected from credit referencing agencies. There was an even split between the number of applications for protection of residential address and the number of applications for protection of all information (50% respectively).
Companies House staff generally felt the protection regime was fulfilling its purpose. However, they did identify some areas for improvement, including digitalisation of the current paper-based application process.
