A person with significant control (PSC) is someone who owns or controls your company. They’re sometimes called ‘beneficial owners’.

You must identify your PSC and tell us who they are. This might be you, or someone associated with your company. A company can have one or more PSC.

You must record their details on your company’s PSC register and send us this information. If you can’t identify your PSC, you need to tell us why. The easiest way to do this is online.

If you don’t already have an online account with us, you’ll need to register.

You can also send us PSC information using third-party software.

Identifying your PSC

How to identify people with significant control (PSC)

A PSC must meet one or more of the following conditions of control.

Most PSCs are likely to be people who hold:

• more than 25% of shares in the company
• more than 25% of voting rights in the company
• the right to appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors

If your PSC holds more than 25% of shares, they’re likely to hold the same amount of voting rights.

You should check your company’s register of shareholders. Your company’s constitution and articles of association may also contain information on voting and other rights.

Other significant influence or control

Your PSC might influence or control your company through other means. This could be directly, or on behalf of someone else. For example, someone who tells the directors or shareholders what to do.

This condition will only apply in limited circumstances. Further guidance is available on the meaning of significant influence or control.

Companies controlled by a trust or firm

If a trust or firm influences or controls your company, you must decide if they meet any conditions of control described above. If they do, the trustees or members of the firm are PSCs.

If you think this applies, you should get professional advice.

Recording your PSC information

You’ll need to confirm certain details with your PSC, and record them in your PSC register. These details are:

• name
• date of birth
• nationality
• country of residence
• service address
• usual residential address (not displayed to the public)
• the date they became a PSC of the company
• the date you entered them into your PSC register
• which conditions of control are met

You must include the level of their shares and voting rights, within the following categories:

• over 25% up to (and including) 50%
• more than 50% and less than 75%
• 75% or more

You must try to identify and contact anyone you think may be a PSC of your company. If they refuse to provide PSC information, they’re committing a criminal offence.

You can place restrictions on the shares or voting rights of someone who won’t give you this information. Applying restrictions is a significant step. You should only consider this if they’ve repeatedly refused your requests.

If you’re thinking of making restrictions, you should read the guidance first.

Changes to your PSC information

If your PSC information changes, you must update your company’s PSC register and tell us as soon as possible. The easiest way to do this is online. This could be changes to an existing PSC, such a new address or nature of control. You could also have a new PSC, or someone is no longer a PSC.

Protection for people at risk

All PSC information is available to the public, apart from their home address. The day is also hidden from their date of birth.

In exceptional cases, some individuals can apply to protect their PSC information. If they’ve applied for this protection, you should note this on your PSC register.

Protection from disclosure applies from the date the application is made to us.

Other company types

Limited liability partnerships (LLP), eligible Scottish partnerships and societas Europaea (SE) must also send us their PSC information.

Information on these company types can be found in the full guidance.

More than 5 million people are at risk of the devastating effects of flooding in the UK, with thousands of properties at risk in the south west.

The Environment Agency is looking for enthusiastic people to help manage flood risk throughout the south west and make a real difference to people’s lives and to the environment we live in.

The Agency is looking for people from all walks of life to fill vacancies on the South West Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFCC). Being an RFCC member is an exciting opportunity to help guide local flood and coastal management across the whole region.

The RFCC covers Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

The successful applicants will play an important role in deciding on local priorities, approving programmes of work, and supporting the Environment Agency and lead local flood authorities in working with communities and other partners.

They will have a key role in balancing local priorities and making sure that investment is co-ordinated at the river catchment and shoreline scale, as well as promoting the consideration of climate change impacts in local decision making.

The Environment Agency is recruiting a member to represent land/country farming and another member to represent business interests.

Land/country farming

• provide a land management perspective at committee – working with the inland member and conservation members
• help the committee to understand issues affecting inland communities, landowners and farmers and how this impacts on river process and the coast
• monitor and review flood risk management and the river needing to be addressed
• provide a link between the committee, land management and farming groups in the committee’s area
• advocate good soil management with the farming sector to benefit flood risk and reduce diffuse pollution

Business interests

• experience in securing funding/investment from/for the private sector
• currently working in the business sector and understands the impact that flooding can have on private business
• established links to economic/regeneration institutions such as chamber of commerce, local enterprise partnership and other business leader forums

People from a wide range of backgrounds are invited to apply for the posts, especially those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and women who are currently under-represented on regional flood and coastal committees.

A key role will be ensuring the aims of the National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy are embodied within the committee’s decisions and to ensure consistency between strategic and local plans.

Further information and how to apply is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/south-west-regional-flood-and-coastal-committee or contact pamela.udy@environment-agency.gov.uk on 02084 746298. The closing date for applications is Thursday 5 April at 5.30pm.

Engineers in a busy workshop.

The review, to be led by Dame Glenys Stacey, will look at opportunities for improving regulation and enforcement pre and post EU Exit, seek out ways to reduce duplication and allow farmers to concentrate on upholding key environmental and animal welfare standards as they produce fantastic British food.

For example, the current inspection regime can result in farmers being visited by as many as five different bodies – the Rural Payments Agency, Natural England, the Animal Plant and Health Agency, the Environment Agency or their local authority – all asking for similar information.

Each visit adds to the burden on farmers, and rigidity of the Common Agriculture Policy rules require inspections of precise criteria such as field margin dimensions and the specific placement of trees in fields. Equally, inspections over lapses such as slurry management and welfare standards are often haphazard.

The review comes as the government is preparing to publish an agriculture Command Paper that consults on future policy in this country after we leave the European Union.

Speaking at the NFU Conference today, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:

The rules associated with current subsidy payments are unwieldy and, very often, counter-productive. They require farmers to spend long days ensuring conformity with bureaucratic processes which secure scarcely any environmental benefits and which, in turn, require a vast and inflexible bureaucracy to police.

As does the current farming inspection regime, which, despite several recent attempts at simplification, remains as unwieldy as ever. Every year, farmers are confronted by a barrage of inspections from different agencies, often duplicating costs in both time and money.

I am delighted to announce that Dame Glenys Stacey will be conducting a thorough and comprehensive review of this regime, seeing how these inspections can be removed, reduced or improved to reduce the burden on farmers, while maintaining and enhancing our animal and plant health standards.

This review is not only long-required but also very timely as we guide our future approach and maximise the opportunities of leaving the EU. It will provide answers to some key general questions to guide our future approach, subject to the outcome of our negotiations with the EU.

Dame Glenys Stacey said:

I am delighted to be asked to lead the much needed review of the farm inspection regime. With farming at the heart of the quality and safety of the food on our plate as well, and central to the stewardship of our wildlife, land and rivers, this is an excellent time to be working with farmers and their representatives, and all those who inspect farms, so as to get to a sensible inspection regime, post Brexit.

Dame Glenys has over twenty years’ experience in driving reform within public sector organisations. As a former Chief Executive of Animal health, a precursor to the current Animal and Plant Health Agency, she is well versed in the inspection challenge facing our farmers.

The Command Paper will provide further detail on government proposals to design agricultural support fit for the future after we leave the EU.

1. Dame Glenys is an experienced regulator, chief inspector and chief executive. A solicitor by profession, she has over twenty years’ CEO experience, having led the start up or turnaround of a number of public sector organisations responsible for legal and/or regulatory services. As the former CEO of Defra’s Animal Health Agency she has valuable experience of farm inspection regimes, and the nature and value of farming in the UK.

2. Dame Glenys brings regulation and inspection experience from other public services. She joined Ofqual, the exams regulator in 2011 as its CEO and Chief Regulator, leading the implementation of the government’s planned reforms to qualifications in England and providing advice to government on how best to deliver government’s policy aims for qualifications. In March 2016 Dame Glenys took up the post of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Probation. The inspectorate sets standards and drives improvement in probation services, with the joint aims of reducing reoffending and protecting the public.

The Attorney General for England and Wales, Jeremy Wright QC MP, representing the UK Government, and the Attorneys General of eight of the UK’s Overseas Territories (Anguilla; Bermuda; the British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands; Montserrat; Pitcairn; the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia; and the Turks and Caicos Islands), the Senior Advisory Counsel of Gibraltar, Solicitors General of the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey, and a representative from the US Department of Justice met in Bermuda from 13-15 February 2018 to discuss a range of topics relating to the rule of law and administration of justice in the Territories and to enhance our mutual cooperation.

The Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC MP said:

During the conference we discussed cooperation on a number of important topics, including anti-corruption, transparency in the financial services industries in the Territories, child safeguarding, human rights, hurricane recovery efforts, criminal justice issues and support for the Territories’ good governance. We also had the opportunity to discuss the Territories’ interests in our Exit from the EU.

We celebrated the extension to Bermuda and St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha of the UN Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women demonstrating our shared commitment to raising human rights standards across the Territories.

We also welcomed continued work by the Territories with financial centres to support international efforts to tackle criminal financing and to promote tax transparency, in particular the implementation of bilateral arrangements on beneficial ownership, and the example set by the Territories as early adopters of the OECD Common Reporting Standard.

We also highlighted important developments in anti-corruption, including ongoing work in Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos Islands towards extension of key conventions to their jurisdictions.

Those in attendance committed to:

1. Continue involving the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies in negotiations for leaving the EU, ensuring their interests are taken into account as we move to Phase 2. The UK Government has also committed to supporting the Overseas Territories Governments and the Crown Dependencies in their preparedness planning for EU Exit.

2. Continue to work in partnership with Territory governments to ensure that our financial sectors are hostile to illicit finances, to implement the bilateral arrangements on beneficial ownership, and to support each jurisdiction to adopt and implement international standards, including compliance with Financial Action Task Force standards, where they have not done so.

3. Work with the Overseas Territories Criminal Justice Adviser and Law Enforcement Adviser and with in-Territory stakeholders to build the legislative framework necessary to support reform of the criminal justice system, improve efficiency in the investigation and prosecution of crime, as well as efforts to prevent crime, supported by UK programme funds where necessary.

4. Continue to support efforts by relevant Territory governments on hurricane preparedness and recovery, including continued coordination and support between Territories.

5. Support the Territories to achieve extension of core Human Rights conventions where these have not been extended, and to complete a review of outstanding reservations against core UN human rights treaties.

6. Further enhance cooperation on child safeguarding through progress under the Overseas Territories Memorandum of Understanding and finalisation of National Response Plans and work towards extension of the Lanzarote Convention.

7. Work in partnership with Territories to address gaps in legislation pertaining to maritime obligations.