Academy Trust - new reporting requirements

Academy trusts are companies and as such are subject to statutory reporting obligations under the Companies Acts.

What is new?

From April new rules require companies, including academy trusts, to identity anyone who has significant control over the company. A new company register is required for persons with significant control (the PSC Register).

From June 2016 information from the PSC Register must be notified to Companies House annually, along with the company's Confirmation Statement, which now replaces the Annual Return.

What action is required?

Academy Trusts must:

• create and maintain a PSC Register; 
• take reasonable steps to identify whether there are any 'registrable persons'; 
• even if there are no registrable persons, it must still maintain a PSC Register.

Failure to do so is an offence which can lead to imprisonment and/or a fine.

In addition: 

• information concerning 'registrable persons' must not be entered in a PSC Register without their knowledge 
• any individual who is a 'registrable persons' is also under a duty to inform the company.  Failure to do so is an offence which can lead to imprisonment and/or a fine.

Who are persons with significant control?

The rules are complex, but include those who: 

• can exercise more than 25% of the voting rights; 
• have the right to appoint or remove the majority of directors (i.e. the trustees) of an academy trust.

For example, significant control exists: 

• if an academy trust has only 3 members;
• if the Diocese can appoint a majority of the trustees of the academy trust, they have significant control of the academy trust.
• where the Academy Trust operates a trading subsidiary and it is the sole member, it has the power to appoint the majority of directors, or the subsidiary board has only three directors.

July 2016