Sources of company membership information

In order to work out whether a company is a public authority by virtue of FOIA Section 6 or a Scottish public authority by virtue of FOISA Section 6, it's useful to be able to find out who its members are. There are various ways of doing this, none of which will work in all circumstances.

The annual accounts of many public authorities list their subsidiaries, either as long-term investments or as associated undertakings. The presence of group accounts are a signal that an authority is likely to have subsidiaries. In some cases, the published accounts of a subsidiary will state who its parent is in the introduction.

When they update their entry in the Data Protection Register, bodies are required to declare whether they're public authorities, so it's sometimes easier just to find that a body admits to being a public authority without working out why.

All registered companies are required to keep a register of members at their registered office (or a specified alternate location), and to let people inspect it. Under SI 2007/2612, doing so costs £3.50 per hour. Alternatively, copies can be requested for £1 + postage for each of the first five entries.

Private companies limited by shares are required to include a list of members in their annual return (at least every third return), which can be obtained from Companies House for £1. This requirement doesn't apply to companies limited by guarantee, or to most PLCs.