CommonControl

Privacy notice

Last updated: 2 November 2026

CommonControl (commoncontrol.co.uk) is run by Akinola Adesina, an individual based in the UK ("we", "us"). We are the data controller for the personal data described in this notice. Contact: [email protected].

ICO registration number: ZC289706

Summary

  • We show information from the public Companies House register to help people understand company ownership and associated companies for UK corporation tax.
  • The personal data we hold comes only from Companies House. We don't add to it from other sources.
  • Anything you type into the site (companies you add, notes, sources) stays in your browser. We never receive or store it.
  • We don't keep records of which companies or people you search for.
  • We don't use analytics or tracking cookies. Our hosting provider's network sets one security cookie, explained under "Cookies" below.
  • You can object to us showing information about you. See "Your rights" below.

Information about people on the Companies House register

What we hold

For company officers and people with significant control (PSCs), we hold what Companies House publishes:

  • name
  • month and year of birth
  • nationality and country of residence
  • correspondence (service) address
  • occupation, where given
  • appointment, notification and cessation dates
  • the nature and level of their control, such as ownership and voting bands

We don't hold residential addresses, full dates of birth or any information Companies House has suppressed or protected.

Where it comes from

The Companies House public API and its free PSC data product. Contains public sector information from Companies House.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

We use it to show company ownership structures and to identify likely associated companies and groups for UK corporation tax. Our lawful basis is legitimate interests: helping accountants, tax advisers and directors apply the tax rules correctly, using information the law already requires to be public for transparency about who owns and controls companies. We have assessed that this does not override the interests of the people concerned. You can ask us for a copy of that assessment.

How long we keep it

  • Company lookups are cached for up to 7 days, then fetched again from Companies House.
  • Our index of people with significant control is rebuilt from the Companies House data each day.
  • When Companies House removes, corrects or suppresses information, it disappears from our site at the next refresh, within 7 days.

Who we share it with

We don't sell or share it. It is stored in the UK, in DigitalOcean's London data centre. DigitalOcean hosts the site and database and processes the data on our behalf.

Information about people using the site

What you type in

Companies you add by hand, sources and notes are kept in your browser only and are deleted when you close the tab. PDFs are created on your own device. We never see this information.

Searches

We don't keep records of which companies or people you search for, and we don't link searches to you.

Analytics

We don't use analytics or any other tool that tracks visits.

Server logs

To stop the site being overloaded or scraped, we count requests from each IP address. The counts are held in the server's memory only, never saved, and each IP address is forgotten within 10 minutes. Our own logs record errors only, never IP addresses or what you searched for.

DigitalOcean, our hosting provider, may keep its own technical logs (for example IP addresses) for security and to keep its service running. Cloudflare, which DigitalOcean uses to deliver the site, may also keep technical logs.

Emails

If you contact us, we keep your email and our reply for up to 2 years, then delete them.

Cookies

We don't set any cookies ourselves, and the site doesn't save anything in your browser's storage.

Our hosting provider, DigitalOcean, delivers the site through Cloudflare's network. Cloudflare sets one cookie, `__cf_bm`, to tell people apart from automated bots and protect the site from abuse. It's strictly necessary for keeping the site secure, so it doesn't need your consent. It expires after 30 minutes, doesn't identify you, and isn't used for tracking or advertising. We can't read it.

Your rights

You can ask us to:

  • tell you what information we hold about you and give you a copy
  • correct it (we will also point you to Companies House, as the original source)
  • stop showing information about you (objection). We will stop unless we have compelling legitimate grounds, and we will tell you our decision
  • delete it
  • restrict how we use it

Email [email protected]. We will reply within one month.

Please note that the information comes from the public register, so it will remain available from Companies House. To change it at the source, contact Companies House. If your information is suppressed or protected at Companies House, tell us and we will remove it straight away.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

Changes

We will update this notice if anything changes and show the date at the top.