The Governance Register maps who governs UK charities and the companies behind them, built entirely from public filings. This page explains what you are looking at, how to use it, and the rules it holds itself to.
01
What the register is
One connected record of UK charity and company governance. It resolves the same person across registers - a charity trustee who is also a company director is one profile, not two - and shows how boards connect through the people who sit on them. Everything is compiled from statutory filings: nothing here is self-declared, and nothing is AI-generated. Every fact traces back to a filing, with dates. Browsing is free after a quick sign-in.
Is any of this made up, guessed, or AI-written?
No. Every fact on a profile comes from a public filing and can be traced to it. Some panels show derived signals - a board's typical term length, expected turnover, a renewal cliff - and those are always labelled as patterns read from the filed history, never presented as facts about a person, and always carrying an information mark that explains exactly how they were computed. We would rather tell you what is missing than invent it.
Do people or charities sign up to be listed?
No. The register republishes and connects information that is already public on statutory registers. Being on it is not something anyone opts into - and nobody has written their own entry. If a record is wrong, we correct it against the source: see If you are on the register.
02
Where the data comes from
Four public sources, each refreshed to its own cadence: Companies House (the full officer and persons-with-significant-control record, via its live change streams), the Charity Commission for England and Wales (reloaded in full each week), and, as context where a record supports it, the schools register (GIAS) and the Cabinet Office public-bodies directory. It contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. For the full method - what each figure counts and exactly where it stops - see Method and limits.
How current is it?
Companies House appointments and resignations are observed within days of filing through its change streams. Charity Commission data is reloaded weekly. Financial figures come from filed annual returns, which lag - a charity's latest accounts may be a year or more old, and each figure shows the period it covers.
What does it deliberately not hold?
No UK public register publishes company turnover, so we show none - only the filing-size category a company's own accounts fall into. Companies House records no job titles below the board, so there is no CEO or executive layer unless that person also holds a directorship. Contact emails exist for only a minority of charities and are shown only where they genuinely exist. We show what is filed and say what is not.
03
How to use it
Start from any person, charity or company and follow the connections. The tools below are what is live today.
Free
Search and profiles
Search a person, charity or company from the bar at the top. Each profile shows the board, tenure, finances where filed, and the boards its people also govern.
Free
The connection map
Every profile has a constellation of who it connects to. Free accounts can open it a limited number of times, with the nearest layers named and the wider network shown blurred; paid tiers reach deeper with everyone named.
Free
Find a path
Find a path traces the shortest route from one person or board to another through the boardrooms they have shared - current and historical.
Free
Catalysts
Catalysts lists the most-connected people in the graph - those who link the most boards together.
Free
Board DNA and term rhythm
On a charity page: how the board is put together, and a chart of where its trustees have historically left - the board's own term rhythm. See Reading the numbers.
Free
Health of the organisation
On a charity page: income against spending over the filed years, reserves against the sector median for its size, and other filed facts - shown side by side, with no verdict attached.
Pro
The recruiter dashboard
Charities and companies with a board-renewal signal, filterable by sector, region and board age, plus the open seats currently filed on the register. See For recruiters.
Pro
Shortlists and export
Save charities and people to shortlists (shared across a firm's seats on the Firm tier), and export to CSV. Exports are watermarked and attributed.
04
Reading the numbers honestly
The register draws a hard line between a filed fact and a pattern, and it tries never to cross it. These are the rules it holds itself to - the ones worth knowing before you act on anything here.
What does the information mark (i) mean?
Every derived figure carries one. Open it and it tells you the exact source and calculation behind the number - which filings, which dates, which formula. If a number cannot show its working, it does not belong on the page.
What is a board's "term rhythm"?
It is where a board's trustees have actually left, counted over its whole filed history - not a rule written anywhere. If most trustees leave around year three or year six, that is the board's rhythm. It is a description of the past, shown so you can see the shape of a normal exit at that board. It is never a prediction about any individual trustee.
Why does it say "likely 1, possibly 2" instead of a number?
Expected turnover is a board-level estimate - the sum of each trustee's likelihood of stepping down, from the board's own rhythm. A board does not have fractional seats, so we show it as a plain range rather than a false-precision decimal. The exact figure is in the information mark for anyone who wants it.
Why is a person's age shown as a band?
Companies House publishes a director's birth month and year. We show only a five-year age band derived from the year, and never the month or an exact date of birth - it narrows identification for no useful purpose. This is one policy across the whole site.
Does the register ever say someone is "available" or "about to leave"?
No. Availability is a fact only the person can state, and no public filing carries it - so we never assert it. What you see is the board's rhythm (a pattern) or a seat that has actually been vacated (a filed fact). A vacancy is stated; a person's intentions never are.
Does it score or rank people?
No. Named people are described only in counts, dates and sources - terms served, boards governed, sectors, chair roles. There is no rating, no "strong fit", no verdict on any individual. You draw the conclusion; the register supplies the record.
What is a "renewal cliff"?
A computed flag, not a filed fact: a charity carries it when a large share of its current board has served past the point the model treats as a renewal signal, read from dated appointment history. It is scored only over charities with enough dated trustee history to profile at all - a charity too sparsely dated is absent from the figure, never counted as clear. Full definition.
How confident is the ownership data?
Around nine million persons-with-significant-control links sit behind the ownership panels, and each is graded before it is shown. The large majority are published as fact; the rest are always shown hedged, marked as a possible match and never as confirmed ownership.
05
If you are on the register
You are here because you appear on a public statutory register - as a trustee, a director, or both. You did not need to do anything to be listed, and you have not written any of it.
How do I correct something that is wrong?
Tell us and we will check it against the source register. Corrections are part of the product, not an afterthought. If the error is in the underlying filing itself, we will point you to how it is corrected at the source.
Can I add to my record, or say I am open to roles?
Not at the moment. The register is built from filings, not self-declared profiles, so there is no self-service page to edit and no way to mark yourself available. You can ask us to correct or annotate a record.
Can I be contacted through the site?
Contact data comes from charities' own public websites and registers and is shown, on paid tiers only, for legitimate recruitment outreach. You can opt out of being contacted through this platform at any time.
Does the register imply I am about to leave a board?
No. Nothing here is a statement about your plans. Where a board's term rhythm is shown, it describes that board's history, not your intentions - and it is always framed that way.
06
If your charity or board is on it
Your charity is here because it is on the Charity Commission register and, where incorporated, at Companies House. The figures come from your own filed returns.
Why is my charity's financial information shown?
It is drawn from your filed annual returns, which are public on the Charity Commission register. We show income against spending, and reserves against the median for charities of your size, as context - facts placed side by side. The register attaches no verdict and no rating; it does not call a charity healthy or at risk.
It shows "spending exceeded income" - is that a judgement?
No. It states two filed figures and the bars show both. The same card states the opposite just as plainly when income exceeded spending. It is description, not assessment - and a year of higher spending is often a planned, healthy draw-down of a grant.
Something about our board is wrong. How do we fix it?
A trustee, chair or governance lead can contact us and we will check it against the source. If your board's record has context the filings cannot show, tell us - we will look at how best to reflect it.
07
Accounts and pricing
Browsing is free once you sign in. Sign-in is passwordless: enter your email and we send a six-digit code - no password to set or remember.
What is free, and what needs a paid tier?
Free covers search, profiles, a limited number of connection-map views, Find a path and Catalysts. The paid tiers (Solo for an individual, Firm for a firm with shared seats) add the recruiter dashboard, deeper fully-named connection maps, shortlists, watermarked export and higher monthly allowances. See Recruiter pricing for current rates.
Do I need an account just to look something up?
You need a free sign-in to browse profiles and the register. The paid workspace is only needed for the recruiter tools, larger maps and export.
08
Privacy, corrections and the law
The register republishes information already public on statutory registers, resolved and connected. It holds itself to the rules above, and to a simple promise: it will say what it counts and where it stops.
What are my data rights?
The register contains public-record information about named people and organisations. You can ask us to correct an error, annotate a record, or opt out of being contacted through the platform. Our full statement is on the Data and privacy page.
How do I report an error or get in touch?
Use the contact page. Corrections against the source register, questions about a record, and opt-out requests all go there.
Who publishes the register?
The Governance Register is published by WhatLabs Ltd. It contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.