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Group structure data shows how UK companies connect through ownership. It identifies each company’s parent and ultimate parent, and where the company sits in its group. The data comes from Creditsafe, and we refresh it monthly. You can see a company’s group on the group structure tab of its company page.

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How Creditsafe decides who is a parent

A company is a parent when it owns more than half of another company. An even 50:50 split does not make either owner the parent. Creditsafe records how each company is held using a holding type. We build group structure from three of them, and leave out the other two: Creditsafe’s own specification says to leave out jointly owned and associate holdings. With no controlling owner, there is no parent to place the company under.

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How a group is structured

Each company in a group has a level and a parent:
  • Level 0 is the ultimate parent. It is the company at the top of the group.
  • Each subsidiary records its parent company. This is the company directly above it.
A company that is not part of a group is its own ultimate parent.
Each record also gives the country of the company, of its parent, and of its ultimate parent. When the ultimate parent is registered outside the UK, we also record the group’s ultimate UK parents: the highest UK-registered companies in it. We use them as the top of the group in the platform.

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Consolidated accounts and double counting

A parent company that prepares group accounts must include its subsidiaries in them. Its employees and turnover then already cover the group. If you add the subsidiaries’ own figures on top, you count the same employees and turnover twice. To avoid this, we link each company to the company whose consolidated accounts include it:
  • If the ultimate parent files consolidated accounts, every company in the group consolidates into it.
  • If one other company in the group files them, the group consolidates into that company.
  • If several companies file them, we split the group into sub-groups. A sub-group is a company that files its own consolidated accounts, with the companies beneath it. A company can then fall under more than one set of consolidated accounts.
  • If no company in the group files them, the group cannot be consolidated.
A company counts as filing consolidated accounts when its latest accounts are consolidated, or Companies House lists them as group accounts. Small groups do not have to file consolidated accounts, which is why some groups cannot be consolidated. See What are subsidiary companies and how can they be removed? for how this works in the platform, and why some duplicates remain. A parent’s locations also include its subsidiaries’ addresses, flagged as subsidiary addresses.

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Websites within a group

Group structure and website matching are separate. Several companies can share one website without being in the same group. One group can also span several websites. When a company in a group has no website of its own, we can fill one in from a related company. We take it from the nearest parent that has a website, then from a parent or sibling with a closely matching name, and finally from the ultimate parent. The IsSubsidiaryCompanyWebsiteInheritedFromGroupStructure field flags when this has happened. From then on, the inherited website counts as the company’s own, including its website text.

Distinct brands

Find the meaningful operating companies within a group.

Linked companies

Companies connected in other ways that Creditsafe does not count as one group.

Removing subsidiaries

Avoid double counting employees and turnover in your lists and analysis.

SPV identification

Flag companies that exist to hold assets or financing within a group.

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Fields

Every group structure field, with its definition, is in GroupStructureDetails in the data dictionary.
Last modified on October 6, 2026