Public register

Update

On 22 October 2025, the Government provided a Progress Update and Next Steps on the Regulation Action Plan, which included the following statement on the Public Register:

• “The government has also worked with the Investment Association (the IA), asking them to discontinue the IA’s Public Register which tracks shareholder dissent. We are grateful to the IA for establishing the Register following a request from government, however the Register has served its purpose, and this removes duplication with UK Corporate Governance Code requirements that already provide transparency for investors, supporting our wider efforts to streamline our corporate reporting framework.”

In response the IA commented:

• “The IA has hosted the Public Register since its inception eight years ago. During this time, it has achieved its intended purpose to embed practices that promote engagement between boards and shareholders, particularly where there has been significant dissent. While the Register will no longer be updated, its objectives will continue to be met through disclosure against the UK Corporate Governance Code and ongoing stewardship activities. We remain committed to supporting effective engagement between companies and their shareholders and to promoting high standards of governance that underpin the UK’s global competitiveness.”  

In response to these announcements, the IA will cease to add any further resolutions or companies to the Public Register. 

The IA will continue to add Update Statements for any resolution which is already on the Public Register, if a company wishes for their Update Statement to be added the Public Register it should be sent to: [email protected] 

++++++++++++++++++++

The Public Register is the world’s first register tracking shareholder dissent at listed companies. The Register details companies in the UK FTSE All Share that have received significant opposition by shareholders to a resolution (written statements by a company’s board of directors detailing a binding corporate action), or any resolution withdrawn before a shareholder vote. 

In doing so, it helps to identify which companies are acknowledging shareholder dissent and how they are addressing their shareholders’ concerns.

We included the idea of setting up a Public Register of shareholder votes in our response to the Government’s Green Paper on Corporate Governance Reform in 2017. In its final response in August 2017, the Government asked the IA to develop and maintain the Register, which includes:

• key details about the resolution (title, meeting date etc)
• results of the shareholder vote (percentage of votes cast for and against, number of votes withheld, and percentage of the issued share capital voted)
• a link to the AGM/GM results, including any statement made by the Board in response to the significant vote against at the time of the meeting – as required under provision E.2.2. of the UK Corporate Governance Code
• a link to any further announcements by the company in response to the dissent, including shareholder views and what the company has done or plans to do.

The new UK Corporate Governance Code requires an update statement within six months of the shareholder meeting. To help companies, we’ve produced guidance setting out what investors would like to see from these update statements. You can find this guidance here.

You can find more details about the approach on the methodology page. For any further questions or to submit an update statement to the Public Register email [email protected]. For media enquiries email [email protected].