Sole traders, and partnerships in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, are individual subscribers under PECR, so their numbers belong on the TPS. Limited companies, LLPs, partnerships in Scotland and other bodies with their own legal personality are corporate subscribers, so theirs belong on the CTPS. Either way, once a number has been listed for 28 days, a marketing call to it is unlawful without that subscriber's permission, so the practical answer for a small business making calls is to screen every number against both.
This is a plain-English summary of the regulations, not legal advice.
Where the line is drawn
The split comes from two definitions in regulation 2 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. The first is "individual", which PECR defines as "a living individual and includes an unincorporated body of such individuals". A sole trader is a living individual. An ordinary partnership is an unincorporated body of individuals. Both sit on the individual side.
The second is "corporate subscriber". Regulation 2 lists five kinds:
- a company within the meaning of section 735(1) of the Companies Act 1985;
- a company incorporated in pursuance of a royal charter or letters patent;
- a partnership in Scotland;
- a corporation sole;
- any other body corporate or entity which is a legal person distinct from its members.
The text is on legislation.gov.uk. Note the third line. A partnership in Scotland is named as corporate, so a partnership is not automatically a TPS number. Where the firm is based changes the answer.
The map for common business types
| Business type | PECR status | Register |
|---|---|---|
| Sole trader, anywhere in the UK | Individual | TPS |
| Partnership in England, Wales or Northern Ireland | Individual (an unincorporated body of individuals) | TPS |
| Partnership in Scotland | Corporate (named in regulation 2) | CTPS |
| Limited company or plc | Corporate | CTPS |
| Limited liability partnership (LLP) | Corporate (a body corporate under the LLP Act 2000) | CTPS |
| Charitable incorporated organisation (England and Wales) | Corporate (a body corporate under the Charities Act 2011) | CTPS |
| Public body with its own legal personality | Corporate (the regulation 2 catch-all) | CTPS |
| Unincorporated club, society or charity | Individual (an unincorporated body of individuals) | TPS |
The LLP line is worth a second look, because the name says partnership. Section 1 of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000 calls an LLP "a body corporate (with legal personality separate from that of its members)". That puts it in the regulation 2 catch-all, next to limited companies. Section 205 of the Charities Act 2011 does the same for a charitable incorporated organisation: "A CIO is a body corporate."
The register follows the line, not the firm
PECR attaches rights to the subscriber, and regulation 2 defines a subscriber as "a person who is a party to a contract with a provider of public electronic communications services". So the question is who holds the contract for that particular number, not what the business on your list is called.
That matters more than it sounds. A limited company's office line is held by the company and sits on the corporate side. Its director's mobile, if the director pays for it on a personal contract, is held by an individual and sits on the individual side, even though every call to it is about company business. The same organisation can have numbers on both registers. I covered how mobiles behave in does the TPS cover mobile numbers; the short version is that a sole trader's mobile is a TPS number like any other.
Both registers are one register in law. Regulation 26 requires a single register of numbers whose subscribers have said they do not want unsolicited marketing calls, and regulation 21(1)(b) bans those calls to any number on it. The TPS and CTPS are how that register is run for individual and corporate subscribers, which is why a hit on either has the same effect on your call.
How to tell which a prospect is
You can usually tell the organisation's status from public information. The line's status is harder.
- Read the name. "Ltd", "Limited", "plc" or "LLP" in the trading name means a body corporate.
- Search Companies House. The Companies House register lists companies, LLPs and limited partnerships with their registered office. An active company or LLP entry means corporate. A limited partnership is still a partnership, so it is corporate only if it was registered in Scotland.
- Do not read too much into a missing entry. A partnership in Scotland is corporate under regulation 2 whether or not you find it at Companies House. A sole trader can trade under a name that sounds like a firm.
- Check the address for partnerships. A partnership based in Scotland is on the corporate side; one in England, Wales or Northern Ireland is on the individual side.
All of that tells you about the organisation. It does not tell you who holds the contract for the number in your CRM, and you have no way to see that contract. So I would not route numbers to one register based on the business type. Check each number against both. The free TPS check and CTPS check look a single number up against the TPS and CTPS register files we hold under our DMA licence, and both pages check both registers in the same lookup.
Calls and emails follow different rules
The split matters for email in a different way. Regulation 22, the consent rule for marketing email, "applies to the transmission of unsolicited communications by means of electronic mail to individual subscribers". A sole trader or an English partnership is an individual subscriber, so a cold marketing email to them needs prior consent, or the soft opt-in in regulation 22(3): you got their details while selling, or negotiating to sell, them something, you market only your similar products and services, and you offered an opt-out when you collected the details and offer one in every message since. A limited company, an LLP or a Scottish partnership falls outside regulation 22.
Regulation 23 applies to every marketing email, whoever receives it: you may not disguise or conceal who the email is sent on behalf of, and you must give a valid address for opt-out requests. So the same prospect can be one you may call (if the number is clear) but may not cold email, or the other way round.
What this means for a small sales team
If your prospects are trades, shops, consultants and small practices, many of them will be sole traders and partnerships, and their numbers can be on the TPS. A screen against the CTPS alone misses every one of those. A screen against the TPS alone misses the limited companies and LLPs on the CTPS. The broader B2B picture is in B2B CTPS rules explained, and the register-by-register comparison is in TPS vs CTPS. The law behind both sits on the compliance page.
One-line answer
Sole traders and partnerships outside Scotland are individuals under PECR (TPS); companies, LLPs, Scottish partnerships and other bodies corporate are corporate (CTPS); because the register follows whoever holds the contract for each line, check every number against both.