Straight answers for directors whose company is in trouble
If your company cannot pay what it owes, you need to know two things fast: what happens to the company, and what happens to you. Plain-English guides, then a free introduction to a licensed insolvency practitioner who can act.
We are an information service, not advisers. Practitioners pay us a referral fee. You pay nothing.
Start with your situation
Pick the one that matches tonight's problem. Each guide tells you what happens next and what you can still do.
My directors' loan account is overdrawn
Why it matters more than you think, and what a liquidator will do about it.
I need to close a company that cannot pay its debts
Creditors' voluntary liquidation, what it costs, and how long it takes.
I'm not sure whether the company is insolvent
The two tests, and the duties that switch on the moment you know.
I've received a winding-up petition
You have about seven working days. Here is how to use them.
We can't repay the Bounce Back Loan
Whether you are personally liable, and what the bank can actually do.
A personal guarantee is being called in
How enforcement works and where there is room to negotiate.
Written for directors, not for insolvency firms
Most of what you will find online about insolvency is written by insolvency firms, for insolvency firms. It is accurate, and it does not answer the question you are actually asking: what happens to me?
Our guides start from that question. They set out what happens, in what order, what you can still influence, and what to do this week. Every guide is checked against the Insolvency Act 1986 and current HMRC guidance, dated, and reviewed when the rules change.
How it works
Three steps. No sales call.
Read the guide that matches your situation
Each one ends with a short list of what to do this week, and what not to do.
Tell us what is going on
One form, five questions. Your name, the company, rough turnover, the problem and a number to call.
A licensed practitioner calls you
Chosen for the type of problem you have and for calling back the same day. The first conversation is free and confidential.
Three things directors get wrong
Waiting
The duties that protect you personally switch on the day you know the company cannot pay its debts. Trading on after that point is where personal liability starts.
Paying themselves first
Repaying your own loan or a family member ahead of other creditors is a preference, and a liquidator will reverse it.
Filing a strike-off to avoid the cost
A DS01 with debts outstanding gets objected to by HMRC and leaves you with the same problem a year later, plus scrutiny.
Tell us what is happening
Five questions. A licensed practitioner matched to your problem will call you, usually within a few hours during the working day.
Your details go to that one practitioner and nobody else. No newsletter, no list, no second call from someone you did not ask for.