A customer has gone into liquidation, administration, or been struck off. What now?
The Companies House status of a debtor changes what is recoverable more than anything else on the ledger. Here is what each status means and what to do about it, quickly.
Check the register before you do anything
Every debtor company has a status at Companies House: active, in liquidation, in administration, dissolved, or with a strike-off proposal in progress. It costs nothing to look, and the answer decides your next step. A firm that sends a formal notice to a company in administration has wasted a stamp and may have breached the moratorium.
Liquidation
The company is being wound up. You cannot chase it; you lodge a proof of debt with the liquidator, with your invoices and statement. Unsecured creditors are paid last, from whatever is left after secured creditors and the liquidator's costs, and the dividend is often small or nil. Lodge the claim anyway: it costs nothing and you cannot be paid without it.
Administration
A statutory moratorium prevents creditors from enforcing. Lodge your claim with the administrator and watch for the outcome: a sale of the business (a "pre-pack" is common), a company voluntary arrangement, or liquidation. If the business is sold, the buyer does not usually take on the old company's debts.
Proposal to strike off
This is the one where speed matters. A company applying to be struck off must notify creditors, and you have a window to object to Companies House. An objection suspends the strike-off. Do it the day you see the notice; once the company is dissolved, there is no legal entity left to pursue.
Dissolved
Recovery from the company is not possible. Three routes remain: a successor business trading from the same premises with the same people, a personal guarantee if one was given, and, in serious cases, a director who traded while insolvent or who took assets out before dissolution. Restoration to the register is possible but rarely worth the cost for a trade debt.
Filings overdue
Accounts or a confirmation statement overdue is not insolvency, but a company that has stopped filing is often a company in trouble. Move it up the queue.