How to Check if a UK Company Is Solvent

Signs a Company May Be Insolvent

Insolvency in the UK has a specific legal definition: a company is insolvent when it cannot pay its debts as they fall due (cash-flow insolvency) or when its liabilities exceed its assets (balance-sheet insolvency). But by the time insolvency is formally declared, creditors and partners have often already been burned.

The warning signs appear months or years before formal proceedings. Late payment of invoices is the most visible — if a company that used to pay in 30 days starts taking 60, then 90, then stops responding to payment chases, it's likely experiencing cash-flow pressure. But this data isn't publicly available.

What is publicly available — through Companies House, The Gazette, and the FCA Register — provides its own set of warning signs. Overdue annual accounts, sudden director resignations, new charges registered against company assets, and Gazette notices all signal trouble. These are the signals that our Corporate Distress Score synthesises into a single number.

Gazette Notices and What They Mean

The London Gazette is the UK government's official public record. Certain company events must be published there by law, and many of them relate to insolvency.

A winding-up petition notice means a creditor (often HMRC) has applied to the court to force the company into compulsory liquidation. This is serious — it means a creditor believes the company owes them money and is unable to pay. The company has a limited window to settle the debt, agree a payment plan, or dispute the claim before a winding-up order is made.

A strike-off notice (section 1000 of the Companies Act 2006) means the Registrar intends to remove the company from the register. This happens when Companies House believes the company is no longer carrying on business — typically after it fails to file annual accounts or confirmation statements.

An administration notice means the company has entered administration — a form of insolvency protection where an administrator takes control and tries to rescue the business or achieve a better outcome for creditors than immediate liquidation.

A voluntary liquidation notice means the directors have decided to wind the company up. This can be solvent (a Members' Voluntary Liquidation, where the company can pay all its debts) or insolvent (a Creditors' Voluntary Liquidation).

Filing Patterns That Signal Trouble

Companies House requires every UK company to file annual accounts and a confirmation statement. The deadlines are fixed and well-known. When a company misses them, it tells you something.

First-time late filing might be administrative negligence — a small company with no dedicated company secretary who simply forgot. It's not ideal, but it happens. Companies House issues a penalty (£150-1,500 depending on how late and whether accounts are audited) and the company catches up.

Repeated late filing is a stronger signal. A company that's been filing late for three years running either doesn't care about compliance or is struggling to produce accounts. Both are concerning for anyone extending credit or entering a contract.

Stopping filing entirely is the strongest signal short of formal insolvency proceedings. When a company stops filing altogether, it typically means one of three things: the directors have abandoned the company, the company can't afford an accountant to prepare the accounts, or the accounts would reveal such poor financial health that the directors are delaying as long as possible.

The Corporate Distress Score weights filing compliance heavily because it's one of the most reliable predictors of future insolvency.

Companies House Status Codes

Every company on the Companies House register has a status that tells you its current legal state. The most common are:

Active means the company is currently registered and believed to be trading. This is the normal, healthy state. About 5 million UK companies are active.

Dissolved means the company has been removed from the register. It no longer legally exists. This can happen voluntarily (the directors applied to close it) or compulsorily (Companies House struck it off for non-compliance).

In Liquidation means the company is being wound up. Its assets are being sold to pay creditors. Once liquidation is complete, the company will be dissolved.

In Administration means an administrator has been appointed to manage the company. The aim is usually to rescue the business or achieve a better outcome for creditors.

Receivership means a creditor with a secured charge has appointed a receiver to sell specific assets to recover their debt.

Voluntary Arrangement means the company has agreed a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with its creditors — a formal deal to pay back a proportion of its debts over time.

The free Company Health Check tool shows the current status instantly for any UK company.

Monitoring Companies for Early Warning

Checking a company once tells you its state at that moment. Monitoring it continuously tells you about trends — and trends are what predict insolvency.

The most effective approach for businesses with ongoing supplier or customer relationships is to maintain a portfolio of companies you have exposure to, and check them regularly via the API. A weekly or monthly batch check of your portfolio against the Entity Intelligence endpoint will catch any changes in status, new Gazette notices, director resignations, or increases in the Distress Score.

Set up automated alerts when a Distress Score increases by more than 10 points, when a new charge is registered, when a director resigns, or when a Gazette notice appears. These are the early warning signals that give you time to act — reducing credit exposure, finding alternative suppliers, or accelerating payment collection — before the company formally enters insolvency proceedings.

For a portfolio of 1,000 companies checked weekly at summary depth, the cost is 2,000 credits per week (£3.50) — significantly cheaper than traditional credit monitoring services, and the data is returned in structured JSON that integrates directly into your systems.