How to search for a winding-up petition

A petition to wind up a company is recorded in three places, at different times. The Gazette advertises it. The court keeps a registry of it. Companies House records only what the court decides. Each answers a different question, and a search of one alone can miss a petition the others would show.

The Gazette

In England and Wales the petitioner must give notice of the petition in The Gazette unless the court directs otherwise (rule 7.10 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016). The timing is fixed. Where a creditor petitions, the notice must appear at least seven business days after the petition was served on the company and at least seven business days before the hearing. Where the company petitions itself, it must appear at least seven business days before the hearing.

The Gazette’s notices can be searched free at thegazette.co.uk. Choose Corporate insolvency, then the notice types under Liquidation by the Court: petitions to wind up, dismissal of a winding-up petition, and winding-up orders. Search by the company’s name or its registered number; most notices state the number. A petition notice usually gives:

• the company, its registered number and its registered office;
• the date the petition was presented, and who presented it;
• the court and the case number;
• the date, time and place of the hearing;
• how to take part: anyone intending to appear must give the petitioner notice by 4pm on the business day before the hearing (rule 7.14).

Read every notice for the company, not just the first. The Gazette sometimes publishes a later notice saying that an earlier one should not have appeared, or one published in substitution for an earlier notice that it corrects. Either changes what the first notice can be relied on for.

Scottish petitions are advertised in The Edinburgh Gazette and Northern Irish ones in The Belfast Gazette, both searchable on the same website. A Scottish notice reads differently: it names the Court of Session or the sheriff court and usually gives those with an interest eight days to lodge answers, rather than a hearing date.

The central registry of winding-up petitions

A Gazette search finds a petition only once it has been advertised, which is at least seven business days after it was served, and often several weeks after it was presented. For the most recent period, ask the court. The court keeps a central registry of winding-up petitions, and a creditor must search it before presenting one, to make sure no petition against the company is already pending: a second petition presented while one is pending goes ahead at the petitioner’s risk as to costs (the Insolvency Proceedings practice direction, paragraph 9.2).

The search is open to anyone by telephone. HM Courts and Tribunals Service lists it on GOV.UK under the High Court’s Companies List (once the Companies Court): call 0906 754 0043. GOV.UK gives the cost as 56 pence a minute plus your phone company’s access charge. A clear answer covers the petitions on the registry that day; it says nothing about a petition presented afterwards.

Companies House

The register does not record a petition. It records the outcome where the court makes a winding-up order: a copy of the order goes to the registrar, the company’s status becomes “Liquidation”, and the order appears in its filing history. A petition that is dismissed or withdrawn leaves the company’s record unchanged. See company statuses for what follows an order.

What a search cannot tell you

• Whether the debt is owed. A petition notice says the petitioner claims to be a creditor. It is not a finding, and a company can oppose it on the ground that the debt is disputed.
• How it ended. Hearings are often adjourned, and another creditor can take the petition over. The outcome appears only in a later notice or on the register. See when a petition is withdrawn or dismissed.
• Anything after the day you searched. A clear search is good for that day. A company dealing with you on credit can be petitioned the week after.

In a report

A Check the Director report reads The Gazette’s petitions to wind up a company, and their dismissals, for every company the person has been an officer of, from our own nightly copy of the Gazette’s notices. A Check the Company report does the same for the company. Each notice appears with the date it was advertised and a link to the notice itself, and the report states the period of notices it checked. A watch on the person or the company tells you when a new petition is advertised. For what a petition is and why it is advertised, see winding-up petitions and The Gazette.

This guide describes the public record in general terms, for England and Wales unless it says otherwise. It is not legal advice.