Received a winding up petition ? Don’t worry, we can help

When a creditor issues a winding up petition against your company, they are not wanting it to be wound up, they simply want their debt paying and this is a method of achieving that.

Its not the end of the world and there is a lot you can do to stop it

The key action you need to take is not to ignore the petition.  If you do, the petition will be granted and your company will be in liquidation

Consider if the debt is disputed.  This can be for the amount or there isn’t a debt due

If it is disputed and it is a genuine dispute, you need to inform the court and you may need to provide evidence.

If the debt is due and not disputed, the first thing you should do is speak to the creditor and ask for time to pay.  HMRC make time to pay arrangements but you need to request it.

Other creditors will consider the request for time to pay but it needs to be a sensible repayment plan.  Most of your creditors will also be being chased by their creditors so don’t assume its only you with cashflow problems

If you reach a repayment plan you need to send this off to the court and ask the creditor to withdraw the petition and not continue with the advertisement.

If it is advertised in the London Gazette, your bank will freeze your bank account.

If you can’t pay or the creditor wont accept a repayment plan, you have other options to consider

You can use  administration  to stop the action and the moratorium it gives will allow time to consider other options

On option could be to agree a  company voluntary arrangement (CVA)

To consider your options, you can also apply to the court for an adjournment of the petition while you seek professional advice from someone like us or if you are trying to raise funding that will allow the debt to be paid.

It may be that you may need legal representation at the hearing of the petition to argue your case against it being granted.

They key point is that on receipt of a winding up petition, you need to take action

the easiest action to take is to contact us

We can then explain the options and best course of action to take.