The Gazette is the UK's official public record, published in three editions: the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes. Insolvency practitioners, courts and other bodies place there the notices that the Insolvency Act 1986 and the insolvency rules require to be advertised, and the Gazette files them under corporate insolvency: petitions to wind up, winding-up orders, resolutions to wind up, appointments of liquidators and administrators, meetings of creditors and final meetings. A notice names the company and prints its Companies House company number, which is the key to the company record.
A liquidation is not always distress: in a members' voluntary liquidation the directors have declared the company solvent, so read the type of notice before you treat it as a warning. And strike-off notices from the Registrar of Companies appear in the same Gazette but are not insolvencies; Prometiam serves the strike-off signal separately, as a registry-compliance signal on the company record.
Prometiam serves UK corporate insolvency notices through GET /insolvency/search?country=GB. Each record carries the company name, the Companies House company number as printed on the notice, a normalised event type, the filing date and a link to the notice. GB notices are linked to company records: the company number joins to the Companies House record served by GET /companies/search?country=GB. Personal insolvency is never returned, and an empty result is not proof of solvency.
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Official source: The Gazette · Insolvency Act 1986
| Notice | What it means for a counterparty |
|---|---|
| Petition to wind up | A creditor, or the company itself, has asked the court to wind the company up. It is advertised ahead of the hearing so that other creditors can appear. A petition is a warning, not yet a winding-up. |
| Winding-up order | The court has ordered the company wound up (compulsory liquidation) and an officeholder takes control. In England and Wales that is the Official Receiver first. |
| Resolution to wind up, appointment of liquidator | Shareholders have resolved to wind the company up voluntarily. In a creditors’ voluntary liquidation the company is insolvent; in a members’ voluntary liquidation the directors have declared it solvent. |
| Administration | Administrators are appointed to rescue the company or realise its assets, and a moratorium holds creditors back while they work. |
| Receivership | A secured creditor has had a receiver appointed over assets. The company may still trade. |
| Notices to creditors | Invitations to prove debts, meetings of creditors, and the final meeting that precedes the company’s dissolution. |