Audit1This article is for general information only. Audit1 is not a statutory audit, regulated assurance engagement or substitute for professional verification.
When you read a company’s public record, you may come across a notice saying the registrar intends to strike the company off. It is a significant signal, but it is a signal about filings and contact, not a verdict on the business itself. This article sets out what Companies House has said about the compulsory strike off process, so you know what you are looking at.
What is compulsory strike off?
Companies House describes it as its process for removing a company from the register when it has reasonable cause to believe the company is no longer carrying on business or in operation. In August 2020 it announced that it would resume the process from 10 October 2020. The process is separate from a company choosing to close itself down.
What can trigger it?
The announcement gives three examples of triggers:
- company documents are outstanding and there has been no response to letters;
- letters from Companies House are returned undelivered; or
- the company has no directors.
A company that does not file its annual accounts or confirmation statement will normally receive two letters from Companies House first.
What happens next?
If the letters do not produce a response, a notice is published in the Gazette to tell the public that the registrar intends to strike off the company. Companies House says that if there are no objections and the two-month period from publication of the notice has expired, the company will be struck off shortly afterwards.
How can it be stopped?
Companies House says directors must file their outstanding documents or contact Companies House urgently. Anyone with an interest in the company can also register an objection. If Companies House accepts the objection, the company can stay on the register, but it must show within the stated deadline that action is progressing, or the process resumes. Objections should be sent as early as possible after publication of the Gazette notice and at least two weeks before it expires. If an objection is about to expire and is still needed, it must be registered again.
What does a notice tell you, and what does it not?
A notice tells you that, at the time it was published, the registrar believed the company was not operating or had not responded about overdue filings. It does not, by itself, tell you why. A company might have missed a deadline through oversight and fix it quickly; another might be genuinely inactive.
Equally, the absence of a notice does not mean a company is healthy. Plenty of companies with no notices still have gaps in their filings or out-of-date information. The public record is a starting point for your own questions, not a replacement for checking directly or taking professional advice where it matters.
A short checklist when you see one
- Note the date the notice was published, and whether the two-month period has passed.
- Look at the filing history for overdue accounts or confirmation statements.
- Check whether the company currently has directors listed.
- Check the live position on the register, because the 2020 announcement describes the process as it stood then.
- If the company matters to a decision, ask the company directly and consider professional advice.
Information only. Please check the current GOV.UK and Companies House guidance before relying on any detail.