Your Options

My business is struggling and cannot pay its debts. Where can I get help?

You can get lots of help right here! We are here to help you take back control of your business and ensure that you put worry behind you.

This page and this website are carefully designed to explain, in straight forward language, the various options that you have as a company director.  We want you to carefully consider each option.  These guides below are accurate, legally correct  and written by qualified experts in turnaround and insolvency including licensed insolvency practitioners. Beware of websites and unqualified and unregulated “advisors”

Once you have read the guides you may have questions about how each option may affect YOU and YOUR company. Of course you can call our helpful team and they will guide you on your particular circumstances too. Why not take control of your situation and give us a call.

Rescue Options

If my company can’t pay its debts, how can it avoid insolvency? What can you do?

Plan A; Avoid insolvency with informal deal

What is a company voluntary arrangement? How does it work? Can costs be cut dramatically in a CVA?

Company Voluntary Arrangement or CVA

What is administration? What does it mean to appoint an administrator and how does it work? Who can appoint an administrator? What is a pre pack administration ? How do you do an administration followed by CVA?

Administration

A common sense way to trade out of cash flow problems.This a very common approach. Your company hits a problem that is not life threatening but you have serious cashflow difficulties, possibly Tax and VAT arrears and creditors shouting loudly. Following this guide and applying common sense may help you get out of that position. However putting in more of your own money is not really trading out but delaying the inevitable if there is not a radical change in the running of the company or a big turnaround in its fortunes.  A good way of guaranteeing the future is to compromise some debts via a CVA and THEN put money into the business with a debenture to protect your position.

Trading Out

Under the Business Payments Support Service, your company can obtain a time to pay deal directly from the tax man. Call 0845 3021435 and ask for assistance. Ideally your will have prepared forecasts, cash flow forecasts and a plan to repay the tax over an AFFORDABLE period of time. We can help you with this.

Time to Pay VAT & PAYE Programme

Our guide to refinancing the company.

Refinance Your Company

Selling your business when it is in distress is difficult as buyers will want to know why and will price accordingly.  That said, if the problem is solvable they may well buy your business for assets like contacts, intellectual property etc. You can sell your business via Business Sale Report for instance. However do not be tempted to sell a business to someone that says you do not need to go into a formal insolvency process when it is obvious that it should be liquidated.  This could be deemed as defrauding creditors.  See our page here about this

What about a full independent business review of your financial situation?

YOUR CLOSING DOWN OPTIONS

Voluntary Liquidation

What if there was a way we could quickly close the company and get rid of our worry and stress? We don’t want to risk personal liability and we need to stop these creditors putting us under more pressure. Voluntary liquidation could be the answer!

Compulsory Liquidation

You could let the company go into a compulsory liquidation.  This would happen when a creditor issues a winding up petition against the company.  This isn’t really much of an option unless you have no money to pay for a voluntary liquidation and are prepared to see the company be wound up by the court. This is a slow and stressful process that will not look good on your credit file.  The official receiver is likely to have more resources to pursue for wrongdoing and is more likely to hold you personally liable for some of the company’s debts and pursue you for any unlawful withdrawings.

Company Voluntary Dissolution

With only a few debts, dissolution might be the answer

Receivership

If your business is in trouble and the relationship with the bank is breaking down, we suggest that you look carefully at the guides in this site. Work out the viability of the business, can you trim costs? Work out the problems, set out the position and have a meeting of directors.   Receivership is often at term used instead of Administration which is more commonly the case.  Receivership only really applies if you have borrowed money from a bank prior to 2002.