Director Appointments UK
For company directors

Understanding UK insolvency practices.

Eight plain-English guides for company directors: the formal routes a struggling company can take, what they cost, where personal liability actually starts, and how to check that the person you are about to appoint is licensed. This is general information, not advice about your company—see how this directory works for what we do and do not check.

We have not checked the register. Listings on this site have not been cross-checked against the Insolvency Service register, and we hold no practitioner licence numbers. Any practitioner named here is reproduced from the firm’s own website and is not independently confirmed. Check the licence yourself on the Insolvency Service register before appointing anyone.

Start here if you are not sure where to start

If a winding-up petition has been served, read what happens on a first call and make one this week— once a petition is advertised the company’s bank account is usually frozen and the window for choosing your own route has effectively closed.

If you are earlier than that, the useful sequence is: understand which routes exist, find out where your own exposure is, then work out who to call and check they are licensed before appointing anyone.

And if you are still deciding which websites to trust, start with how these sites make money—including this one.

Finding and vetting

Choosing, checking and what these sites are
Finding and vetting
How to check a licence yourself, in five minutes.
A step-by-step guide to checking a UK insolvency practitioner's licence on the Insolvency Service register, which bodies issue licences, and what a firm name does not tell you.
Finding and vetting
How these sites make money, including this one.
How insolvency directories, comparison sites and lead-generation businesses are paid, what happens to your details when you fill in a form, and how to tell which kind of site you are on.
Finding and vetting
Choosing between practices, without a shortlist we made for you.
What actually distinguishes one insolvency practice from another: licence, size and sector fit, who does the work, fee transparency, and why speaking to more than one is normal.
Finding and vetting
What happens when you pick up the phone.
What happens on a first call with an insolvency practice, whether it is free, what information to have ready, and the questions worth asking before you commit to anything.

Procedure routes

The formal routes a company can take
Procedure routes
Five routes, compared side by side.
CVL, CVA, administration, compulsory liquidation and MVL compared side by side: who starts it, whether the company survives, and how much control a director keeps.
Procedure routes
Creditors’ voluntary liquidation, step by step.
What a CVL is, the steps from board resolution to dissolution, how long it takes, what happens to directors and employees, and what it costs.

Director personal risk

Where the company's problem becomes yours
Personal risk
When the company’s problem becomes yours.
When a director becomes personally liable: wrongful trading, overdrawn director's loan accounts, personal guarantees, preferences and disqualification, explained plainly.

Cost and process

What it costs and who pays
Cost and process
What it costs, and who actually pays it.
What a CVL, CVA, administration and MVL cost in practice, whether the fee comes from the company or the director, and what to ask before signing an engagement letter.

Where this directory fits in

These pages explain the general framework. They are not advice about your company, and we are not insolvency practitioners. The directory lists UK insolvency practices and their confirmed offices so you can contact one directly—see how it works for exactly what we have and have not verified about each listing, and list your firm if you are a practice wanting a listing corrected or removed.