The Company Status code informs on the current administrative state of the company

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Active

This category groups companies that legally exist on the Companies House Register and are not currently subject to formal insolvency control.

• Active: 
          The standard, healthy status for a live UK company.
  

• 🟢Business Precaution: Open for business. Standard commercial due diligence applies (check credit scores and recent filing dates).
  

• Restored: 
          A company that was previously dissolved/struck off the register but has been brought back to life via court order or administrative restoration (often to pursue a legal claim, recover trapped assets, or fix a compliance oversight).
  

• 🟠Business Precaution: Open for business, with caution. Verify why it was previously struck off and recently restored before extending credit.
  

• Open: 
          The specific status used for ICVCs (Investment Companies with Variable Capital) —which are open-ended investment funds regulated by the FCA—rather than standard commercial companies.
  

• 🟢Business Precaution: Open for business (Financial Sector). Dealings are governed by FCA fund regulations.

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Dormant / Strike-off

This category groups companies that are legally in the Companies House Register and marked as “Active” but which are not necessarily available for regular business.

• Active (dormant): 
          The company is legally registered, but its directors have declared it has "no significant accounting transactions"  during the financial year (often used to hold intellectual property, real estate, or protect a brand name).
  

• 🟠Business Precaution: NOT open for commercial trading. By definition, a dormant company cannot buy/sell goods or services. If a dormant company tries to sign a trading contract with you, require confirmation that it has resumed trading and notify your risk team, as its filed accounts will show zero activity.
  

• Active - Proposal to Strike off: 
          Either the directors have applied to close the company, or  Companies House has begun compulsory termination because the company failed to file its annual accounts or confirmation statement.
  

• 🟠Business Precaution: Possible CREDIT RISK — Extend credit with precation. The company could be in termination process. Once the strike-off completes (usually within 2 months of the Gazette notice), the company ceases to exist and any remaining cash/assets are frozen and are passed to the Crown ( Bona Vacantia). It is advisable to check before entering into long-term contracts or pay advances.

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Voluntary Arrangement

Covers companies experiencing financial distress  and have reached a legally binding restructuring agreement (Company Voluntary Arrangement - CVA) with their creditors to pay off a proportion of their debts over time while avoiding liquidation.

• Voluntary Arrangement: 
          The company is operating under a CVA supervised by a licensed Insolvency Practitioner, but the existing directors remain in day-to-day control.
  

• 🟠Business Precaution: Open for business, but HIGH CREDIT RISK. The company has recently defaulted on historical debts. Only trade on pro-forma / cash-on-delivery terms, or obtain payment guarantees.
  

• VOLUNTARY ARRANGEMENT / ADMINISTRATIVE RECEIVER & VOLUNTARY ARRANGEMENT / RECEIVER MANAGER: 
          The company is in a CVA, and a secured lender has simultaneously appointed a receiver over specific (or all) company assets (note: "Receiver Manager" is specific to Scottish law).
  

• 🟠Business Precaution: EXTREME CAUTION. Control is split between a restructuring supervisor and a creditor's receiver seizing assets. The business is rarely viable for normal commercial trading; require upfront payment and written authorization from the appointed insolvency practitioner.

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Administration & Receivership

Regroups companies where management control has been partially or fully removed from the directors and handed to a licensed Insolvency Practitioner—either to rescue/sell the business ( Administration) or to enforce a secured lender's charge over assets (Receivership).

• In Administration & ADMINISTRATION ORDER: 
          The company is under a statutory moratorium (shielded from creditor legal action) while an Administrator attempts to rescue the business, sell it as a "pre-pack" or going concern, or achieve a better result for creditors than immediate liquidation.
  

• 🔴Business Precaution: Restricted trading — Contract ONLY with the Administrator. Existing directors have no legal authority to bind the company. You can still supply goods/services if the Administrator continues trading the business, as post-administration trading debts enjoy priority status ("administration expenses"), provided you have a written purchase order signed by the Administrator's team.
  

• RECEIVERSHIP, ADMINISTRATIVE RECEIVER, & RECEIVER MANAGER / ADMINISTRATIVE RECEIVER:  
          A secured creditor (usually a bank holding a floating or fixed charge) has appointed a receiver to take control of the charged assets and sell them to pay back the bank.
  

• 🔴Business Precaution: Do NOT conduct normal business. Unlike Administration, a Receiver works primarily for the appointing bank, not for general unsecured creditors. Unsecured suppliers are very likely to lose money.
  

• In Administration/Administrative Receiver & In Administration/Receiver Manager:
          Dual insolvency appointments are active simultaneously over different parts of the company's estate.
  

• 🔴Business Precaution: Do NOT trade without legal/insolvency sign-off. Control is entirely in the hands of insolvency practitioners.
  

• Live but Receiver Manager on at least one charge: 
          Primarily a Scottish status where the company remains technically live, but a lender has appointed a Receiver Manager over at least one specific asset or property charge.
  

• 🔴Business Precaution: High Caution. While the company may still trade outside the charged asset, an enforcement action by a secured lender is a severe distress signal. Never extend unsecured credit, and verify which assets are encumbered.

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Liquidation & Terminal Insolvency

Represents terminal insolvency procedures where the company's affairs are being wound up, its assets sold off piecemeal, and its legal existence brought to a permanent end. (Note: A small portion of liquidations are "Members' Voluntary Liquidations" (MVLs), where a solvent company is wound up cleanly by its owners, but the end result is still closure).

• Liquidation: 
          A Liquidator has been appointed (either by shareholders, creditors, or the Court) to wind up the company, realize its assets, distribute proceeds to creditors, and dissolve the entity.
  

• 🔴Business Precaution: CLOSED FOR BUSINESS. The company has ceased normal trading. Directors' powers have ceased. Do not supply goods, do not pay invoices to old bank accounts (payments must go to the Liquidator's estate account), and submit a Proof of Debt form if you are owed money.
  

• Insolvency proceedings (or bankruptcy): 
          A broader umbrella status (often applied to cross-border entities, partnerships, or unregistered entities) indicating formal terminal insolvency proceedings are underway.
  

• 🔴Business Precaution: CLOSED FOR BUSINESS. Treat identically to Liquidation; halt all commercial activity immediately.

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Dissolved / Closed

The final end of a company lifecycle. The regrouped  entities no longer legally exist.

• Dissolved: 
          The company has been formally erased from the Companies House register (either following liquidation or via voluntary/compulsory strike-off).
  

• ⚫Business Precaution: NON-EXISTENT ENTITY — Strictly forbidden to trade. A dissolved company has no legal personality; it cannot sign contracts, issue invoices, or own bank accounts. Any contract signed with a dissolved company is legally void, and someone claiming to trade as a dissolved company may be committing fraud or trading with personal unlimited liability.
  

• Strike-off (or stroke-off): 
          The company was removed from the register by the Registrar (either voluntarily or for non-compliance) without going through formal liquidation.
  

• ⚫Business Precaution: NON-EXISTENT ENTITY — Strictly forbidden to trade. Same legal consequence as Dissolved.
  

• Closed: 
          The equivalent of "Dissolved" applied specifically to certain non-standard registries (such as Overseas Entities closing their UK branch/registration, or older Industrial & Provident/Registered Societies).
  

• ⚫Business Precaution: NON-EXISTENT / DEREGISTERED IN THE UK. Do not conduct UK business with this entity.
  

• Converted closed: 
          The entity's record under its previous legal form was closed because it legally converted into a different structure (for example, a company converting into a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), a Registered Society, or transferring its seat ).
  

• ⚫Business Precaution: Do not trade under this old registration number. Ask the counterparty for their new registration number/entity details and run KYC checks on the converted entity.

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