A Gazette strike-off notice on a company you deal with: what it means and what to check

Found a first Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off on a supplier or customer? What it means, how it can be stopped, and what to check next.

Published 22 Oct 2026 · Last updated 22 Oct 2026

It means Companies House has started the process of removing the company from the register, most often because the company has not filed what it is required to file. It is a warning, not a closure. The process can be stopped, and in our back-test most of the notices we found on companies that later failed had been withdrawn.

This guide explains what the notice is, how a strike-off ends, what our own back-test does and doesn't show, and what to check before you act on it. It is general information, not legal or financial advice.

What is a "First Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off"?

It is a public notice, published in The Gazette and recorded on the company's filing history at Companies House. It says the registrar intends to strike the company's name off the register unless cause is shown why it should not, and it sets the date, two months after the notice, when that can happen.

Before a first notice, the law requires the registrar to write to the company and, if there is no answer, to write again (Companies Act 2006, section 1000). So a notice usually follows weeks of unanswered letters, often sent to a registered office address the company no longer reads.

"First" matters. If the process goes ahead, a second notice announces that the company has been struck off. If you only see the first, the company is still on the register and the outcome is still open.

Why does Companies House issue one?

Most often because of overdue filings. A company must file annual accounts and a confirmation statement. When these are missing, or letters come back undelivered, the registrar can conclude that the company may not be carrying on business or in operation, which is the legal test for compulsory strike-off.

That is why a notice is a weaker signal than it sounds. An overdue filing has many ordinary causes: a change of accountant, a director who has stopped checking the post, a registered office that no longer receives mail. A company can be trading normally and still receive a notice. It can also be dormant or abandoned. The notice does not tell you which.

What does "discontinued" or "withdrawn" mean?

It means the strike-off was stopped before the company was removed. This usually happens because the company filed what was missing or answered the registrar, so the registrar had no reason to go on. The filing history then shows a later entry recording that the strike-off action was discontinued, and the company carries on as before.

Discontinued is not the same as suspended. The filing history can also show that strike-off action was suspended, which usually follows an objection. GOV.UK says that after a successful objection the company will not be struck off for another 6 months, and that it will be struck off after that unless the situation changes (after you object). So a suspension pauses the strike-off, and the strike-off can resume.

Always look for a later entry saying the strike-off was discontinued or suspended, and read what it says.

What is the difference between compulsory and voluntary strike-off?

• Compulsory strike-off is started by the registrar, usually for missing filings or because the company appears to have stopped operating. The company did not choose it.
• Voluntary strike-off is started by the company's directors, who apply to close a company that has stopped trading. Before applying they must tell people who could be affected, including creditors, employees and shareholders, and send them a copy of the application within 7 days. The request is then published in The Gazette, and the company can be struck off once the two months in the notice have passed, if nobody objects. See GOV.UK on striking off your company and who you must tell.

For someone dealing with the company the difference is worth knowing. A compulsory notice often points to neglect or distress. A voluntary one is a deliberate closure, and the owners are saying they no longer need the company.

What happens after a company is dissolved?

If nothing stops the process, the company is struck off and dissolved. In outline:

• It no longer exists. The company has no legal existence and loses access to its bank accounts.
• Its property passes to the Crown. What the company still owned is treated as ownerless property (bona vacantia), as GOV.UK explains.
• People behind it stay liable. Directors, other officers and members remain liable, and that liability can be enforced as if the company had not been dissolved (section 1000).
• It can sometimes be restored. A former director or shareholder can apply to Companies House within six years if the company was trading when dissolved (administrative restoration). Others, including a creditor at the time, can apply to court, generally within six years, with some exceptions such as personal injury claims (Companies Act 2006, sections 1029 and 1030). A restored company is treated as if it had continued in existence.
• Getting paid becomes harder. If you are owed money, GOV.UK says you may need a court order to restore the company before you can claim the debt, and recommends legal advice.

Does a strike-off notice mean a company is failing?

Not by itself. Our back-test, on UK limited companies and PLCs, shows a link, but a modest one. The full method and tables are on the back-test page, and the broader findings are in our guide to warning signs before failure.

In the validation sample, a Gazette strike-off notice in the 12 months before the reference date (12 months before the company's liquidation or administration began) appeared on 33 of 299 companies that later failed (11.0%), against 12 of 299 comparable healthy companies (4.0%). That is about 2.75 times as common, with a 95% interval of 1.45 to 5.22. Of the 33 failed companies with a notice, 26 had one that was withdrawn (discontinued) by the reference date.

Read together, the figures say two things. Failed companies were more likely to have had a notice. But 266 of the 299 failed companies (89%) had none, and 12 of 299 healthy companies did (4.0%).

Discontinued notices were common in both groups: 26 of 33 failed companies with a notice, and 8 of 12 healthy ones. A withdrawn notice is therefore not, on its own, a reassurance. The numbers are small and we claim no interval for the comparison.

What doesn't this show?

• It is not a prediction. The sample is half failed and half healthy by design. Real failure is far rarer, so most companies with a notice will not fail.
• The sample is small. The intervals are wide, and the validation sample was drawn once.
• One lead time. We looked at the register 12 months before the event, not at other horizons.
• Narrow scope. UK limited companies and PLCs only, with failure defined as liquidation (compulsory or creditors' voluntary) or administration beginning in 2023 to 2025.
• Notice types are combined. The signal counts first and final notices, compulsory and voluntary, so it is not a measure of compulsory notices alone. The 26 discontinued notices count only compulsory discontinuances, because that is the only withdrawal filing we match.
• Dissolved companies are missed. Companies already struck off are not in the failed group.

What should you check?

1. Read the notice. Open The Gazette and read it. Note whether it is compulsory or voluntary, first or final, and the date.
2. Read the filing history. On Companies House, look for a later entry recording that the strike-off was discontinued, and check whether the overdue accounts or confirmation statement have since been filed.
3. Check the status line. "Active" with a proposal to strike off is different from "Dissolved". If it has been dissolved, stop assuming you are dealing with the company.
4. Ask the company. Overdue filings often have a simple explanation, and a short question will usually settle it. Ask for the position in writing if a contract or payment depends on it.
5. Protect your position. If you are owed money, an interested party such as a creditor can object to the strike-off, with evidence such as invoices. The objection must reach Companies House before the strike-off date in the Gazette notice, and by email or post at least two weeks before it. You can also change payment terms or take advice.
6. Use a credit report for a credit view. Whether a company will pay is a different question from the one the register answers, and a credit report is the tool for it.

Where does Diligence fit?

Diligence reads public sources, including the Companies House register, and lists signals with their sources and dates for you to review. For a Gazette notice filed in the last 12 months, the report names the notice type and date. For each notice it checks the filings made on or after it, within the same 12 months. A strike-off recorded as discontinued, or a voluntary application withdrawn, is shown as Low, "since discontinued" or "since withdrawn". A strike-off recorded as suspended is shown as Medium, "strike-off suspended; it can resume", because a suspension pauses the process and does not end it. A notice with none of these filings keeps its level: High for a compulsory notice and Medium for a voluntary one. It is not a credit check, a credit rating or a prediction, and it does not replace reading the notice yourself. You can run a free check with the form above or below. Full details are in the methodology.