If you are a creditor and want to apply to the court to wind up a company that owes you money, you are clearly fed up trying of trying to recover the debt and want to liquidate the company to enforce the repayment. The process of issuing a winding up petition can be quite technical and there are some costs involved.
For this reason, it is worth considering other options, such as seeking the assistance of a debt recovery specialist, to help you recover the debt.
If you have done so, read on to find out more about the costs of issuing a winding up petition.
To voluntarily wind up a company with debts, you will need to contact a licensed insolvency practitioner such as ourselves and consider a Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation. Costs for winding up a company voluntarily via a Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation for a normal company of a standard size, would generally range between £3,500 to £6,000, depending on the amount of work involved.
Costs of Issuing a Winding up Petition
If you have exhausted your options and are owed more than £750, you can apply to the court to have the company wound up. The court fee and petition deposit alone come to £2,952 as at 18 August 2026, before service, advertising or legal costs, so this is a tactic to reserve for substantial debts.
The costs are made up of:
- Court fee and petition deposit – £2,952 in total as at 18 August 2026. That is a £352 court fee plus a £2,600 petition deposit, which funds the official receiver’s administration of the winding up. The deposit is returned where a winding-up order is made and the company’s assets are sufficient to cover the official receiver’s fee, and it is also returned if the petition is dismissed or withdrawn before an order is made. Check the current fees on GOV.UK.
- Process server fee – The cost of serving proceedings in England and Wales is £75-£100.
- Company House search fee – £2 to get accurate debtor details from Companies House.
- Advertisement fee – the Gazette’s standard rate for an insolvency notice is £96.55 plus VAT as at 18 August 2026 when filed online, and more if submitted by other methods. Check the Gazette’s current pricing before you budget.
If you choose to instruct a solicitor to act on your behalf, you should also factor in an additional cost of between £400 and £800 to issue the petition.
FAQ’s
A winding-up petition is an application to court asking for a company to be wound up compulsorily. It is not a letter and it is not a statutory demand: it is the start of court proceedings, and once it is presented the company is at risk of a winding-up order and of its bank accounts being frozen.
The petition is served on the company and a hearing date is set. The petitioner may advertise the petition in the Gazette no earlier than seven business days after service, and not less than seven business days before the hearing. That advertisement is what usually triggers the freezing of the company’s bank accounts, so the period before it is the practical window in which to act. It is not a deadline imposed on the company by the petition itself. At the hearing the court decides whether to make a winding-up order, adjourn, or dismiss the petition.
It generally takes about 28 days to submit a petition, send it to the court for approval, and actually have it served to the debtor.
A creditor owed more than £750 by a company can petition to wind it up, provided it can show the company is unable to pay its debts. An unpaid statutory demand is the most common way of showing that, but it is not a precondition: a judgment on which execution has been returned unsatisfied will also do, and the court can be satisfied on other evidence under section 123 of the Insolvency Act 1986.
Need help with a Winding Up Petition?
Have you received a Winding Up Petition, or are you looking to issue one? Call 020 8444 3400 today and get expert advice without obligation.