If you are a creditor and want to apply to the court to wind up a company that owes you money, you may hope that liquidating the company will force it to repay you. Winding up does not work that way. The liquidator collects and sells the company’s assets and shares the proceeds among all its creditors, so you may recover little or nothing of what you are owed. This page covers the position in England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own procedures, grounds and fees. The process of presenting 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 presenting 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 from £4,000 to £5,000 plus VAT, depending on the amount of work involved.
Costs of Presenting a Winding up Petition
If you have exhausted your options and are owed money, you can apply to the court to have the company wound up (a statutory demand for more than £750 is the usual route). 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. If the petition is dismissed or withdrawn, the deposit is repaid less a £50 administration fee. Check the current fees on GOV.UK.
- Process server fee – The cost of serving proceedings in England and Wales is £75-£100.
- Companies House search – free: the company’s registered office and other basic details can be checked online at no cost.
- 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 present 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 must advertise the petition in the Gazette, unless the court directs otherwise, no earlier than seven business days after service and at least 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.
There is no fixed period. It depends on how quickly the court issues the petition and fixes a hearing date, and on when the petition is served on the company.
A creditor can petition to wind a company up if it can show the company is unable to pay its debts. An unpaid statutory demand for more than £750 is the most common proof, 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 present one? Call 0208 444 3400 today and get expert advice without obligation.