Twelve months from the date of appointment, by statute. About a third of cases extend at least once. The two early dates that matter are the eight-week deadline for the administrator's proposals and the 75-day deadline for the Statement of Affairs. Across 624 UK administrations in our Companies House dataset, the median company hits both at around 47 days.
The rest of this page is the statutory timeline, the milestones a creditor or director will actually see on Companies House, and how to read whether a case is on track or slipping. (For the moment before the appointment, when a company first fails the legal test for insolvency, see when does a UK company become insolvent.)
Each milestone is a Companies House filing. They land in the same order on every case, and you can check any one of them on the public record.
The appointment is filed at Companies House on the day, and gazetted within seven days. The administrator's name, firm, and the date of appointment become part of the public record. The directors lose control of the company; the administrator's moratorium begins.
The administrator must write to known creditors within seven days. The letter gives the administrator's contact details, asks for proofs of debt, and explains what happens next. This is also the first time most suppliers find out their customer is in administration.
A statement of how the administrator intends to achieve one of the three statutory objectives (rescue the company; better result than winding-up; realise assets for secured / preferential creditors). Filed at Companies House and circulated to creditors. Statutory deadline. Across our dataset, the median company hits this at 47 days; about 91 percent of cases meet the eight-week mark.
The directors' sworn statement of the company's assets and liabilities at the date of appointment. Includes the declared total deficiency: how much money the company is short, across every class of creditor. About 76 percent of cases file by day 75; the median is again around day 47. What a Statement of Affairs actually shows.
Six months in, the administrator files a progress report at Companies House: what's been realised, what's been spent on the administration, what the administrator now expects creditors to receive. Required every six months for the rest of the case.
At the twelve-month mark the administrator either ends the case or applies for an extension. Roughly 31 percent of cases in our dataset file at least one extension notice (form AM19). The first extension can run for up to twelve months on creditor consent; further extensions need a court order.
AM23, Move to dissolution: the trading business has been sold and the empty shell is struck off three months later. By far the most common exit. AM22, Move to CVL: there are realisations still to make for unsecured creditors and a liquidator takes over. AM21, End of administration: the rescue worked, the company is returned to the directors. Rare.
Statutory deadlines are one thing; what cases actually do is another. We parse the AM-series filings on every UK company that's entered administration. Across 624 admin appointments in our dataset:
Source: parsed AM01 to AM23 form filings on UK administered companies, administrator.uk dataset, last refreshed 23 May 2026. Cases that began before our backfill window may underreport progress reports and end-of-case events.
The administrator has done what they can: sold the business, paid out what they can to creditors, distilled what's left. The administrator files a notice of move to dissolution at Companies House; three months later the company is struck off and ceases to exist. By far the most common ending for an insolvent administration.
There is still money to be distributed to unsecured creditors and the case is better handled by a liquidator than an administrator. The case converts to a CVL, a liquidator (often the same insolvency practitioner, now with a different statutory hat on) takes over, and the company eventually dissolves. Used where unsecured creditors have a realistic prospect of a dividend.
Rescue worked. The company has been restructured, the breathing space provided by the moratorium did its job, and the company is being handed back to the directors as a going concern. Uncommon. Most administrations end with the company gone, the trading business sold, and a new entity carrying it on.
Court-ordered ending (form AM25) and automatic end of case (form AM20) also exist for procedural completeness. Both are rare.
The proposals, the Statement of Affairs, the six-month progress report, the extension notice, the move to dissolution: each one is public the day it lands. The trouble is remembering to look every week, for every customer that matters.
Confirmed is free: add up to five customers or suppliers, and you get an email the day one of them goes into administration. Protect adds liquidation, strike-off, and the earlier warning signs, across an unlimited number of companies.