Voluntary strike-off is the directors' procedure: form DS01 under section 1003 of the Companies Act 2006, used to close a dormant, solvent company cleanly. Compulsory strike-off is the registrar's procedure: section 1000, used when Companies House believes a company is no longer carrying on business. The end state is identical (the company is dissolved on the date stated in the second Gazette notice), but who pulls the trigger, what evidence is required, and what happens to the directors' record is different.
Below, the two procedures side by side: who starts each, what the eligibility tests are, the timeline, the cost, the notice cycle, and the objection process that applies to both.
Voluntary strike-off is the cheapest way to close a dormant UK company. The directors apply on form DS01 under section 1003 of the Companies Act 2006. The £33 filing fee is the headline cost; the surrounding work is preparing the company for dissolution.
Five conditions must be true before the application can be made. The company must not, in the previous three months, have:
The form is signed by a majority of the directors and filed with Companies House together with the fee. Within seven days, copies must go under section 1004 to every member, every creditor (including HMRC), every employee, every pension fund manager or trustee, and every director who did not sign. This step is what catches most failed applications: HMRC is treated as a creditor by default, and HMRC objects whenever there is unpaid corporation tax, PAYE, or VAT.
After the application, the registrar reviews and publishes a first Gazette notice. Two clear months later, if no objection has been received, a second Gazette notice confirms the company has been struck off. The date stated on the second notice is the dissolution date.
Compulsory strike-off is initiated by the registrar of Companies House under section 1000 of the Companies Act 2006 when there is "reasonable cause to believe" the company is no longer carrying on business or in operation. The most common triggers are administrative:
The procedure starts with two warning letters from the registrar to the company at its registered office and to the directors at their service addresses. The first asks whether the company is still trading; the second warns that strike-off will follow. If neither receives a substantive response, the registrar publishes a first Gazette notice of intended strike-off, and the two-month clock starts.
Compulsory strike-off is also the route used after a successful winding-up petition that is later dismissed without alternative resolution: the company sits dormant on the register, eventually attracts the registrar's attention, and is struck off the same way as any other dormant case.
Compulsory strike-off is paused immediately on cure of the underlying default. A company on a strike-off path because of overdue accounts can usually rescue itself by filing those accounts and paying the late-filing penalty. The strike-off is suspended on receipt of the missing filings and discharged once the registrar is satisfied the company is active.
| Voluntary (s.1003) | Compulsory (s.1000) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who applies | Directors of the company | Companies House (the registrar) |
| Trigger | A deliberate decision to close | Missed filings or other inactivity signals |
| Form / document | Form DS01 | Registrar's letters then first Gazette notice |
| Filing fee | £33 online / £44 paper | None |
| Eligibility test on the company | Five-part test in s.1003 (no trading, no name change, no asset disposal, no insolvency, no Companies Act proceedings in last 3 months) | None, only the registrar's belief that the company is not in operation |
| Notice to creditors required | Yes: s.1004, within 7 days, to members, creditors, employees, pension trustees, and any non-signing directors | No, but the first Gazette notice itself is public |
| Typical timeline to dissolution | ~3 to 4 months | ~6 to 9 months from first missed filing |
| How to stop it | Withdraw the application (form DS02), or an objection from a creditor / HMRC suspends it | Cure the default (file the overdue documents), or an objection suspends it |
| Trace on the directors' record | None, if the application is clean | The pattern of missed filings remains visible on each director's Companies House profile |
| When this is the wrong route | Company has any unpaid debt. Use liquidation instead. | Company is solvent and the directors want to close it. Use voluntary instead. |
Whichever route applies, the public mechanism of strike-off is the same. Companies House publishes two notices in the Gazette (the official journal of record: London Gazette for England and Wales, Edinburgh Gazette for Scotland, Belfast Gazette for Northern Ireland), and the gap between them is the window for any creditor to object.
Both notices are visible on the company's Companies House page (in the filing history) and in the Gazette itself (searchable at thegazette.co.uk by company number). They are also one of the things administrator.uk monitors for on companies you get alerts on, so creditors get an email the day a strike-off notice lands rather than discovering it after dissolution.
A creditor with an unpaid debt, a court with pending proceedings, or any other party with a legitimate interest can object to strike-off. The procedure is the same regardless of whether the strike-off is voluntary or compulsory.
Send an email to enquiries@companieshouse.gov.uk with:
A sustained objection is logged for six months and suspends the strike-off for that period. The objecting party can renew the objection if the matter is not resolved within six months. During the suspension, the strike-off cannot proceed unless the registrar is later satisfied that the objection has been resolved or has lapsed.
If the company is already dissolved by the time the creditor discovers what has happened, the alternative is restoration: administrative restoration under section 1024 (limited to former directors / members, and only where the company was carrying on business) or court restoration under section 1029 (available to anyone, including creditors). Both routes are explained on our struck-off explainer page.
Whichever route a company is on, the first Gazette notice is the moment creditors find out, if they're getting alerts. Most do not. The result is dissolutions that quietly write off debts that could have been recovered.
Confirmed is free: add up to five customers or suppliers, and you get an email the day one of them goes into administration. Strike-off and the earlier warning signs come with Protect, across an unlimited number of companies.