Company strike-off risks
This guide explains the facts that make a company look clean for strike-off versus the facts that make strike-off riskier or inappropriate.
Why strike-off risk needs more than one fact
A clean strike-off position usually depends on more than inactivity. Filings, liabilities, payroll status, and the real trading position all matter.
That means a quick strike-off risk screen is often more useful than an instinctive 'the company is dormant now' assumption.
Rule summary
What needs checking before voluntary strike-off
Companies House guidance sets conditions beyond these four questions, including the three-month period without trading or selling stock, recent name changes, liquidation and creditor arrangements.
Companies must also notify affected parties, including creditors and employees, and deal with remaining tax, payroll and filing duties. Check the full current guidance before applying.
Worked examples
How the rule behaves in practice
- No issue flagged by the entered answers: The company has stopped trading, has no live payroll or liabilities, and filings are up to date. The lower Obnexo triage band does not confirm statutory eligibility or check how long trading has stopped.
- Several issues need review: The company reports liabilities, continuing activity and overdue filings. The higher Obnexo triage band flags work to investigate; it does not predict a Companies House decision.
Practical consequences
- Where filings are overdue or liabilities remain unsettled, strike-off can become part of a wider recovery workflow rather than a simple closure process.
- The risk is not just rejection or objection. It is the operational confusion that follows when the end-state has not actually been prepared properly.
Important limits
- This is not a Companies House score, statutory classification, probability of strike-off or enforcement prediction.
Primary sources and review date
Reviewed on . Official sources opened and checked in the evidence-contract review (29 September 2026); no calculator arithmetic changed.
Applies to: Current voluntary strike-off guidance; the concern bands are not a statutory regime.
Reviewed scope: Four supplied facts for operational triage only; no eligibility opinion, register lookup or enforcement prediction.
The bands count supplied flags and are Obnexo operational judgement, not a Companies House score, legal eligibility decision or probability of enforcement. Official sources support the underlying duties only.
- Companies House — voluntary strike-off conditions, creditors, employees and closure duties (verified 29 September 2026)Supports: voluntary strike-off conditions, creditors, employees and closure duties
- GOV.UK — strike-off is not an insolvency alternative and remaining assets (verified 29 September 2026)Supports: strike-off is not an insolvency alternative and remaining assets
Review basis and change triggers
Reviewed model: companies-house-strike-off-risk-checker: Obnexo-strike-off-triage-reviewed-29 September 2026
- A cited source or statutory regime changes.
- Reviewed content, runtime adapter or domain implementation changes.
- A new effective period falls outside the supported scope.
Turn the result into an action plan
- Check the strike-off risk before starting a voluntary dissolution process.
- If the company is messy, move into the dissolution timeline and overdue-filing tools instead of jumping straight to closure.
- Use the calendar and timeline tools to make the clean-up sequence visible.
Use the tool
Companies House Strike-Off Risk Checker
Use four entered company facts to flag issues for review before voluntary strike-off; this is Obnexo triage, not a Companies House score.