A winding-up petition is a creditor’s application to the court to close a company. This page counts the petitions advertised against UK companies in The Gazette each month, and shows how many convert into winding-up orders.
Data sources
Latest at a glance
May 2026
482
Winding-up petitions advertised
May 2026The Gazette
373
Winding-up orders made
May 2026The Gazette
25
Petitions dismissed
May 2026The Gazette
6,023
Total corporate insolvency notices
May 2026The Gazette
Chart A · The trend
Winding-up petitions advertised each month
Latest
475
Feb’25
619
Mar
561
Apr
723
May
553
Jun
528
Jul
591
Aug
548
Sep
718
Oct
525
Nov
276
Dec
702
Jan’26
475
Feb
542
Mar
770
Apr
482
May
Source: The Gazette. Petition notices advertised, February 2025 to May 2026. The latest month is provisional and may rise as further notices are published.
Chart B · Conversion
Petitions advertised against winding-up orders made
Latest
Petitions advertisedWinding-up orders made
Source: The Gazette. Roughly three in four advertised petitions are followed by a winding-up order. The gap reflects petitions that are dismissed, withdrawn or settled before any order is made.
Latest-month notice breakdown
May 2026
Gazette notice type
Count, May 2026
Winding-up petitionsCreditor applications to close a company
482
Winding-up ordersCourt orders for compulsory liquidation
373
Liquidator appointmentsAcross voluntary and compulsory cases
Petition dismissalsPetitions struck out before any order
25
Source: The Gazette. Counts of statutory notices advertised in May 2026. Notice types are not mutually exclusive and one case may generate several notices over its life.
How to read this data
Read this first
Gazette notices are legal notices, not completed insolvency outcomes.
A petition may be dismissed, withdrawn or settled before any order is made. This page tracks legal pressure on companies. It is not an official Insolvency Service statistic.
25
petitions dismissed in May 2026before any winding-up order was made
373
Orders, May 2026
Why you can rely on it
The winding-up orders counted here closely match the Insolvency Service’s compulsory liquidation figures for the same period. Because the two sources are compiled independently, that agreement is a useful check on the data and supports its reliability.
Cite this data
Reference these figures
CompanyDebt (2026) ‘Winding-Up Petition Tracker’.
Has a winding-up petition been advertised against your company?
Time is short once a petition is advertised. Our licensed insolvency practitioners offer confidential, no-obligation guidance on the options available to directors.
Figures are counts of statutory notices advertised in The Gazette and are provisional for the latest month. They record legal notices, not final insolvency outcomes, and are not an official Insolvency Service statistic.
