AnswersWhen a client goes under
A company that owes me money is in administration. What now?
The short answer
Register the debt. In administration, an outside expert (the administrator) runs the company to rescue, sell or wind it down, and you can't sue or enforce a judgment4 without their consent or the court's permission. Send them a proof of debt (your claim in writing) now and read their plan when it comes. You may not be allowed to stop supplying just because of the administration9, and what they order from you is paid ahead of their fees7.
England and Wales only. WolfX is software, not a law firm.
The numbers
The numbers to write down.
What you can add
£9,000 of old invoices and £3,000 of new supply
Say a company owes you £9,000 for deliveries in July and August 2026, and entered administration on 8 September 2026. The administrator asks you to keep delivering, £1,500 a month, and confirms each order in writing. Any interest and fixed sums owed on the old invoices are left out here, to keep the sum plain. The plan is due within 8 weeks5, by 2 November 2026. By 6 November you have made two monthly deliveries.
The £3,000 is paid ahead of the administrator's own fees. Whether the £9,000 gets anything is in the plan: if the administrator expects unsecured creditors to get little or nothing, the plan says so6. That place is for what the administrator orders, so have each order confirmed in writing before you deliver.
The road ahead
Seven steps. All free.
Step 2: Send your proof of debt
A proof of debt10 is your claim in writing: the amount owed on the day the company entered administration, with VAT and any interest to that day, what it was for, and the invoices behind it. The proof of debt page works out Late Payment Act interest and fixed sums. The letter below does it.
If your terms said the goods stay yours until paid, list them in the letter now. The Insolvency Act treats that clause like a hire-purchase agreement8, so you can't collect them yourself: you need the administrator's consent or the court's permission4.
Step 3: Keep supplying, and ask for safer terms
If you have a contract with them, you can't end it because of the administration, or over something that happened before it9, unless the administrator agrees or the court allows it because carrying on would cause you hardship. Nor can you demand the old invoices be paid before you supply more.
Ask for payment on delivery, and have each order confirmed in writing. What the administrator orders is paid ahead of their own fees7. If they refuse, your existing terms stand.
Step 4: Read the plan when it comes
The administrator must send you their plan, the statement of proposals, within 8 weeks5, counting from the day the company entered administration. The court can extend that. Look for your name and your figure in it, and write at once if either is wrong.
Step 5: Vote, or ask for a vote
You can vote, or object, only if your proof has reached the administrator by the decision date12 on the notice. Silence can count as a yes, because the administrator may ask creditors to object instead of vote1.
If the plan says unsecured creditors (suppliers like you) will get little or nothing, there may be no vote. Creditors owed at least 10% of the company's debts, between them, can demand one6, within 8 business days11 of the plan arriving.
Step 6: Know how it can end
Administration ends1 in a rescue or a deal with creditors (a CVA), in liquidation, or in dissolution when nothing is left. Old invoices are paid under the deal, or from what is left once the costs, lenders with security and others ahead of you are paid, or not at all.
Step 7: If the business is sold, check the buyer
A pre-pack is a sale arranged before the administrator is appointed and finished soon after. Your old invoices stay a claim against the company in administration, made through your proof of debt10.
If the buyer is linked to the company, selling all or much of the business in the first 8 weeks needs creditors' approval or an evaluator's report2.
A letter you can copy
Letter registering your debt with the administrator
Send it as soon as you know the company is in administration. It registers the debt, asks for the plan and sets terms for anything you supply from now on.
Tap a highlighted gap to see what goes in it.
Email it to the address on the administrator's notice, and post a signed, dated copy if you can. Attach copies of the unpaid invoices and any signed delivery notes. Keep what you sent. Delete the paragraph about goods you still own if your terms had no retention of title clause, and the one about new orders if you no longer supply the company. If the administrator sends a proof of debt form, fill that in as well. If you hold security for the debt, say what it is and ask a solicitor who does insolvency work.
When not to bother
When it isn't worth it
- Suing, or enforcing a CCJ you already hold. The Act calls the pause a moratorium: court action and enforcement are stopped4 unless the administrator agrees or the court allows it. Until then, fees are money lost.
- Paying someone to get your money out. A proof of debt is a letter you can send yourself, and the one above does it.
- A director has personally promised to pay. The pause covers claims against the company, so that promise is a separate matter for a solicitor who does debt recovery.
- The notice says liquidation, not administration. The claim goes to a liquidator, and the steps differ. How to claim in a liquidation covers them.
- The company is registered in Scotland or Northern Ireland. This page follows the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016. Those companies go by their own country's rules.
The Wolf's note
The old debt has two moves: put it on the record, then vote. The first can't wait, so send it this week, in writing, and keep the copy. What you deliver from now on is the money you can still protect, so have each order confirmed in writing before the van leaves.
Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX
What comes next
Your next move
How do I claim money from a company in liquidation?
Send the liquidator a proof of debt before their last date: a letter or form with the amount owed including VAT, how it arose and your invoices.
7 min read · Letter included
Who gets paid first when a company can't pay its debts?
Suppliers come near last.
6 min read
What is a CVA, and what does it mean for me as a supplier?
Vote. A CVA is a deal to pay a company's creditors over a fixed period.
6 min read · Letter included
Don't want to do this yourself?
The Wolf does every step for you. He works out the sums, writes the letters and keeps track of every date. Nothing goes without your yes.