Formal insolvency processes are the last resort, not the first. A company under pressure has a range of informal rescue options that can work if acted on early enough.
Informal creditor arrangements
Many difficulties are resolved by talking directly to creditors and agreeing revised terms — extended dates, reduced payments, staged catch-up. Done across all your creditors, this can stabilise a company without any formal process.
Restructuring the business
Cutting non-essential costs, exiting loss-making lines, renegotiating leases and contracts — practical restructuring can restore viability where the core business is sound.
Sensible refinancing
Where the numbers work, replacing expensive or awkward debt with better-structured finance can help. The test is always affordability out of real cash flow, not optimism.
Acting early is what keeps these informal routes open — Business Debtline gives free, confidential debt advice to small businesses and the self-employed at businessdebtline.org or on 0800 197 6026.
We lend only to UK limited companies and LLPs, and the loan is to the company with no director personal guarantee. As business finance outside the consumer-credit regime, it is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or FSCS.
See also: Options before a cashflow problem escalates to insolvency, Restructuring costs to protect your business, Understanding business insolvency options.