About
Plain-English answers for directors of UK limited companies whose company cannot pay what it owes.
Why the site exists
Around 25,000 companies enter insolvency in England and Wales each year, and behind most of them is a director searching at night for an answer to one question: what happens to me? The information that exists is written by insolvency firms for a professional audience or by consumer debt charities for individuals. Neither starts from the director's chair.
Directors Lifeline does. Every guide begins with the reader's situation, explains what happens in the order it happens, says what can still be influenced, and ends with what to do this week.
How the guides are written and checked
Guides are written by the Directors Lifeline editorial team and checked against the Insolvency Act 1986, the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016, the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 and current HMRC guidance. Each one carries a published date and a last-reviewed date, and is reviewed when the law or the figures change. Where a figure is an estimate (a typical fee, a typical timescale), the guide says so.
Nothing on the site is advice. The guides describe the law and the process in general terms. They cannot take account of your company's facts, which is why every guide ends with an introduction to a licensed insolvency practitioner who can.
How the site is funded
When a director we introduce goes on to instruct a practitioner, that practitioner pays us a referral fee under a written agreement. The fee does not change what the director pays. There is no advertising, no sponsored content and no sale of data.
Who we work with
Practitioners we introduce are licensed by a recognised professional body (ICAEW, the IPA, ICAS or CAI) and regulated under the Insolvency Act 1986. We choose firms for the quality of the first conversation and for calling back the same working day, and we stop working with any firm that does not.