The Edinburgh Gazette
If your Scottish company is entering liquidation — or a creditor is trying to wind it up — you may see its name appear in the Edinburgh Gazette.
This can be alarming if you were not expecting it.
But publication in the Gazette is a normal part of many formal insolvency procedures. It is the official way of making certain events publicly known.
What the notice actually means depends on what type of notice has been published.
A notice that shareholders have resolved to liquidate the company is very different from a notice saying that a creditor has presented a winding-up petition.
If you have found your company in the Gazette and are unsure what the notice means, start with the heading and date of the notice.
What is the Edinburgh Gazette?
The Gazette is the UK’s official public record for a wide range of statutory notices.
It consists of three official publications:
- The London Gazette
- The Edinburgh Gazette
- The Belfast Gazette
For Scottish corporate insolvency, the relevant publication is normally the Edinburgh Gazette.
Many insolvency notices have to be published because legislation or court procedure requires public notice of what has happened.
That process is sometimes referred to simply as “gazetting” the notice.
Why would my company appear in the Edinburgh Gazette?
There are several possible reasons.
For an insolvent Scottish company, common notices include:
- A resolution to wind the company up voluntarily
- Appointment of a liquidator
- A winding-up petition presented by a creditor
- Other statutory notices during the liquidation process
So seeing the company name in the Gazette does not tell you, by itself, exactly what stage the company has reached.
Read the notice type. That is what tells you what has actually happened.
Does a Gazette notice mean my company is already in liquidation?
Not necessarily.
This is particularly important with winding-up petitions.
If the Edinburgh Gazette contains a notice that a creditor has presented a winding-up petition, the creditor is asking the Scottish court to liquidate the company.
The court has not necessarily made the winding-up order yet.
There may still be an opportunity to:
- Respond to the court proceedings
- Deal with a genuinely disputed debt
- Negotiate an appropriate settlement
- Consider rescue or restructuring
- Consider voluntary liquidation if rescue is no longer realistic
Once a petition has reached the Gazette, however, it should be treated as urgent.
What appears in the Gazette when a company enters CVL?
A Scottish Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation involves several statutory notices.
For example, once the shareholders pass the special resolution to wind up the company, notice of that resolution must be published in the Edinburgh Gazette within 14 days.
The creditors’ decision on the nomination of a liquidator is sought by notice to creditors using deemed consent or a decision procedure conducted virtually. That step is separate from publication of the winding-up resolution in the Gazette.
Once the liquidator is appointed, the liquidator must publish notice of the appointment in the Edinburgh Gazette within the required period.
This is all part of the normal Scottish CVL process.
If your company has deliberately entered CVL, seeing those notices appear does not mean a new creditor action has suddenly started. It means the formal liquidation process is being publicised as required.
How are creditors notified in a Scottish CVL?
Creditors need to be given formal notice of the insolvency process.
In a Scottish CVL, the directors send creditors notice seeking their decision on the nomination of a liquidator. The Gazette publishes the winding-up resolution and the liquidator’s appointment as required.
The directors also prepare a statement of affairs showing the company’s financial position. It must reach creditors by the business day before the decision date.
The Gazette advertisement therefore forms part of a wider process intended to ensure creditors know that the company is being wound up.
What appears in the Gazette if a creditor is trying to wind the company up?
A winding-up petition is different from a voluntary liquidation notice.
Where a creditor presents a petition to wind up a Scottish company, the appropriate Scottish court considers how the petition should be intimated, served and advertised.
Unless the court directs otherwise, the petition is advertised in the Edinburgh Gazette.
The notice will normally identify matters such as:
- The company
- The petitioning creditor
- The court dealing with the petition
- The fact that a winding-up order is being sought
- The relevant court reference or procedural information
- The period or procedure for interested parties to respond
If you are a director and first discover the petition from a Gazette search, obtain the actual court papers and take advice immediately.
Why is Gazette publication of a winding-up petition serious?
Because the company’s financial problem has now become publicly visible.
The notice can potentially be seen by:
- The company’s bank
- Other creditors
- Suppliers
- Customers
- Credit insurers
- Lenders
- Credit-reference providers
That can cause practical problems even before the court decides whether to wind the company up.
For example, suppliers may stop extending credit and the company’s bank may review the account because of the legal consequences associated with transactions after presentation of a winding-up petition.
This is why a petition is much easier to deal with before it becomes widely known than after publication.
Does the Gazette freeze the company bank account?
No.
The Edinburgh Gazette itself does not freeze bank accounts.
It publishes the statutory notice.
However, if a bank becomes aware that a winding-up petition has been presented, it may restrict the account because of the legal risks surrounding payments made after presentation of the petition.
That is different from bank arrestment, where a creditor uses Scottish diligence to freeze qualifying company money held by the bank.
The two situations can therefore have a similar practical result while having completely different legal causes.
Can anybody search the Edinburgh Gazette?
Yes.
Gazette notices are part of the public record and can be searched online.
The Gazette allows searches using information including:
- Company name
- Notice type
- Date
- Location
- Gazette edition
There is also a specific search for corporate insolvency notices.
You do not need a paid subscription simply to perform an ordinary Gazette search.
Can I stop a liquidation notice being published?
Not where publication is a statutory requirement of the insolvency process.
For example, if shareholders have formally resolved to wind up a Scottish company voluntarily, publication of the resolution in the Edinburgh Gazette is part of the required procedure.
Similarly, where a court orders advertisement of a winding-up petition, the fact that the directors would prefer the financial difficulty to remain private is not enough to prevent publication.
This is one reason directors should take advice before formal creditor proceedings reach the advertisement stage wherever possible.
Can I have a Gazette notice removed afterwards?
Generally, no.
The Gazette is intended to provide a permanent official public record.
Its stated general policy is therefore not to remove notices after they have been published.
If you believe a notice contains an error, the correct response is to raise that with the person responsible for the notice and, where appropriate, the Gazette rather than assuming the entire notice can simply be deleted.
The important distinction is between correcting an error and trying to remove an accurate historical insolvency notice because the company no longer wants it to be visible.
Is the Edinburgh Gazette the same as Companies House?
No.
They perform different functions.
The Gazette publishes statutory public notices.
Companies House maintains the company’s official corporate record and receives prescribed insolvency filings.
This means an insolvency event can involve:
- A Gazette notice
- A Companies House filing
- An Accountant in Bankruptcy notification
- Creditor notices
- Scottish court records where court proceedings are involved
They are connected parts of the process, but they are not the same database.
Can I lose my house if my company goes into liquidation?
Company liquidation does not automatically put your home at risk.
Your personal assets are not company assets simply because you are a director or shareholder.
Your home or other personal assets could potentially become relevant if, for example:
- You have granted security over personal property to support a company debt
- A creditor successfully enforces a personal guarantee against you
- You owe a substantial amount to the company and cannot meet the claim
- A successful legal claim establishes personal liability against you
Those are personal claims or obligations. They are not the same thing as the liquidator simply taking a director’s personal property because the company has failed.
Is the Edinburgh Gazette the same as the Register of Insolvencies?
No.
The Scottish Register of Insolvencies is maintained by the Accountant in Bankruptcy and records information relating to Scottish company liquidations and receiverships.
The Edinburgh Gazette is the official publication used for statutory notices.
It is therefore normal for information about the same Scottish liquidation to appear in more than one public source.
Why does Scotland use the Edinburgh Gazette rather than the London Gazette?
The Gazette’s official public record is divided between the London, Edinburgh and Belfast editions.
Scottish corporate insolvency notices are published through the Edinburgh edition where the relevant Scottish procedure requires Gazette publication.
This sounds like a small technical distinction, but it is another useful way of spotting insolvency advice written for the wrong jurisdiction.
If an article about your Scottish company repeatedly refers to publishing a Scottish CVL or winding-up petition in the London Gazette, check the source carefully.
Does appearing in the Gazette mean the directors have done something wrong?
No.
Publication is part of the legal process, not a finding of misconduct.
A perfectly ordinary Scottish CVL will generate Gazette notices because the law requires certain events to be publicised.
Director conduct is considered separately as part of the insolvency process.
Do not confuse the fact that a liquidation is public with an allegation that the directors acted improperly.
Will customers and suppliers see the notice?
They can.
The Gazette is publicly searchable, so it is possible for customers, suppliers and other interested parties to find the notice.
However, in a planned CVL you should not normally rely on the Gazette as the way important people first discover what is happening.
It is usually better to think in advance about communication with:
- Employees
- Important customers
- Key suppliers
- Landlords
- Finance providers
- Other stakeholders
How and when those groups should be told depends on whether the business is closing, being sold or continuing through a rescue process.
I found a winding-up petition against my company in the Gazette. What should I do?
Treat that differently from an ordinary voluntary-liquidation notice.
- Check the company name and number. Make sure the notice actually relates to your company.
- Identify the court. The notice should say which Scottish court is dealing with the petition.
- Note the petitioning creditor.
- Check the dates carefully. Particularly any deadline for lodging answers or responding to the proceedings.
- Obtain the petition and court papers if you do not already have them.
- Do not make unusual payments or move assets.
- Tell your insolvency adviser and Scottish solicitor immediately.
Do not wait for the final court hearing simply because the company has not yet been wound up.
The period between petition and winding-up order may be the last realistic opportunity to deal with the position before compulsory liquidation.
Edinburgh Gazette FAQs
What is the Edinburgh Gazette?
It is one of the three editions that make up The Gazette, the UK’s official public record. It is used for statutory notices relating to Scottish matters, including Scottish corporate insolvency.
Why is my Scottish company in the Gazette?
It may be there because of a voluntary winding-up resolution, liquidator appointment, winding-up petition or another statutory insolvency event. Read the notice heading to establish which.
Does a winding-up petition notice mean the company has already been liquidated?
No. It means a petition has been presented asking the court to wind the company up. The company enters compulsory liquidation if the court subsequently makes the winding-up order.
Does a Scottish CVL appear in the Gazette?
Yes. The Scottish CVL procedure requires publication of several notices, including the winding-up resolution and the liquidator’s appointment.
Can anybody search Gazette notices?
Yes. Gazette notices form part of the public record and can be searched online.
Can a Gazette notice be deleted?
The Gazette’s general policy is not to remove notices once published because they form part of the permanent official record. Errors should be raised through the appropriate notice-correction process.
Does the Gazette freeze bank accounts?
No. But publication of a winding-up petition can alert a bank to the proceedings, which can lead the bank to restrict the account because of the legal position created by the petition.
Is the Edinburgh Gazette the same as AiB?
No. AiB maintains Scotland’s Register of Insolvencies. The Gazette publishes statutory public notices. Information about the same liquidation can therefore appear in both places.
Found your company in the Edinburgh Gazette?
The first thing is to establish what the notice actually says.
If it relates to a CVL you are already arranging, publication is likely to be a normal part of that process.
If it relates to a winding-up petition you were not expecting, the position is much more urgent.
Send us the notice or tell us the company name, creditor and court involved and we can help you work out what stage has been reached and what options remain.
You do not need to understand the wording of a Gazette notice before asking for help.