UK dissolution monitoring
Companies House Strike-Off Monitoring: How to Track Gazette Notices After Onboarding
A practical guide to Companies House strike-off monitoring after onboarding, including active proposal to strike off, DS01 applications, Gazette notices, dissolution dates, source evidence, and review workflows.
Short answer
Companies House strike-off monitoring means watching official registry evidence that a known UK company may be removed from the register or has already been dissolved. The useful signals include active-proposal-to-strike-off, DS01 applications, first and second Gazette notices, dissolution dates, and source links that reviewers can verify.
A company can pass onboarding, then later enter a strike-off process because directors applied to close it, Companies House believes it is no longer operating, the company missed required filings, or the registrar is acting under newer register-quality powers. For a single company, someone can check the Companies House page manually. For a portfolio of merchants, suppliers, borrowers, or business customers, the change needs monitoring.
This guide is for fintechs, KYB products, lenders, merchant-risk teams, supplier-risk teams, and B2B platforms that already know which UK companies they care about. It is not legal advice, insolvency advice, credit scoring, sanctions screening, adverse media monitoring, or a service for objecting to strike-off.
Why strike-off monitoring matters after onboarding
Strike-off is a high-signal status change because it can move a company from "approved and active" to "at risk of dissolution" or "legally dissolved." GOV.UK guidance says a voluntary strike-off application is published in The Gazette, and if nobody objects, the company is struck off after the notice period. A second Gazette notice means the company no longer legally exists.
The scale is not small. The Companies House annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026 says the UK register held 5.48 million companies at 31 March 2026, accepted 16.5 million filings during the year, and recorded 787,261 dissolved companies.
There is also a reform backdrop. Companies House says the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act gives it a stronger role in improving register accuracy and disrupting economic crime. That does not turn every strike-off event into a fraud signal, but it does make source-backed registry monitoring more important for teams that rely on the public record after approval.
What is Companies House strike-off monitoring?
Companies House strike-off monitoring is the process of repeatedly checking a known UK company's official record for strike-off, Gazette, and dissolution signals, then routing material changes to review with the source evidence attached.
A useful monitoring workflow separates four things:
- Current status: whether the company is active, dissolved, in liquidation, or in another official status.
- Status detail: whether the company profile adds detail such as
active-proposal-to-strike-off. - Filing and notice evidence: DS01 applications, Gazette notice filings, document metadata, and final dissolution notices where available.
- Review decision: whether the event matters for a merchant, supplier, borrower, partner, or customer policy.
What official data can you monitor?
The official sources are enough to build a practical strike-off monitoring workflow, but they need to be combined carefully. Company profile status gives the current state. Filing history and Gazette data provide the audit trail.
| Signal | Source | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Company status | Company profile API | Shows whether the company is active, dissolved, in liquidation, in administration, or in another official status. |
| Active proposal to strike off | Company profile API | Appears as a status detail and should trigger review before final dissolution. |
| DS01 application | Filing history | Shows a voluntary application to strike the company off the register. |
| First Gazette notice | Filing history and The Gazette | Starts the public notice period before strike-off if no valid reason delays it. |
| Second Gazette notice or dissolved status | Company profile, filing history, and The Gazette | Shows that the company has been dissolved or removed from the active register. |
| Dissolution date | Company profile API | Provides the cessation date for companies that have been dissolved, removed, or converted/closed. |
The Companies House company profile resource documents company_status, company_status_detail, date_of_cessation, and related links. Its documented status-detail values include active-proposal-to-strike-off. The filing history resource gives filing items with date, category, description, transaction ID, type, and document metadata links. The filing history stream can also return filing events as they happen after a connection is established.
The Gazette is important because official strike-off and dissolution notices are published there. The Gazette's data page says its company notice data includes Companies House filings, striking off, dissolutions, reinstatements, and insolvency notices from 1998 onward.
Voluntary strike-off vs compulsory strike-off monitoring
The monitoring workflow should distinguish voluntary strike-off from registrar-led strike-off. Both can end in dissolution, but they raise different review questions.
| Question | Voluntary strike-off | Compulsory strike-off |
|---|---|---|
| How it starts | The company applies to be struck off, usually with DS01. | The registrar starts action because official conditions are met. |
| Common evidence | DS01, first Gazette notice, status detail, final dissolution notice. | Gazette notice, status detail, missed filings, no directors, default address, or false-basis context. |
| Review question | Is a known company intentionally closing, and does the relationship need to be paused or reviewed? | Is this company failing statutory obligations or being removed by the registrar? |
| Important caution | GOV.UK says voluntary strike-off is not an alternative to formal insolvency proceedings. | A compulsory process can be stopped, objected to, or delayed, so the alert should not assume final dissolution until the source confirms it. |
GOV.UK guidance says the registrar can start strike-off when there is reasonable cause to believe a company is not carrying on business or in operation, including where annual documents such as accounts or confirmation statements have not been received or the company has no directors. The same guidance also covers newer routes where a company was registered on a false basis or did not move away from a default registered office address.
Which strike-off changes should trigger review?
A good alert should say exactly what changed and how urgent it is. "Company problem detected" is too vague. "Active proposal to strike off added to Companies House profile" is reviewable.
Active proposal to strike off
Treat this as an early warning, not a final closure event. It should prompt a review of the relationship, unpaid balances, open work, contracts, payout exposure, or supplier dependency before the company is dissolved.
DS01 application
A DS01 filing shows that the company has applied to be struck off voluntarily. The alert should preserve the filing date, form type, transaction ID, source URL, and any document metadata link available from Companies House.
First Gazette notice
A first Gazette notice is the public notice that strike-off is proposed. Companies House says interested parties can object after the first Gazette notice is published and that the notice states when the company is due to be struck off.
Strike-off suspended or withdrawn
If later evidence shows the process has been suspended, withdrawn, or delayed, the monitoring record should update the review state instead of leaving an old high-risk alert open forever.
Dissolved
Dissolution is the final state reviewers usually care about most. The alert should include the current company status, date of cessation where available, and the Gazette or Companies House evidence that supports the change.
How to build a strike-off monitoring workflow
The safest workflow starts from official company numbers, keeps prior values, and treats each registry event as evidence for a review process rather than as a standalone verdict.
- Resolve the company: store the Companies House company number and canonical company name.
- Snapshot the company profile: keep
company_status,company_status_detail,date_of_cessation, jurisdiction, and source links. - Read filing history: watch for DS01, Gazette, dissolution, liquidation, and status-related filing items.
- Connect Gazette evidence: keep the Gazette notice link or identifier when available, especially for first notices and final dissolution notices.
- Classify severity: separate proposal, notice, suspended or withdrawn action, and final dissolution.
- Deduplicate events: avoid repeating the same filing, notice, or unchanged status detail every run.
- Route review items: send merchant, supplier, borrower, or customer alerts to the right team with the source trail attached.
Churnscan's product flow follows the same pattern: resolve the company, confirm ambiguous matches, create a watch, poll official sources, normalize changes, deduplicate signals, and attach evidence. For the broader API view, read Company Monitoring API.
What not to claim
Strike-off monitoring is useful because it is narrow and source-backed. It becomes misleading when it is treated as a complete legal or risk decision.
- It does not prove insolvency: GOV.UK guidance says voluntary strike-off is not an alternative to formal insolvency proceedings.
- It does not prove fraud: a strike-off process can be voluntary, administrative, compliance-related, or connected to newer register-quality powers.
- It does not replace objections or legal advice: interested parties need their own process and evidence if they object to a company being struck off.
- It does not make every proposal final: proposals can be objected to, suspended, withdrawn, or resolved before dissolution.
- It does not replace periodic review: it catches official changes between scheduled checks.
Practical examples for review teams
Merchant-risk team
A payment provider approved a merchant six months ago. The company profile now includes active-proposal-to-strike-off. The alert should route to merchant review with the Companies House profile URL and any related Gazette notice, without claiming the merchant is already dissolved.
Supplier-risk team
A critical supplier has a first Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off after missed filings. Procurement can check contract exposure, delivery dependencies, and unpaid invoices while the notice period is still open.
KYB product team
A KYB product already verifies UK companies at onboarding. Strike-off monitoring fills the gap after approval by detecting proposals, notices, status-detail changes, and final dissolution evidence for companies already in the customer's portfolio.
How Churnscan fits
Churnscan monitors official company registry changes after onboarding. For UK companies, strike-off monitoring fits that scope when alerts stay tied to Companies House and Gazette evidence: company number, current status, status detail, filing event, Gazette notice, observed timestamp, and source URL.
It should sit beside status, director, address, accounts, confirmation statement, PSC, charges, and filing monitoring, rather than becoming a broad legal-risk or credit-scoring claim.
Monitor Companies House changes after onboarding
Use Churnscan to track source-backed official registry changes for companies you already know. Start from a company list or API workflow, confirm matches, create watches, and review evidence-backed signals.
Frequently asked questions
What is Companies House strike-off monitoring?
Companies House strike-off monitoring means tracking official UK registry signals that show a company may be removed from the register or has been dissolved, including active proposal to strike off, DS01 filings, Gazette notices, and final dissolution evidence.
Can active proposal to strike off be monitored by API?
Yes. The Companies House company profile resource includes company_status and company_status_detail, and the documented company_status_detail values include active-proposal-to-strike-off. Filing history and Gazette notices can add source evidence.
Is strike-off the same as insolvency?
No. Strike-off is a process for removing a company from the register. GOV.UK guidance says voluntary strike off is not an alternative to formal insolvency proceedings, and a company subject to insolvency proceedings cannot use the voluntary strike-off route.
What evidence should a strike-off alert include?
A useful alert should include the company number, current status, status detail, filing date, filing type or description, Gazette notice link where available, observed timestamp, previous value, and the official source URL.
Does Companies House Follow replace portfolio monitoring?
No. Companies House Follow is useful for single-company email alerts, but portfolio monitoring needs matching, deduplication, severity rules, source evidence, and a review workflow across many watched companies.
Sources
- GOV.UK: striking off or dissolving a limited company
- GOV.UK: apply to strike off your limited company
- Companies House: objecting to a company being struck off
- Companies House Public Data API: company profile resource
- Companies House Public Data API: filing history list
- Companies House streaming API: filing history stream
- The Gazette: re-using Gazette data
- GOV.UK: get information about a company and email alerts
- Companies House annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026
- GOV.UK: Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act transition plan