Last verified: 2026-08-29 · Source: primary legislation and official status tables
Recovering a debt from a debtor in United Kingdom
What applies, what it realistically takes, and where the limits are.
Confirmed parameters
Only values checked against a primary source appear here. Where a parameter has not been confirmed, it is left out rather than estimated.
- Parameter
- Statutory demand threshold for a company
- Value
- a sum exceeding GBP 750
- Source
- Insolvency Act 1986 s.123(1)(a) — legislation.gov.uk. Threshold unchanged: no order under s.416 has been made
- Last verified
- 2026-08-29
- Parameter
- Bankruptcy level for an individual
- Value
- GBP 5,000
- Source
- Insolvency Act 1986 s.267(4); SI 2015/922 art. 2 substituted GBP 750 with GBP 5,000, in force 1 October 2015
- Last verified
- 2026-08-29
- Parameter
- Time a debtor has to comply with a statutory demand
- Value
- at least 3 weeks (21 days)
- Source
- Insolvency Act 1986 s.268; Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 on setting a demand aside
- Last verified
- 2026-08-29
- Parameter
- Official Receiver deposit on a winding-up petition
- Value
- GBP 6,000
- Source
- SI 2024/963 art. 2(3)(c), amending SI 2016/692, in force 9 January 2025 (previously GBP 5,000)
- Last verified
- 2026-08-30
- Parameter
- Official Receiver deposit on a creditor's bankruptcy petition
- Value
- GBP 3,300
- Source
- SI 2024/963 art. 2(3)(b), in force 9 January 2025 (previously GBP 2,775)
- Last verified
- 2026-08-30
- Parameter
- Official Receiver deposit on a public interest winding-up petition
- Value
- GBP 13,500
- Source
- SI 2024/963 art. 2(2), in force 9 January 2025
- Last verified
- 2026-08-30
- Parameter
- Limitation period for an action founded on simple contract
- Value
- 6 years from the date the cause of action accrued
- Source
- Limitation Act 1980 s.5; acknowledgement or part payment restarts the period under s.29-30
- Last verified
- 2026-08-30
The court fee for issuing a winding-up petition is confirmed at the point of instruction. We have not opened the current court fee schedule, so we do not quote it here.
Enforcement route
The applicable route for this jurisdiction is recorded as Hague2019. The New York Convention applies to arbitral awards.
Practical constraints
Опорная юрисдикция: statutory demand 750 GBP (компания) / 5000 GBP (физлицо); DBA и CFA легальны; детективного лицензирования де-факто нет
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