Once a company goes into liquidation, its current and former directors, and some employees and advisers, must give the liquidator the information and attendance the liquidator reasonably requires. Section 235 of the Insolvency Act 1986 imposes that duty directly, backed by a fine. Where cooperation is not forthcoming, the liquidator can ask the court to order a private examination and the production of records under section 236, and in a compulsory liquidation the official receiver can seek a public examination in open court under section 133.

The powers apply in every insolvent liquidation, whether it is a creditors’ voluntary liquidation or a compulsory liquidation, and most of them also apply to administrators. This page sets out who is caught, what can be demanded and how the court enforces it, for companies in England and Wales.

Who has a duty to cooperate with a liquidator?

Section 235(3) lists the people who must cooperate:

  • anyone who is or has at any time been an officer of the company;
  • anyone who took part in forming the company within one year before the effective date;
  • current employees, and anyone employed within that year (including under a contract for services), if the office holder thinks they can give information the office holder needs;
  • officers and employees, within that year, of another company that is or was an officer of the company; and
  • in a winding up by the court, anyone who has acted as administrator, administrative receiver or liquidator of the company.

The effective date, under section 235(4), is the date the company went into liquidation, or the date a provisional liquidator or administrator was appointed where that came first. “Contract for services” means freelance bookkeepers and consultants can be within the net, not only staff on the payroll. Section 235(1) extends the duty to the official receiver in any court winding up, whether or not the official receiver is the liquidator.

What exactly must they provide?

Section 235(2) requires each of those people to give the office holder such information about the company’s promotion, formation, business, dealings, affairs or property as the office holder may at any time after the effective date reasonably require, and to attend on the office holder when reasonably required. Failing to comply without reasonable excuse makes the person liable to a fine and, for continued failure, a daily default fine (section 235(5)).

Separate statutory duties run alongside it:

  • Statement of affairs in a voluntary liquidation. Under section 99 the directors must, within seven days beginning with the day after the winding up resolution, make out a statement of affairs in the prescribed form and send it to creditors, verified by a statement of truth. Failure without reasonable excuse is an offence.
  • Statement of affairs in a compulsory liquidation. Under section 131 the official receiver can require past and present officers and others to submit a statement of affairs, normally within 21 days of being given notice. The official receiver can extend the time or release someone from the obligation.
  • Handing over property and records. Section 208 makes it an offence for a past or present officer, including a shadow director, not to disclose all the company’s property and how and to whom any of it was disposed of outside the ordinary course of business, or not to deliver up property, books and papers the law requires them to hand over. There is a defence of having no intent to defraud.

What does cooperation look like in practice?

In a compulsory liquidation the Insolvency Service’s guide for directors says the director will be invited to an interview with the official receiver, usually face to face, and that face to face interviews may take two to three hours. The director is expected to complete a questionnaire, explain the circumstances that led to the insolvency and hand over all the company’s financial records and papers, which the official receiver keeps. The Insolvency Service’s director information hub states that, although the director’s duties as a director cease, the director must fully cooperate with the liquidator.

Insolvency practitioners acting as liquidator in a voluntary liquidation work in a similar way, through questionnaires, meetings and requests for records. Questions about an overdrawn director’s loan account are common.

What can the court order under section 236?

If informal requests fail, or the office holder needs evidence from someone outside the section 235 list, section 236 lets the office holder apply to the court. The court can summon:

  • any officer of the company;
  • anyone known or suspected to have company property or to owe money to the company; and
  • anyone the court thinks capable of giving information about the company’s promotion, formation, business, dealings, affairs or property.

That last category is wide enough to include the company’s bank, accountant or a customer. The court can require the person to submit an account of their dealings with the company, verified by a statement of truth, or to produce books, papers and records. If a person fails without reasonable excuse to appear, or is believed to be about to abscond, the court can issue a warrant for their arrest and the seizure of books, records, money or goods (section 236(4) and (5)).

The procedure is in rules 12.17 to 12.22 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016. The application must state its grounds and the orders sought, and may be made without notice to the respondent (rule 12.18). An examination date must be at least 14 days after the order (rule 12.19). The respondent can have a lawyer present, at their own expense, to ask clarifying questions and make representations (rule 12.20).

What happens to the answers, and who pays the costs?

Rule 12.20(6) says the written record of a section 236 examination may be used as evidence against the respondent in any proceedings. Under rule 12.21 the record and any witness statement are not filed with the court, and can only be inspected by the applicant, someone who could have applied, or with the court’s permission.

Section 433 allows statements made under requirements of the Act, such as a statement of affairs, to be used in evidence against the person who made them. In criminal proceedings, however, the prosecution generally cannot rely on them unless the defence raises them first, with listed exceptions that include offences under sections 99(3), 131(7), 208 and 235(5) and perjury.

On costs, rule 12.22 says that if the examination was made necessary because information was unjustifiably refused, the court may order the respondent to pay. Otherwise the applicant’s costs are normally an expense of the insolvency, and a person summoned must be offered a reasonable sum for travelling expenses.

Where the evidence shows a person holds company property or owes the company money, section 237 lets the court order delivery of the property or payment of the debt, and allows the person to be examined anywhere in the United Kingdom or abroad.

When is there a public examination?

Section 133 applies only when a company is being wound up by the court. The official receiver may apply at any time before dissolution for the public examination of anyone who is or has been an officer, has acted as liquidator, administrator or receiver, or has been concerned in the promotion, formation or management of the company. Unless the court orders otherwise, the official receiver must apply if requested by one half in value of the company’s creditors or three quarters in value of its contributories (section 133(2)).

The examination is held in open court. The person must attend and can be questioned about the promotion, formation or management of the company, the conduct of its business and their own dealings with it. Under section 133(4), the official receiver, the liquidator, any special manager, any creditor who has tendered a proof and any contributory can take part. See proof of debt for how a creditor becomes a proving creditor.

How does this feed into director investigations?

Information gathered under these powers is the raw material for the liquidator’s director conduct report to the Insolvency Service and for any claim against directors, such as misfeasance or wrongful trading. The Insolvency Service guide notes that the official receiver will report to it if a director may have broken the law, and that unfit conduct can lead to disqualification for between two and fifteen years.

Illustration only. A liquidator finds that £30,000 left a trading company’s account in the month before liquidation, described only as “consultancy”. The director gives a vague answer at interview and stops replying. The liquidator applies under section 236 for orders requiring the director to produce invoices and bank statements and requiring the company’s former external bookkeeper, engaged on a contract for services, to attend for examination. The bookkeeper produces records showing the payments went to the director’s spouse. The court orders the director to pay the costs of the examination under rule 12.22(1), and the liquidator uses the evidence to bring a recovery claim.

What mistakes do directors make?

  • Treating questionnaires and interview requests as optional. The duty in section 235 is statutory and continues after the director has resigned.
  • Keeping the books “for safekeeping”. Section 208 makes failure to deliver them up an offence.
  • Answering loosely at a private examination. The record can be used in evidence against the director in civil proceedings.
  • Assuming a former adviser can refuse to help. Accountants, bookkeepers and banks can be summoned under section 236.
  • Ignoring a section 236 order, which risks a warrant for arrest and an order to pay the costs.

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Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 19 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.