Which insolvency process? CVL, administration, MVL explained

What this test checks

Works out which formal process a company is in, or has been through, from the categories of the Gazette notices published about it: compulsory winding-up, creditors' voluntary liquidation, administration, members' voluntary liquidation or administrative receivership.

It also reads the order of events. Administration followed by a creditors' voluntary liquidation, for example, means a rescue attempt failed and the company is being wound up.

What a fail looks like

The company is in, or has been through, an insolvent process. Compulsory winding-up is the most severe; creditors' voluntary liquidation means the directors accepted the company cannot pay its debts; administration means an insolvency practitioner has taken control.

Harmless explanations

• A members' voluntary liquidation is a solvent closure: creditors are paid in full.
• A company that came through administration or a CVA years ago and has filed healthily since is in a different position from one in a process today.

What to do

• Use the process type to decide what to do: claim from the liquidator, talk to the administrator, or simply expect payment in an MVL.
• Check whether the process is still open with the active insolvency test.

Background: What insolvency means for a supplier.

Related tests

• LEG-001Active Insolvency Proceedings
• LEG-020Gazette Notice Existence
• LEG-023Compulsory Winding-Up Order
• LEG-024Administration Appointment
• LEG-025Creditors' Meeting Notice

Part of the test catalogue. Every check Senserity runs, with its severity and the plan it is available on.

Last reviewed 3 October 2026.