- Original Poster
- #1
My event hire business was pushed into insolvency earlier this year by Covid-19 forcing the cancellation of all public events in 2020, and no prospect of any bookings in 2021 either.
We held on as long as possible with a combination of furloughing staff, minimising expenditure and negotiating terms with our suppliers. But with corporate tax and other liabilities falling due and with absolutely no income for the foreseeable future we had to accept that the company was insolvent.
Although our bank (HSBC) was keen to give us a covid bounceback loan, I couldn't accept it without knowing it could be repaid. Yes, I could have taken the money and then dissolved the company and walked away but I'm an ethical person and that just didn't sit right with me.
I'm hugely grateful to @Spongebob for his guide to insolvency. I didn't have ~£4k-5k available to pay a liquidator and we didn't have any valuable assets to cash in. I followed his instructions to the letter and was relieved that, after the notice period, companies house marked my company as dissolved. This has ended a huge amount of stress and worry and given some closure.
It's very sad that the company I founded and that has been trading at a modest profit for almost 9 years has now come to an end. I'm now doing temporary shift work at a local supermarket to help cover the household bills while I look for a new full-time job. It will be very strange going back to working for someone else after all these years!
I wanted to give encouragement to anyone else who might be going through a similar situation that you are not alone, and that this isn't a reflection of personal failure. I spent many nights feeling like I'd failed, but the Covid situation has affected many companies both large and small, and wasn't a problem of my own making. There are many business going through very hard times, but this won't be the situation forever.
Thank you to everyone on this forum who provides support, advice and assistance. It's hugely appreciated by many people and I'm sure it has a much greater positive impact than you might realise.
Stay strong and stay safe.
We held on as long as possible with a combination of furloughing staff, minimising expenditure and negotiating terms with our suppliers. But with corporate tax and other liabilities falling due and with absolutely no income for the foreseeable future we had to accept that the company was insolvent.
Although our bank (HSBC) was keen to give us a covid bounceback loan, I couldn't accept it without knowing it could be repaid. Yes, I could have taken the money and then dissolved the company and walked away but I'm an ethical person and that just didn't sit right with me.
I'm hugely grateful to @Spongebob for his guide to insolvency. I didn't have ~£4k-5k available to pay a liquidator and we didn't have any valuable assets to cash in. I followed his instructions to the letter and was relieved that, after the notice period, companies house marked my company as dissolved. This has ended a huge amount of stress and worry and given some closure.
It's very sad that the company I founded and that has been trading at a modest profit for almost 9 years has now come to an end. I'm now doing temporary shift work at a local supermarket to help cover the household bills while I look for a new full-time job. It will be very strange going back to working for someone else after all these years!
I wanted to give encouragement to anyone else who might be going through a similar situation that you are not alone, and that this isn't a reflection of personal failure. I spent many nights feeling like I'd failed, but the Covid situation has affected many companies both large and small, and wasn't a problem of my own making. There are many business going through very hard times, but this won't be the situation forever.
Thank you to everyone on this forum who provides support, advice and assistance. It's hugely appreciated by many people and I'm sure it has a much greater positive impact than you might realise.
Stay strong and stay safe.
