CCJs against a company: how to check and what they mean

Updated 22 July 2026 · 5 min read · Kestrel Alert

County court judgments against a limited company aren't shown on Companies House: they're recorded on the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, which anyone can search online for a few pounds. A CCJ means a creditor sued and the company neither paid nor successfully defended; it stays on the register for six years unless paid within a month. For a supplier, one CCJ is a serious warning and a pattern of them usually means the company is rationing cash, but by the time a judgment appears the underlying trouble is months old.

Where are CCJs recorded?

On the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, the official statutory register maintained by Registry Trust. County court money judgments in England and Wales are registered automatically. This is a separate record from Companies House, which is why a customer can have a clean filing history and an ugly judgment record at the same time.

How do I check a company for CCJs?

Search the register online (Registry Trust's public search service) by the company's exact registered name; a search costs a few pounds. Search trading names and any recent former names too, since judgments are registered against the name sued, not the company number. Paid credit reports bundle the same CCJ data, which is one of the main things you're paying them for.

What does a CCJ against a customer actually mean?

It means another creditor was owed money, gave up chasing, sued, and won. Most CCJs are default judgments: the company didn't even respond. A business that lets an undisputed debt go all the way to judgment is either badly run or out of cash, and an unpaid judgment debt of £750 or more can be used as the basis for a winding-up petition. Several recent CCJs is one of the strongest public signals that a company is choosing which creditors to pay, and our guide on early warning signs covers what usually comes next.

What are the limits of a CCJ check?

Paid judgments can vanish or be marked. Paid within one calendar month, the entry is removed entirely; paid later, it stays for the six years but is marked satisfied.
Some CCJs are noise. Default judgments served on an old address happen, and a genuinely disputed judgment can be set aside. A lone, small, satisfied CCJ deserves a question, not a panic.
It's a lagging indicator. Months of arrears, then a claim, then a judgment: by registration day the distress is old news. The Companies House and Gazette record usually shows trouble earlier.

What should a supplier do?

Run a CCJ search when opening a material credit account, alongside the free Companies House checks.
Ask the customer about a lone judgment; a good customer will have a boring answer and proof it's paid.
Treat multiple or recent CCJs as a reason to tighten terms now: deposits, shorter terms, lower limits.
Re-check when something else changes, a late payment, a new charge, overdue accounts.

Kestrel Alert doesn't monitor the judgment register: we watch the official Companies House and Gazette record, where the earlier and later stages of the same story (overdue accounts, new charges, petitions, insolvency notices) appear. Do the CCJ search when you open the account; let Kestrel Alert do the continuous watching from there. Your first company is free to watch.