Understand the event without predicting the outcome
The Department's SCARP guidance describes a restructuring process for fundamentally viable small and micro companies experiencing financial difficulty. It explains that directors initiate the process and that court involvement can be limited. That broad description is useful context, not an assessment of whether this particular customer will survive or what a creditor will receive.
Keep SCARP distinct from examinership, receivership, liquidation, strike-off and dissolution. Those labels do not describe interchangeable procedures. A business may continue communicating with suppliers while a rescue process is under way; the practical question is what the current documents say and what advice your particular exposure requires, not whether the website still looks operational.
Confirm the debtor and independently authenticate the notice
Begin with the entity named in the notice. Compare its registered number and legal name with the signed agreement, purchase orders and invoices. If the customer trades through a group, do not automatically assign another company's invoices or guarantees to that account. Preserve any ambiguity as a question for review.
Check the sender's professional contact details through an independent reliable route, not solely the links or telephone number in the message. A genuine corporate event can be used as a pretext for impersonation. Do not send account records, identity information or funds to a new destination merely because a message mentions SCARP or includes an impressive attachment.
Read filings as dated events, not a complete creditor instruction
The CRO forms list distinguishes SCARP1, notification of a process adviser's appointment, from SCARP4, notification of approval of a rescue plan. The list also identifies other SCARP forms. An appointment record is not evidence that a plan has already been approved, and an approval notification should not be paraphrased as proof that every obligation has been completed.
Read the document type, entity and relevant dates together. A company-profile label or missing document list cannot establish the complete position. CRO's wider status descriptions also show why precise wording matters: some receiver-related wording includes Normal. Neither a reassuring colour nor a familiar label should replace reviewing the relevant source documents and notices.
| Evidence | What to record | What remains separate |
|---|---|---|
| SCARP1 | Appointment notification and identified company | Current instructions and creditor-specific requirements |
| SCARP4 | Notification concerning rescue-plan approval | The plan's effect on your actual position |
| Direct notice | Original wording, attachments and receipt details | Authentication and professional interpretation |
| Company profile | Identity and available historical context | Current legal advice and a complete process record |
Build a reconciled account rather than an invoice total
Prepare a dated schedule that links each amount to its evidence. Include invoice references, delivery or acceptance records, credits, returns, payments and genuine disputes. Keep your proposed balance distinguishable from amounts acknowledged by the customer or adviser. An unexplained difference is a question to resolve, not something to hide by choosing the larger figure.
Assign one internal owner to reconcile finance and sales records. Retain source documents alongside the working schedule so an adviser can understand how you reached the total. Do not alter original invoices or backfill missing acceptance evidence. If goods, guarantees or contractual rights raise specialist issues, identify the documents and seek advice rather than assuming a remedy exists.
- Exact debtor identity and the agreement supporting the account.
- Invoices matched to purchase orders and evidence of delivery or performance.
- Credits, returns, part-payments and disputed items shown separately.
- Original notices, relevant correspondence and a dated questions log.
- Proposed new orders clearly separated from the historical account.
Fictional example: sales and finance disagree about the balance
Imagine fictional Rowan Sample Packaging Limited receives an authenticated notice concerning one customer. Sales reports an outstanding account of EUR 18,000. Finance identifies a EUR 2,000 credit already issued and a EUR 3,000 invoice disputed by the customer. These invented amounts illustrate reconciliation only; they do not determine a legally admitted claim or recovery entitlement.
The working schedule therefore shows EUR 16,000 after the credit, including the separately flagged EUR 3,000 dispute. It attaches the original invoices, credit and correspondence. A proposed EUR 4,000 new order goes into a different decision record. The team gives its adviser the notice and evidence, asks how to handle the disputed amount and relevant dates, and makes no assumption that the new order or old balance will be paid.
Manage dates and new supply without improvising legal rules
Record each date exactly as stated, what document it comes from and who must assess it. Bring notices and attachments promptly to a suitably qualified adviser. This guide deliberately provides no fixed deadline calculator: the wording, current process stage and your circumstances matter, and a website summary cannot interpret them for you.
For proposed supplies, write down the contracting entity, requested work, authority, payment arrangement and internal approver. Ask advisers about unresolved contractual questions before making material commitments. A SCARP filing, an earlier company report or a verbal reassurance is not a substitute for that decision. Keep the reasoning and supporting evidence so colleagues can see what was actually approved.