Financial difficulties aren’t anything new for businesses in the UK alone. In 2025, nearly 50,000 companies reported critical financial distress, which is a 21.4% increase from the previous year’s reports, according to Accountancy Age.
But when your company hits financial trouble, do you have options, and if so, what are they? As a director for so many, the advice you get is imperative; it can shape everything that happens next. This is where Director First comes into play. They are a UK company offering free confidential guidance to UK company directors facing insolvency, HMRC pressure, or a business that simply isn’t working anymore.
But how beneficial are they when things are spiralling fast? Let’s take a look.
Who Is Director First?
Director First was founded by Chris Worden, who went through company insolvency himself before building the firm around what he describes as director-focused advice: less jargon, more straight talk about what a director is actually facing. That personal experience is central to how the company presents itself, positioning its team as “directors protecting directors” rather than practitioners simply ticking boxes. Worden has also written publicly about industry changes affecting directors, including upcoming shifts in liquidation costs, positioning the firm as a source of ongoing guidance rather than a one-off transaction.
The firm offers free confidential consultations to UK company directors with the stated aim of helping people explore rescue options, understand liquidation processes and protect their personal and professional interests. It holds a 5.0 rating from over 770 Trustpilot reviews rated “Excellent” by real company directors and describes itself as the UK’s number one YouTube channel for insolvency advice, backed by a library of over 650 videos on the channel covering insolvency advice content ranging from HMRC debt to director redundancy claims.
Director First Rescue and Closure Options
Director First splits its services into two clear paths: rescuing a company and closing down one properly.
In the rescue phase, options include
- Company Voluntary Arrangements that let a business keep trading while paying off debts over a managed period.
- Company Administration to protect a company from legal action while restructuring plans are developed
- Prepack Administration to sell the business and assets to a new company in order to preserve value and jobs.
HMRC arrears are handled directly too; you get support, negotiation time to pay arrangements, or restructuring tax debts where a business has become viable again but historic arrears are holding it back.
On the creditor side, the firm covers Creditors Voluntary Liquidation for insolvent companies, guidance on overdrawn directors’ loan accounts and advice on what happens to Bounce Back Loans during liquidation. Every case starts with a structured assessment of the company’s financial position, creditor pressure and risk, which Director First says delivers clear next steps within minutes rather than days.
How the Process Works
Once an initial assessment is done, Director First moves into a fixed-fee quotation for whatever service is needed, whether that’s liquidation support, a CVA, or business rescue advice, with the stated aim of avoiding hidden costs later in the process.
Pricing for liquidation is upfront: it depends on a company’s specific circumstances, including creditor numbers and any complications like overdrawn directors’ loan accounts, and it carries out a full assessment before quoting directors so they are not hit with unexpected charges partway through the process. However, it’s worth noting that the quote can change if details are not submitted or checked correctly prior to submitting for a quote, placing the onus on the director to submit correct records and details to avoid any additional charges after the initial quote.
You can also find a wealth of published practical guides on the website covering everything from what happens to a bounce back loan in liquidation to how director redundancy claims work, helping directors understand their position before they even pick up the phone. For directors worried about affording the liquidation itself, Director First points to director redundancy claims, which average around £10,000 and cover the cost of the process alongside more cautious routes like selling company assets with a proper independent valuation or using personal funds carefully to avoid preference payment issues.
What Happens After You Call?
There is a rough timeline for how quickly things move once you get in touch. You get same-day advice followed by formal notices within 24 to 48 hours, a creditors’ decision period of 7 to 14 days, then a liquidator is appointed. For a director who’s been putting off making contact out of fear of a drawn-out process, that’s a useful thing to know.
What’s the Catch?
The advice you can get from Director First is free. But the formal procedures that follow it aren’t. And this is worth going into with clear eyes. A straightforward Creditors Voluntary Liquidation with minimal creditors starts from £5,000 plus VAT, and more complex cases with more creditors and assets involved cost more. For a very small company, with limited funds, this is a genuine barrier since the business may need to find several thousand pounds at exactly the point it’s least able to.
There’s also the practical reality that not every director qualifies for the ways the director first suggests covering these costs. Director redundancy claims depend on meeting specific eligibility criteria, so not everyone will qualify, and asset sales require independent valuations to avoid personal liability, which just adds an extra step for directors already under pressure.
Final Verdict
Director First covers a genuinely broad range of rescue and closure options backed by a founder with lived experience of the exact situation many of its clients are facing and a substantial amount of free educational content to go with it.
But its biggest strength is how Chris Worden built the business on the back of his own lived experience. This is what sets the company apart from others in the space. With this experience and real substance backing up what it does and its reputation in supporting company directors, if you’re facing financial difficulties within your business, Director First can be a valuable resource in helping you get things straight.
