What are the necessary steps to take when an individual is served a disputed statutory demand?

One option is to contact the creditor to dispute the statutory demand, which will lessen costs for both parties, however a statutory demand must be responded to within 21 days, therefore this could be problematic if a response is not received from the creditor within this time frame.

If no response is received from the creditor, then the next step is to submit an application to the appropriate court (Usually the court that set out the statutory demand itself) to set aside a statutory demand under the recent Insolvency Rules (6^th April 2017).