A practical England and Wales checklist for checking the debt, the correct form, service evidence, response dates and the record needed before insolvency action.
Start with the debt, not the form
A statutory demand is an insolvency step, not simply a stronger version of an ordinary reminder. Before preparing or reacting to one, reconstruct the debt from the documents that created it. Identify the creditor, the debtor, the source of the obligation, the date payment became due, every credit or part-payment, and the balance said to remain outstanding. If interest or contractual charges are included, keep the calculation separate from the principal. The working file should allow another person to reproduce the figure without relying on a total copied from correspondence.
Keep a dispute log alongside the balance. Record each occasion on which liability, amount, performance, set-off or another issue was challenged, the precise point raised, the answer given and the documents exchanged. A statutory demand should not be used as a substitute for resolving a genuine substantial dispute. For the recipient, an existing dispute needs to be evidenced by the underlying record rather than described only as a general objection. The purpose of the log is to show what was disputed, when, and on what material.
Choose the correct debtor and demand
Identity errors are particularly serious in insolvency material. For an individual, check the name and address against the transaction documents. For a company, compare the contractual counterparty with the Companies House identity, company number and registered office. A trading style is not automatically the same legal person as the company behind it. Where a partnership, guarantor or related company appears in the history, keep each possible liability route separate until the actual obligation is established.
The form and procedural route depend on whether the debtor is an individual or a company and on the nature of the debt. Current HMCTS material should be checked at the date of preparation. The demand itself should state the debt intelligibly and identify the person with whom the debtor can communicate. Do not reuse a form saved months earlier without confirming that it remains current. Preserve the clean source form and the completed version as separate files so later review can identify what was changed.
Record service as an evidential event
Service is not an administrative afterthought. Create a service plan before the demand leaves the file. For an individual, the current Insolvency Practice Direction and official guidance emphasise bringing the demand to the debtor’s attention and, where practicable, personal service. For a company, service details are different and the registered office and appropriate officers may matter. Record the address source, the chosen method, the person carrying out service and the reason for any alternative method.
After service, preserve a copy of the exact demand, the date and time, process-server material or postal evidence, any acknowledgement and any communication showing receipt. If personal service was attempted but not achieved, preserve the attempts rather than reducing them to a later summary. The statutory timetable runs from service, so the service record and the deadline record should cross-reference one another. A later certificate or witness statement is easier to prepare when the contemporaneous evidence is complete.
Control the 18-day and 21-day dates
For an individual in the United Kingdom, current official guidance states that an application to challenge a statutory demand is ordinarily made within 18 days of service, while the demand gives 21 days to pay or reach an agreement. Service outside the jurisdiction can alter those periods. The file should therefore show the service date, location, the rule or guidance used, the calculation and the final date. If the last day interacts with a weekend or bank holiday, verify the applicable court rule rather than relying on an ordinary calendar count.
For a company, the response route is not the same as an individual application to set aside. Official guidance describes a 21-day period to deal with the demand, and a company may need to seek court relief to restrain a winding-up petition where appropriate. The working note should never merge individual bankruptcy procedure with company winding-up procedure. Put the debtor type at the top of the file and make every deadline entry identify the procedural route to which it belongs.
Build the response file around the actual issue
If the debt is paid, keep proof of the payment and written confirmation of how the demand will be treated. If an instalment or settlement is negotiated, record the terms, dates, whether the demand is withdrawn or held, and what happens on default. If the debt is challenged, organise the evidence around the specific issue: liability, amount, assignment, limitation, security, set-off, counterclaim or another ground. Do not hide weaknesses by placing every possible objection into one generic response.
For an individual seeking to set aside the demand, preserve the application, supporting evidence, copy of the demand and filing confirmation. If an extension of time is needed, the current Insolvency Practice Direction requires evidence supporting that request. The file should show whether a bankruptcy petition has already been presented or is believed not to have been presented. These details are procedural facts and should be verified rather than assumed from the absence of correspondence.
Keep later insolvency steps separate
The end of the 21-day period does not itself prove that a petition is appropriate. Before any later insolvency step, update the balance, check for payments, agreements and disputes, confirm the debtor’s current status and verify the relevant threshold and procedural requirements. For an individual, official guidance currently identifies a £5,000 bankruptcy level; for a company, official guidance identifies a £750 winding-up debt threshold. Those figures should be rechecked at the time of action because statutory thresholds can change.
A closing record should show what ultimately happened to the demand. Keep any withdrawal, satisfaction, settlement, court order or subsequent petition documents. If the matter moves into ordinary civil proceedings instead, preserve the point at which that decision was made and the evidence supporting it. This allows a later reviewer to distinguish debt collection history from insolvency procedure and prevents an old statutory demand from being treated as though it remained an active step indefinitely.
Quality-control checklist
Before release, compare creditor and debtor names, company number where relevant, address, debt amount, due date, interest arithmetic, form version, contact details and every date in the service plan. Read the completed demand against the underlying ledger rather than against an earlier draft. Check that attachments mentioned in the demand actually exist and that the service copy is identical to the retained copy. A one-page control sheet signed or initialled by the person completing the review is often more useful than adding more narrative.
The record should answer seven questions: what is owed, why it is owed, by whom, when it became payable, what dispute exists, how the demand was served and what happened before each procedural deadline. If any answer depends on guesswork, label the gap and resolve it before treating the file as complete. That approach is more reliable than a template that repeats standard insolvency language without showing whether the facts fit the procedure.