Subscription traps: the new rules that will make cancelling easier

Signing up to a streaming service, a gym app or a food box takes about thirty seconds. Getting out of one can take half an afternoon, a phone queue and a buried web page. That imbalance is what the government now calls a subscription trap, and it is about to be regulated: the subscription contract rules in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 will come into force in January 2027 across the whole of the United Kingdom, consumer law being set at Westminster for all four nations.

The start date was originally pencilled in for spring 2027. It was brought forward last summer, when Downing Street presented the measure as the first of a series of “everyday fixes” on the cost of living. Nothing has changed for shoppers yet — the duties land on businesses in January 2027, and the detailed regulations and the regulator's guidance are still to be published.

What the new rules will require

The Act rewrites the whole life cycle of a subscription rather than just the cancellation screen. From January 2027, a trader selling a subscription contract will have to:

• give clear information up front, before you commit, on what you will pay, when, and for how long;
• send reminders ahead of renewal payments, and at regular intervals on rolling contracts, so a charge never arrives unannounced;
• let you leave in a straightforward way, without a retention script or an obstacle course of menus;
• honour a 14-day cooling-off period at sign-up, plus a fresh 14-day window when a free or discounted trial turns into a paying subscription, or when a contract of at least twelve months renews.

That second cooling-off window is the real novelty. Today, the moment a trial converts is the moment most people lose track — the first full payment often lands weeks later, long after the decision has slipped out of mind. Enforcement sits with the Competition and Markets Authority, which under the same Act can act against breaches of consumer law directly rather than having to take every case to court first.

The numbers behind the decision

The scale is bigger than most households imagine. The government puts the number of active subscriptions in the UK at around 155 million, and estimates that consumers spend about £1.6 billion a year on subscriptions they do not actually want. Per unwanted subscription, that works out at roughly £14 a month — the sort of sum that is too small to chase and too big to ignore twelve times over.

The pattern is familiar to anyone who has watched a telecoms bill creep upwards. The same inertia that keeps a dormant app on your card statement is what makes the loyalty penalty on mobile contracts so profitable, and what gave mid-contract price rises their bite for so long. Subscriptions simply make inertia the business model.

The second front: fake “was” prices

Alongside the subscription regime, ministers have promised a consultation on misleading pricing, due to open this autumn. It will examine whether tactics such as fake “was” prices, invented discounts and misleading recommended retail prices should be added to the list of practices banned outright under the same Act. The complaint behind it is simple: a price lifted for a few weeks so it can be slashed again on sale day is not a discount, it is a stage set.

A consultation is not a ban, and nothing on that front is in force. But the direction is clear enough that retailers are already reviewing how they display reference prices.

What to do before January 2027

• Pull up your bank and card statements for the last three months and list every recurring payment. Most people find at least one they had forgotten.
• Check what is bundled: broadband, mobile and TV packages often carry a subscription you are already paying for elsewhere.
• Diarise the end of every free trial on the day you start it, not the day it bills.
• Cancel through the trader first and keep the confirmation. Blocking a card payment without cancelling leaves the contract — and the debt — alive.
• Keep records. The same evidence habit that settles a dispute over an undelivered parcel works for a subscription you were told you had ended.

None of this waits for the new rules. What January 2027 will add is a legal obligation on the trader to do the remembering for you — which, for 155 million live subscriptions, is where the money actually is.

Frequently asked questions

Do the new subscription rules apply yet?

No. They will take effect in January 2027. Until then, your rights come from the existing consumer protection and distance selling rules, and from the terms of the contract you signed.

Will the 14-day cooling-off period let me get a refund on a subscription I have used?

Cooling-off rights normally allow a deduction for the service already supplied, so expect a proportionate refund rather than the whole payment back. The detailed regulations will set out exactly how that is calculated.

Do the rules differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

No. Consumer protection of this kind is reserved to Westminster, so the subscription regime will apply across the United Kingdom on the same date.

Sources

• GOV.UK — PM starts roll out of ‘everyday fixes' on the cost of living
• LBC — Measures to tackle rip-off discounts and subscription traps
• TLT — DMCC Act subscription contracts regime brought forward

This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence. Editorial policy