Subscription contracts play an increasingly significant role in the lives of UK consumers. Across the economy, people rely on subscription services for everything from streaming and software to meal kits, fitness, and household essentials. There are an estimated 155 million active subscriptions in the UK, representing around £26 billion of consumer spending each year. While this model brings genuine convenience for many, far too often people find themselves stuck in subscriptions they no longer want or need, or paying for contracts that automatically renewed without their full awareness. Some £1.6 billion is spent annually on unwanted subscriptions in the UK.
This Government are committed to protecting consumers and ensuring that they have clarity and control over their spending, especially during a time when household budgets are under pressure. Today we are taking an important step to deliver on that commitment by publishing the Government response to the consultation on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime.
This marks another milestone in enhancing consumer protection and implementing measures introduced in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. These will strengthen consumer rights and help people across the UK keep more of their hard-earned money, which will save consumers an average of £14 per month for every unwanted subscription they can cancel.
Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024 and established a new regulatory framework for subscription contracts. This requires businesses to give clear pre-contract information and send regular reminders about ongoing subscriptions. Businesses must also ensure that it is straightforward for consumers to cancel, and provide online cancellation if consumers can sign up online. The Act also introduces new statutory cancellation rights, including 14-day cooling-off periods when free or discounted trials roll on to higher full price terms or when contracts of 12 months or more auto-renew.
These measures maintain and build on existing protections under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.
Government response to the consultation on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime
The Government have reviewed the evidence submitted through the consultation process and will bring forward secondary legislation for the following proposals:
Cooling-off rights and refunds
If a consumer exercises their 14-day initial cooling-off right (after they sign up) or 14 day renewal cooling-off right (after trial ends or a contract renews for longer than 12 months), new return and refund rules will provide:
For returnable goods, consumers will receive a refund when goods are returned, including standard delivery costs.
For perishable and bespoke goods, they will receive a full refund if they cancel before the goods are supplied. If they cancel after the goods are supplied, the trader will be entitled to reduce the refund by the value of those goods—including all delivery costs.
Where goods are sealed for specified reasons—for example, for health protection or hygiene—and become unsealed after delivery or goods become inseparably mixed with other goods after delivery, the trader will be entitled to reduce the consumer’s refund to cover the value of these now unreturnable goods.
For service contracts, if consumers cancel during an initial or renewal cooling-off period, they will be entitled to a partial refund proportionate to the services supplied before cancellation.
For digital content contracts, consumers may waive their initial cooling-off right in return for the supply of digital content during the initial cooling-off period. If consumers cancel during the renewal cooling-off period, they will be entitled to a partial refund proportionate to the digital content supplied during the renewal period before cancellation.
Extension of the cooling-off period
If a trader is in breach of the requirement to inform a consumer about their cooling-off rights, the cooling-off period extends to 14 days after the trader corrects their breach, up to a maximum of 12 months after the original end date.
Ancillary contracts and mixed contracts
We will legislate so that if the main subscription contract is cancelled, ancillary contracts are treated in the same was as they are under the existing Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.
Contractual terms and auto-renewal
We will legislate to prevent contractual terms that make it disproportionately difficult for consumers to stop a subscription from auto-renewing.
Cancellation remedies for breach of duties
If traders breach statutory obligations, such as failing to send reminder notices, consumers will have clear rights to appropriate refunds. We will also introduce a list of specific breaches for which refunds will apply automatically.
Information notices
Consumers must be provided with clear information about their contract and the purpose of communications must be clear. Notices must be provided on a “durable medium” (a format that the consumer can easily access in the future) and important information must be both clear and prominent.
Charitable memberships
We recognise the vital contribution of the UK’s cultural and heritage charities, and the public benefit they provide. In response to concerns raised by the sector, the Government will exclude certain charitable cultural and heritage memberships from the new subscription regime, ensuring they are not subject to additional requirements beyond those that already apply under existing consumer law. Broadly this will exclude contracts which are between a charity and a consumer and that allow consumers to attend performances, see collections, or visit places—for example, museums, galleries, historical properties, landscapes, wildlife, performing arts—which are related to their charitable purpose.
Next steps
This new framework will empower consumers with clearer rights, fairer terms, and easier ways to manage their subscriptions. It will also support competition and growth by ensuring businesses operate on a level playing field with strong, trusted consumer protections at its core. Under the new regime, consumers will benefit from:
Clear, tailored information before they sign up to a subscription.
Reminders before a trial period ends or a 12 months-plus contract auto-renews.
Easy, straightforward cancellation routes, including online cancellation if consumers can sign up online.
A new renewal cooling-off period, allowing consumers to exit a contract within 14 days of a trial or a contract renewing for longer than 12 months-plus if they change their mind.
In a world where an increasing numbers of goods and services are sold using subscriptions, these measures will protect consumers from being trapped in unwanted subscription contracts and be better able to control how and where they spend their money. Together the measures are anticipated to provide £400 million of consumer benefits per year.
The Government will bring forward secondary legislation covering the above, when parliamentary time allows, and we expect the regime to commence in spring 2027. We will also publish guidance to support implementation.
I am placing a copy of the Government response to the consultation in the Libraries of both Houses.