- UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has brought new subscription cancellation laws forward
- Originally scheduled for Spring 2027, they’ll be in place by January 2027
- The government is also tackling ‘phoney bargains’ that promise bigger discounts than you’re really getting
The UK’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced consumer protection plans which aim to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up, and crack down on pretend deals, will be brought forward.
Originally set to land next spring, Burnham says they’ll be introduced by January 2027, “In time for when people often start new subscriptions, or cancel the ones they have, for the year ahead,” he explained in a Guardian article.
Once introduced the rules will require businesses to provide reminders before a free or discounted trial ends, and before a 12-month or longer contract automatically renews. Additionally UK subscribers will have a 14-day cooling off period once a free or discounted trial ends, or a 12-month or longer contract renews, to back out of the arrangement with a “full or proportionate refund.”
On top of this the government is mandating “straightforward cancellations,” such as requiring online exits for online sign ups.
According to government statistics, there are 155m active subscriptions in the UK — and nearly 10 million are believed to be unwanted, costing members of the public an estimated £1.6 billion a year. Burnham adds, “The changes we are introducing will save an average of £14 a month for every unwanted subscription.”
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride described the announcement as “reheated,” as the new subscription rules were already announced under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer in April.
Fake bargains be gone
In addition to the fast-tracked subscription changes, the new rules will now also tackle “phoney bargains” as Burnham describes them — which can trick shoppers into believing they’ve snagged a better deal than they really have.
Essentially, if a deal is described as being half-off it has to actually be half-off. This would prevent a shop from drastically raising prices right before a sale to make discounts look stepper, or from pointing out how much a product is discounted based on a misleading recommended retail price (RRP) that the item hasn’t been sold at price for some time.
Similar rules were included in 2024’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act , however this change strengthens those protections and adds advertising false ‘was’ prices for on sale products to the Competition and Markets Authority list of banned practices.
This will make dishonest sales pricing illegal by default without the need to prove direct harm to consumers in each instance.
To hash out the exact rulings the government has said it will be launching a consultation this autumn.
Admittedly none of the changes are groundbreaking, nor will they entirely solve the cost of living squeeze we’ve been feeling, but I’m hoping they’ll make shopping online feel like less of a minefield — especially the new rules around sale prices.
I’ve covered half a dozen Black Fridays with TechRadar, rooting out the best tech deals I can find, and experienced first-hand how companies will try to obscure bad deals with bold discount promises — comparing sale prices to a long-forgotten RRP is one I’ve seen plenty of.
When it comes to subscriptions I think we can all conjure up memories of a free trial causing hurt when we forget to cancel, or setting up a recurring yearly subscription that gets lost to time, but continues to chip away at our finances.
Nothing will change right away, unfortunately. None of the new rules are set to land until January, though take this article as a reminder to look over your subscriptions today and maybe cancel the ones you don’t need any more.
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hamish.hector@futurenet.com (Hamish Hector)
