Overview
- The government, which unveiled the package on Thursday, set spring 2027 for the new consumer rules to take effect.
- Firms must send reminders before free trials end and before 12‑month or longer contracts renew, and they must offer easy online cancellation where customers signed up online.
- Shoppers will get a 14‑day cooling‑off window after a trial ends or after a 12‑month renewal, with refunds designed to be full or proportionate so people are not left out of pocket.
- Officials cited the scale of the problem with 155 million active subscriptions, nearly 10 million unwanted, about 3.5 million rolled from trials into paid plans, and 1.3 million hit by unexpected auto‑renewals.
- Certain charitable, cultural, and heritage memberships will be exempt, and the measures implement the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 with more technical and enforcement details due later this year.