5 November 2026 · 5 min read
The new UK subscription law starts on 1 January 2027. Here is your seven step checklist
From 1 January 2027 every UK business that sells subscriptions has new duties, under Part 4, Chapter 2 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. They apply to every customer who joins from that date. This is the list to work through before then, in the order most businesses find easiest.
1. Work out which customers the law covers
The law covers anything you sell to members of the public that renews by itself, or keeps charging until they cancel. Free or discounted trials that turn into paid subscriptions count. It covers businesses anywhere in the world selling to customers in the UK, so go by the billing address, not where their internet connection is.
Left out: insurance and financial products, some charity memberships, regular food deliveries by very small businesses, and anyone who joined before 1 January 2027, who stays under the old 2013 regulations. Record the reason for every product you leave out. See who the law covers.
2. Fix the sign-up page
Six things have to be in plain view next to the price and the join button. Not in your terms, not behind a link:
- that payments repeat and the subscription renews by itself until they cancel
- how often you charge
- how much each time, including VAT
- the least they are committing to, including any joining fee
- how to cancel, by when to avoid the next payment, and that they have 14 days to change their mind
- how and when you will remind them before you charge. Whatever timing you promise here is binding.
No pre ticked boxes for add ons, marketing or the digital content waiver. The free check looks for all of this on your page in under a minute.
3. Remind customers before you charge them
Reminders go before renewal payments. How often depends on how often you bill:
| Plan | Reminder needed |
|---|---|
| Billed monthly, weekly or more often | Before a renewal payment at least once in every six month period |
| Billed every six months, yearly or less often | Before every renewal payment |
| Free trial or introductory price | An extra reminder before the first full price payment |
| Renewing for another 12 months or more | An extra reminder before that renewal |
Each reminder must go a reasonable time before the last day the customer can cancel to avoid the charge, within the timing you promised at sign up. It must say the amount, the date, the last day to cancel, how to cancel and their rights. And it must be its own email, with no marketing in it. The date calculator lays out every reminder for a plan. See payment reminders.
4. Give them 14 days to change their mind, and tell them
A 14 day change of mind period (the law calls it a cooling-off period) opens when a customer joins, when a trial or introductory price ends, and when a subscription renews for another 12 months or more. You must email them at the start of each one. Forget the email and the period does not end. It runs on until 14 days after you put it right, for up to a year. For digital content, a customer can give up the refund for content they have started, but only if they actively agree and you record it. See the 14 day change of mind period.
5. Be ready to refund within 14 days
A customer who cancels inside their 14 days gets a refund within 14 days. What you may keep depends on what you sell: boxes already delivered plus standard delivery, hire time used, digital content under a valid waiver, the share of a month of access already used, or the value of services already provided. Decide what type each product is now so the sum is ready. See change of mind refunds.
6. Let them cancel online in one step
If a customer joined online they must be able to cancel online, in one clear step, without phoning or emailing. One offer to stay at most, skippable in one click. No survey before the cancellation is done. Then a written confirmation within 24 hours for an online cancellation, or by the end of the third working day for any other kind. See one click cancel and cancellation confirmation.
7. Keep the proof
The regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, can fine a business directly. Proof that you did all of the above is your defence: every email as sent, when, to whom, with the delivery confirmation; every cancellation and how it came in; every refund and its date. Keep it in a form that cannot be quietly edited.
We do steps 3 to 7 on top of Stripe and write the wording for step 2. Whether you use it or not, the order above is the one to follow.
This page explains the law in plain English. It is not legal advice. The detailed rules are still being finalised by the government.