Subscription contracts: the UK's new rules are coming sooner — and the first draft has landed
If your business runs subscription contracts with UK consumers, here's where things stand.
The start date moved earlier. On 9–10 August 2026, the Prime Minister announced that the DMCC Act's new subscription contracts regime (Part 4, Chapter 2) will come into force in January 2027 — brought forward from the "spring 2027" timeline previously flagged. Source: gov.uk — PM starts roll-out of 'everyday fixes' on the cost of living, ending rip-off discounts and subscription traps
The shape of the regime became clearer in April. The government's response to its implementation consultation, published 2 April 2026, confirmed the new regime would broadly align its cooling-off and cancellation mechanics with the existing Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, rather than inventing an entirely new framework. Source: gov.uk — Government response to consultation on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime
Update, 23 October 2026: a first draft of the operational detail has been published. On 19 October 2026 the government laid the draft Consumer Subscription Contracts (Cancellation and Information) Regulations 2026 before Parliament, alongside draft CMA guidance on the new rules. Both remain drafts: under the DMCC Act, these regulations need affirmative approval from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords before they take effect — they are not yet law.
Subject to that approval, the draft regulations would come into force on 1 January 2027. Per the draft guidance, they would apply to subscription contracts entered into on or after that date — existing subscriptions entered into before commencement would stay out of scope even when they later renew (draft reg 2(2)).
The CMA has said that in the early months of the regime its "focus will be on supporting businesses to get this right", but that businesses "should not assume that our support for compliance means enforcement of the rules is being delayed". It added: "Conduct during this period may still be considered as part of enforcement action."
Sources: legislation.gov.uk — Consumer Subscription Contracts (Cancellation and Information) Regulations 2026 (draft, laid 19 October 2026); UK Parliament — statutory instrument tracker; gov.uk — Subscription contracts (draft guidance, published 19 October 2026); CMA — Direct consumer enforcement: 18 months on, 14 October 2026
Why this matters for you. January 2027 is close. Businesses that bill UK consumers on a repeating basis will need to issue fixed notices and offer a cancellation route once the regime starts. The draft rules and guidance give the first real look at what that will involve — but they're still drafts, not yet approved by Parliament, so the detail could still change before it takes effect.
This piece reports published sources as at 23 October 2026. It makes no claim about what the law requires or whether any product is compliant, and nothing here should be read as legal advice.