Millions to save £170 a year in major crackdown on ‘sneaky’ subscription traps – what it means for you

THE Prime Minister has announced plans to end subscription traps and rip-off discounts in a boost to households. Andy Burnham has announced a range of “everyday fixes” to help people with the cost of living. He plans to tackle subscription traps by requiring companies to make it easier to cancel them. Households are expected to save an average of £14 a month, or £168 a year, for every unwanted subscription. Sign up for the Money newsletter Thank you! Companies will also be required to provide more information about costs up-front, rather than quietly auto-renewing their deals at a higher price. The measures were first announced in April under Sir Keir Starmer‘s government and were scheduled to come into force next spring. But the Prime Minister has moved the timeline forward to January, in time for when customers often start new subscriptions. Businesses will also need to provide regular reminders and make it much easier to exit contracts. Meanwhile, a new 14-day cooling off period will also let people cancel after a trial or existing contract auto-renews. Consumers spend an estimated £1.6billion on subscriptions they don’t want each year, in a direct hit to family budgets. Most read in Money The Prime Minister has also announced plans to ban retailers from making misleading claims to customers about discounts. Customers have complained that companies have inflated prices to trick them into thinking they are getting a good deal. For example, they could increase the price just before a sale to make the saving look bigger than they really are. Meanwhile, others have been accused of suggesting an item is on sale when it is the same price as before the promotion. The Prime Minister will launch a consultation this autumn on whether to add deceptive discount offers to the Competition and Markets Authority’s list of banned practices. This would make it easier for the watchdog to punish firms that engage in practices such as artificially inflating prices and then immediately offering a “discount” to make a product look much better value than it is. Andy Burnham said: “I’m determined to pull every single lever we can to provide people with some room to breathe on the cost of living.” He added that the measures are just two of the everyday fixes the government plans to roll out. Further announcements are expected over the summer, with the Prime Minister describing Monday’s proposals as “just the start”. Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, welcomed the proposals, saying subscription traps and deceptive discounts were “a widespread problem”. Citizens Advice has previously found 26% of UK adults had accidentally taken out a subscription in a single year. Comment now