The new rules create a second kind of cooling-off period, on top of the usual 14 days after you first sign up. It starts when a free or discounted trial converts to a paid subscription, and when a contract with a term of 12 months or longer automatically renews.
During the 14 days you can cancel and the business must refund you within 14 days to the payment method you used. The government decided that the business may deduct a proportionate amount for any service you actually used during the cooling-off days, and it rejected industry requests for a longer refund window. This renewal cooling-off cannot be waived. The initial cooling-off period is different: the government's consultation response of 2 April 2026 keeps the option to waive it for digital content started immediately, subject to the final regulations.
If the business did not tell you about the cooling-off period, the period is extended until 14 days after it does tell you, up to a maximum of 12 months.
It only applies to subscriptions entered into on or after 1 January 2027. Use the cooling-off calculator to work out your last day to cancel.