The New Subscription Rules: What Gyms, Studios and Dental Plans Need to Change
Altius Digital 3 min read
New UK rules for memberships that renew automatically are due on 1 January 2027. If you run a gym, a yoga or Pilates studio, a boxing club or a dental plan, they change how people join and how they leave. Here is what changes, in plain English.
When it starts, and who it covers
The rules come from the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. On 19 October 2026 the government published draft regulations that take effect on 1 January 2027. Parliament still has to approve them, and the CMA’s guidance isn’t out yet. So it’s worth planning now and checking the final wording when it arrives.
They cover memberships that carry on until someone cancels: monthly gym and studio memberships, class packs that top up and charge automatically, and private dental or pet health plans paid monthly. Insurance and NHS treatment are left out, so check with your solicitor if a plan includes either. They apply to people who join after the start date, not to your existing members.
The five changes
- Key terms together, before joining. Before someone signs up, they must see the main terms in one place: that it continues until cancelled, any minimum period, the minimum total they will pay, when an intro offer ends, how much and how often they pay, when the price can change, how to cancel, the notice period, when reminders come and the cooling-off period. Online, the last step must make clear they are agreeing to pay.
- Reminders in writing. Before the first full-price payment after an intro offer, then every six months. Annual memberships that renew get two reminders before each renewal.
- Cooling-off. 14 days at the start, and again after an intro offer ends or when a membership renews onto a term of 12 months or more.
- An easy way out. Members can leave with any clear message, such as an email. Your notice period still applies, but they can give notice at any time. If someone joined online, they must be able to cancel online.
- A written confirmation. When someone cancels, confirm it in writing with the end date: within 24 hours if they cancelled online, or within 3 working days otherwise.
Since April 2025 the CMA can fine businesses directly for breaking consumer law: up to 10% of global turnover or £300,000, whichever is higher. These rules will be covered from the day they start.
What we see on websites today
In October 2026 we looked at studio, gym and dental plan websites across London and the South East. Most still ask members to cancel in writing or by email, often with a month’s notice, and very few mention reminders or a cooling-off period. Intro offers that roll into a full monthly price are common, and they are exactly where the new reminder rule bites.
None of this is unusual. The rules are new, and the detailed wording was only published in October 2026.
A simple checklist
- Does our sign-up page show all the key terms together, before the member pays?
- Can a member who joined online cancel online, without emailing or writing a letter?
- Do we send a reminder before an intro offer turns into the full price?
- Will we send a reminder every six months?
- Do our terms explain the 14-day cooling-off period?
- Do we confirm each cancellation in writing, with the end date, within 24 hours if it was made online?
How we can help
We build two pages on your website: a membership summary with the key terms in one box, and a “How to cancel” page with an online form. Then we set up the reminder, cooling-off and end-of-membership emails in your booking system or alongside it, as part of our AI systems and automation work. Dental practices with plans can see more of what we do for them on our dentists page.
We build to the published rules and never call a website “compliant”: your solicitor signs off the terms, and we update the wording when Parliament approves the regulations and the CMA’s guidance comes out.
Want a free one-page check? Send us your website address and we’ll tell you what your sign-up page and terms already cover, and what’s missing.
Sources: GOV.UK announcement, 9 August 2026, the draft Consumer Subscription Contracts (Cancellation and Information) Regulations 2026, the Act, Part 4 Chapter 2 and Schedule 23. Checked 19 October 2026. This is a summary to help you plan, not legal advice.