Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received on requiring companies using continuous payment authorities to contact customers in advance of the automatic renewal date to provide the option to cancel.

The Payment Services Regulations, which came into force in January 2018, regulate how Continuous Payment Authorities, or CPAs, are established, and the rights and obligations of payers, payees and payment service providers. In its published guidance on the regulations, the FCA states that consumers have the absolute right to cancel CPAs at any time before the end of the business day before a payment is due to be made, and to obtain an immediate refund from their payment service provider if any future payments are debited from their account after they have revoked their consent.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has not received representations regarding companies using continuous payment authorities. In the Consumer Green Paper, ‘Modernising Consumer Markets’ published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy last year, the Government announced that it had asked the Consumer Protection Partnership to assess the issues with subscriptions and to recommend any further actions needed. The Government is considering the advice received and will publish a White Paper later this year.