WHAT THE RULES SAY
In a UK ad, free has a strict meaning.
The advertising code and consumer law say an offer is only free if you pay nothing beyond the unavoidable cost of responding and the real cost of delivery. Here is how that plays out with gifts, fees and free trials.
NO FEE beyond real postage
THE SHORT ANSWER
Three ideas from the UK advertising code
cover most free offers you will see.
POSTAGE
A free item can come with the uninflated cost of postage, but not packing, handling, admin or insurance fees. Those make it not free.
Test an offerFREE TRIALS
If a free trial turns into a paid plan unless you cancel, the ad must say so and make clear how much you would commit to.
Before you sign upCONDITIONS
If you must buy something or sign up to get the free item, that has to be clear in the ad. Just writing “T&Cs apply” is unlikely to be enough.
See the numbersGeneral information only, not financial advice. For advice on your own situation, speak to a regulated financial adviser or a free money-advice service.
A QUICK OFFER CHECK
Pick a kind of offer to see how the UK advertising code treats the word free. The bar shows how far the offer sits from genuinely free.
Based on ASA and CAP advice on the CAP Code, rules 3.23 to 3.26. General information only, not legal advice.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Two Citizens Advice findings on subscriptions,
one on cancelling, one on how payments work.
9 in 10
People first refused when they tried to cancel
In cases brought to the Citizens Advice consumer service between June and August 2017, 9 in 10 people were initially refused by the company when they tried to cancel a subscription.
CANCELLING · CITIZENS ADVICE 2017
21%
GB adults who knew a CPA from a direct debit
Only 21 percent of GB adults knew the difference between a continuous payment authority, often used for subscriptions, and a direct debit.
PAYMENTS · CITIZENS ADVICE 2016
In the same 2016 research, 84 percent of people who answered the Citizens Advice online survey did not realise they had agreed to a subscription. Most problems were with health and beauty products advertised online.
FOUR HABITS TO TRY
None of these takes long. They are about reading the offer the way the rules expect it to be written, and keeping control of the end date.
Look next to the offer for what you must buy, pay or sign up to. The rules say that information should be there, not hidden away.
If a trial turns paid, write down when it ends and what it will then cost, before you forget it was a trial.
Citizens Advice says to follow the cancellation policy rather than just stopping the payment, or the subscription may carry on.
Citizens Advice says you usually have 14 days to change your mind about a subscription bought online, though maybe not if you start using it straight away.
FREE OR INCLUDED?
The code also separates free from inclusive. If something is already part of a package price, such as wifi included in the rent, it should not be called free. A new extra added without raising the price can be called free for a while, and CAP’s rule of thumb is not beyond six months.
Subscription law is changing too. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 sets out rules for subscription contracts, including free or cheaper trials that turn into paid ones. When we checked legislation.gov.uk in October 2026, that part was still marked as not yet in force.
Questions
Yes, if it is only the genuine, uninflated cost of postage. CAP advice says packing, packaging, handling, administration and insurance charges should not be passed on for a free item.
It can be, if the gift is genuinely separate and extra, the item you pay for has not been made dearer or worse, and the ad makes clear what you must buy to get it.
CAP guidance says significant information is likely to include whether a paid subscription starts automatically after the trial unless cancelled, the extent of the financial commitment, and any other significant conditions.
No. Schedule 20 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists describing a product as free when the consumer has to pay more than the unavoidable costs as a practice that is always unfair. That paragraph has been in force since 6 April 2025.
Citizens Advice suggests contacting the supplier’s customer services first, then its trade or complaints body, or reporting it to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice consumer service.
Sources
ABOUT THIS NAME
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