CMA Drip‑pricing and Pressure‑selling Investigations in the UK (2026): What Businesses Must Do Now

Drip pricing is now a top enforcement priority for the CMA in the UK, and businesses that fail to display full, upfront prices risk civil fines, injunctive orders and serious reputational damage. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) gave the Competition and Markets Authority significantly stronger consumer‑protection powers, and the CMA’s Annual Plan 2026–27 confirms that pricing transparency sits at the centre of its enforcement agenda. This article provides in‑house counsel, compliance officers and C‑suite leaders at consumer‑facing businesses with a practical, step‑by‑step playbook, including compliance checklists, evidence‑preservation templates and a detailed investigation‑response timeline, to reduce the risk of a CMA investigation or respond defensibly if one arrives.

Executive Summary, Why Businesses Must Act Now

The regulatory landscape for consumer pricing compliance in the United Kingdom has shifted materially. Every business that sells goods or services to consumers, whether online, over the telephone or in person, needs to understand the following points immediately:

• New statutory powers. The DMCCA replaced the previous Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/1277) with a modernised unfair commercial practices regime. The new provisions took effect on 6 April 2025 and expressly target drip pricing and pressure selling.
• CMA enforcement priority. The CMA Annual Plan 2026–27 designates consumer‑protection enforcement, including pricing transparency, as a key priority. Industry observers expect investigation volumes to increase during the current plan period.
• Real financial risk. Under the DMCCA, the CMA can impose civil monetary penalties, seek enforcement orders and pursue injunctive relief. Penalties are no longer limited to criminal prosecution routes.
• Guidance already published. The CMA’s updated guidance on unfair commercial practices (CMA207) and price transparency (CMA209) set out precisely what the regulator considers compliant. Businesses cannot plead ignorance.
• What this article delivers. A ten‑point consumer pricing compliance checklist, an evidence‑preservation framework, a day‑by‑day investigation‑response playbook and template language for board memos and regulator correspondence.

What Is Drip Pricing and Pressure Selling?

Drip pricing occurs when a business advertises an initial headline price but then adds mandatory or semi‑mandatory fees incrementally as the consumer moves through the purchasing journey. The CMA’s price‑transparency guidance (CMA209) identifies drip pricing as a practice that misleads consumers by preventing them from making informed purchasing decisions based on the true total cost.

The CMA looks for the following patterns:

• Mandatory checkout surcharges. Booking fees, service charges or “administration” fees that are unavoidable but only revealed at the payment stage.
• Pre‑ticked add‑ons. Optional extras, such as insurance, premium delivery or seat selection, that are automatically included unless the consumer actively deselects them.
• Tax exclusion at headline. Prices advertised exclusive of VAT or other compulsory taxes when marketing to consumers rather than trade buyers.
• Drip‑fed card‑processing fees. Payment surcharges that only appear after a consumer has invested time in a booking or registration process.
• Call‑centre upsell charges. Additional fees applied verbally during a telephone booking, often after the consumer has committed to the core purchase.

Pressure selling, by contrast, involves using harassment, coercion or undue influence to push consumers into transactions they would not otherwise have made. Both drip pricing and pressure selling fall within the scope of unfair commercial practices under the DMCCA and are addressed explicitly in the CMA’s guidance (CMA207).

The Legal Framework, DMCCA and Unfair Commercial Practices in the UK

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 is the primary statutory instrument governing drip pricing CMA UK enforcement. It replaced the previous regime under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, consolidating and strengthening the CMA’s consumer‑protection toolkit.

The DMCCA’s unfair commercial practices provisions, which apply to conduct from 6 April 2025, establish three categories of prohibited practice:

• Misleading actions and omissions. This captures drip pricing directly, omitting or obscuring material price information that the average consumer needs to make an informed decision.
• Aggressive practices. Harassment, coercion and undue influence that impair the consumer’s freedom of choice. Pressure selling falls squarely within this category.
• Banned practices. The DMCCA lists specific practices that are automatically considered unfair. The CMA’s unfair commercial practices guidance (CMA207) sets out these banned practices in detail.

Under the DMCCA, the CMA can impose civil monetary penalties directly, a significant departure from the previous regime, which primarily relied on criminal prosecution. The CMA can also seek enforcement orders requiring businesses to change their practices and can pursue injunctive relief through the courts. The practical effect is that enforcement action is faster, more flexible and carries a wider range of financial consequences than under the previous regulations.

Where Pressure Selling Fits, Aggressive Practices

The CMA’s guidance on unfair commercial practices (CMA207) defines aggressive commercial practices as those that use harassment, coercion (including physical force) or undue influence to significantly impair the average consumer’s freedom of choice. In practice, this covers high‑pressure call‑centre scripts that create artificial urgency, “limited‑time” offers designed to prevent comparison shopping, and persistent follow‑up communications intended to wear down consumer resistance. Businesses operating call centres, door‑to‑door sales teams or live‑chat sales functions should audit these channels against CMA207 as a priority.

How the CMA Is Currently Enforcing, Signals from 2025–26

The CMA’s enforcement posture on drip pricing and pressure selling has intensified measurably since the DMCCA provisions came into force. The regulator published updated price‑transparency guidance (CMA209) alongside its updated unfair commercial practices guidance (CMA207), giving businesses a clear and detailed standard against which their pricing practices will be assessed.

The CMA Annual Plan 2026–27, published in March 2026, explicitly identifies consumer‑protection enforcement as a strategic priority. The Plan signals that the CMA will use its full range of DMCCA powers, including direct civil fines, to tackle sectors where drip pricing and hidden fees are prevalent. While the CMA does not publicly disclose all live investigations, the combination of guidance updates and Annual Plan language represents the strongest enforcement signal in this area for several years.

Industry observers expect the CMA to focus initially on sectors with high complaint volumes and visible consumer harm, including online travel, ticketing, subscription services and financial products. The likely practical effect of this enforcement focus will be a wave of information requests and preliminary enquiries directed at consumer‑facing businesses throughout 2026 and into 2027.

What the CMA looks for during an initial assessment:

• Headline prices that differ from the final amount consumers actually pay.
• Mandatory fees revealed only at the checkout or payment stage.
• Pre‑ticked boxes or default opt‑ins that add cost without express consumer consent.
• Evidence that consumers complained or sought refunds relating to unexpected charges.

Immediate Legal and Operational Checklist, Drip Pricing CMA UK Compliance

This section provides the core consumer pricing compliance checklist that every consumer‑facing business should work through this week. Each item identifies the responsible owner and the evidence the CMA is likely to request.

1. Full‑price audit. Review every consumer‑facing price point across all channels (website, app, call centre, in‑store). Confirm that the headline price includes all mandatory fees, taxes and charges. Owner: Commercial / Pricing team. Evidence: pricing matrix, before‑and‑after screenshots.
2. Checkout UX audit. Walk through the entire purchase journey as a consumer. Document every point where a new fee, charge or add‑on appears. Flag any fee that is not visible on the first price screen. Owner: Product / UX team. Evidence: screen recordings, user‑flow maps.
3. Express consent review. Check that every optional add‑on requires an active opt‑in (not a pre‑ticked box). Verify that no purchase can proceed without the consumer affirmatively selecting each paid extra. Owner: Legal / Compliance. Evidence: UX specifications, release notes.
4. A/B test rollback. Identify any live A/B tests or dynamic pricing experiments that display different total prices to different users. Roll back any variant that obscures total cost. Owner: Product / Data team. Evidence: test configuration logs, variant screenshots.
5. Call‑centre script review. Audit all sales scripts for upsell language that creates artificial urgency, implies scarcity or adds fees without clear verbal consent. Owner: Operations / Sales. Evidence: current scripts, call recordings (subject to privacy compliance).
6. Training and certification. Brief all customer‑facing staff on the DMCCA requirements and the CMA’s definition of drip pricing and aggressive practices. Document the training. Owner: HR / Compliance. Evidence: training materials, attendance records, assessment results.
7. Refund and remediation policy. Establish or update a policy for refunding consumers who were charged unexpected fees. Ensure the policy is accessible and clearly communicated. Owner: Customer Service / Legal. Evidence: policy document, refund records.
8. Third‑party and marketplace review. If the business operates a platform or marketplace, audit third‑party seller listings for drip pricing. Implement listing standards that require full‑price display. Owner: Marketplace / Partner team. Evidence: listing guidelines, compliance monitoring reports.
9. Internal escalation protocol. Create a clear escalation path for staff who identify potential pricing compliance issues. Designate a senior compliance owner. Owner: Legal / Compliance. Evidence: escalation flowchart, incident log.
10. Remediation log. Maintain a contemporaneous log of all pricing changes, the rationale for each change, and the date implemented. This log is the single most useful document in any CMA engagement. Owner: Legal / Compliance. Evidence: the log itself, version‑controlled documents.

Evidence and Document Preservation Checklist

If a CMA investigation is possible, or if internal auditing reveals potential non‑compliance, the following evidence should be preserved immediately:

• Pricing databases and configuration files (current and historical).
• UX screenshots and screen recordings of the full purchase journey.
• A/B test configurations, variant definitions and results data.
• Product release notes and change logs covering pricing features.
• Call recordings and call‑centre scripts (ensure retention complies with data‑protection requirements).
• Third‑party integration documentation (payment processors, booking engines, marketplace feeds).
• Consumer complaint records, refund requests and customer‑service correspondence.
• Board papers, meeting minutes and internal communications relating to pricing decisions.

Instituting a litigation hold at the earliest sign of regulatory interest is essential. Any destruction of documents, even routine, after the business becomes aware of a potential investigation can be treated as obstruction.

If the CMA Contacts You, Step‑by‑Step Response and Timeline

Receiving a letter or information request from the CMA triggers a defined sequence of actions. The timeline below reflects the typical structure of a CMA consumer‑protection investigation under the DMCCA.

Throughout this process, internal communications should be carefully managed. All staff should be instructed not to discuss the investigation externally. External PR advisers should be briefed on a holding statement. The goal at every stage is to demonstrate transparency, cooperation and a genuine commitment to consumer pricing compliance.

Defences, Mitigations and Enforcement Outcomes

Where the CMA pursues enforcement action under the DMCCA, businesses have several potential lines of defence and mitigation available. The DMCCA framework and CMA guidance recognise that early, voluntary remediation carries significant weight.

• Due diligence defence. A business may argue that it took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing an unfair commercial practice. Documented compliance programmes, training records and audit trails are the foundation of this defence.
• Early engagement credit. The CMA has indicated through its published approach to enforcement that businesses which engage early, cooperate fully and take prompt corrective action are likely to receive more favourable treatment in terms of both the nature and the quantum of any penalty.
• Voluntary undertakings. Offering binding commitments to change pricing practices can resolve an investigation without a formal infringement finding. Early indications suggest this route is preferred by both the CMA and businesses seeking to limit reputational exposure.
• Proportionality arguments. In cases involving minor or inadvertent non‑compliance, a business may argue that formal enforcement action or a substantial fine is disproportionate to the consumer harm caused.

Potential enforcement outcomes range from informal assurances through to formal enforcement orders, civil monetary penalties and court injunctions. In the most serious cases, particularly those involving deliberate concealment of fees or systematic consumer harm, the financial penalties under the DMCCA can be substantial. The legislation provides for penalties calculated by reference to the business’s turnover, making them a material risk for larger consumer‑facing enterprises.

Longer‑Term Compliance Programme and Governance

Addressing immediate risks is essential, but sustainable protection against CMA enforcement requires embedding consumer pricing compliance into the business’s ongoing governance framework. The following steps build a durable compliance structure:

• Pricing compliance policy. Draft and adopt a written policy that sets out the business’s commitment to full‑price transparency, defines drip pricing and pressure selling by reference to CMA guidance, and assigns clear accountability.
• Release gating. Require legal and compliance sign‑off before any new pricing feature, checkout flow or sales script goes live. No pricing change should reach consumers without documented compliance review.
• Quarterly compliance audits. Conduct quarterly reviews of all pricing touchpoints. Include mystery‑shopping exercises, UX walk‑throughs and call‑monitoring checks. Document findings and remediation actions.
• Board reporting. Include pricing compliance as a standing item in quarterly board or risk‑committee reporting. This demonstrates governance maturity and supports any future due‑diligence defence.
• Regulatory horizon scanning. Monitor CMA publications, Annual Plan updates and enforcement decisions for changes in regulatory expectations. Adjust the compliance programme accordingly.

Downloadable Resources and Templates

To support businesses in responding to the heightened enforcement environment around drip pricing CMA UK compliance, the following resources are recommended for internal use:

• Pricing Compliance Checklist (PDF). A printable version of the ten‑point checklist set out in this article, formatted with assignable owner fields and evidence columns for each item.
• CMA Contact Response Template. Sample acknowledgement language for responding to a CMA information request within the first 14 days, including cooperation commitments and clarification requests.
• Board Memo Template. A short‑form memo structure for briefing the board or risk committee on a CMA approach, including recommended immediate actions, risk assessment framework and suggested resolutions.

Businesses operating in sectors that the CMA has identified as priorities, including online retail, travel, ticketing and subscription services, should treat these templates as starting points and seek bespoke legal advice tailored to their specific pricing models and customer journeys. Engaging experienced competition law counsel in the United Kingdom early is the single most effective step a business can take to manage enforcement risk. A current listing of qualified practitioners is available through the competition lawyer directory.

Sources

1. GOV.UK, Price Transparency (CMA209)
2. GOV.UK, Unfair Commercial Practices (CMA207)
3. Legislation.gov.uk, Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024
4. GOV.UK, CMA Annual Plan 2026 to 2027
5. Legislation.gov.uk, Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/1277)
6. House of Commons Library, Consumer Protection: Unfair Trading Regulations 2008