Brits waste a whopping £448 million a year on unused subscription services

Taking out that gym membership in the first week of January seems a long, long time ago now – especially as you haven’t been for the last month.

And now that you’ve binge-watched the box set of House of Cards on Netflix, when was the last time you checked out the TV streaming service?

It’s been claimed that Britons are wasting more money than ever on subscription services they barely use – frittering away an estimated £448 million a month.

Furthermore, consumers in the UK are paying £3.38 more than they were in 2016, increasing the average monthly spend to £18.62.

While gym memberships remain top, there has been an increase in the number of people saying they do not get value from their TV and music streaming accounts and product delivery plans such as Amazon Prime, yet continue to pay for them.

Most unused subscriptions in 2017

1. Gym memberships (50%)

2. TV streaming plans (21%)

3. Credit reports (17%)

4. Music streaming plans (15%)

5. Magazine and newspaper subscriptions (14%)

6. Hobby memberships (12%)

7. Product delivery services (12%)

According to shopping site TopCashback.co.uk, only 38% of people use their music streaming account every day and just 36% of Brits turn on their TV streaming account each day. And nearly half (46%) of people use their delivery subscription once a month or less.

“While these services might seem necessary in an on-demand world, people are not always getting their money’s worth,” said Natasha Rachel Smith, consumer affairs editor at the site.

“Consumers are frittering away cash when Netflix accounts go unused in the summer, Spotify is used only for the daily commute or the amount of products ordered from Amazon Prime do not justify the annual fee.

“With the increasing number of services available it is easy to get carried away, making it important to keep track and review all of the subscriptions you sign up to, considering whether you need them or are using them regularly enough,” she said.

Gym membership is the most likely to be underused (Richard Baker/Getty)

The research showed there was a £38 million increase in the amount of money being spent on subscriptions that Brits do not get value from with spending rising from £410 million in 2016 to £448 million in 2017.

This is partly because of the increasing cost of product delivery plans which has doubled from £9 a month to £18 in 2017. TV and music streaming accounts have also increased by 20%, to £9.18 and £9.40 per month, respectively

And the hassle involved in cancelling is keeping consumers tied in. More than two-fifths said lengthy cancellation processes are what they dislike most about subscription plans.

Nearly a quarter (24%) of consumers have continued to pay for a subscription because they found it too hard to cancel and 29% kept paying because they thought they might use it at some point.