Microsoft will remove any grace period for all expired subscriptions, including Microsoft 365, from 4 May 2026. This means you will need to take action and/or make payment in advance of a subscription’s end date, to ensure the subscription and its services continue.

Microsoft previously offered a short grace period where services continued to be available and renewal was still possible after a subscription had expired. This allowed some flexibility and time to make belated decisions regarding accounts, licenses, etc.

This grace period will now be replaced by a paid option, the Extended Service Term (EST), where services can remain active after a subscription expires only at additional cost. Under EST, subscriptions are billed at the monthly uplift rate of the license(s) at ~20% plus a further 3% surcharge. For license(s) without a monthly plan available the surcharge is 23%.

From 4 May 2026, organisations will need to choose from the following options at the end of a subscription term:

• Renew the subscription and ensure payment is made before the renewal date
• Cancel the subscription with the service stopping immediately at the renewal date
• Move to Extended Service Term (EST) with surcharges applied

The removal of the grace period means that subscription management now requires more proactive planning and payment to be made in advance of the renewal date in order to avoid losing access to services and incurring unwanted surcharges.

Please note that Microsoft has recently revised the original enforcement date, moving it from 1 April 2026 to 4 May 2026. The overall process and intention remain unchanged.