Cookies

A cookie is a small file, typically of letters and numbers, that is downloaded onto your computer or mobile device and which enables us to recognise your device when you use our website. Cookies collect information about how you browse our site. Cookies are sent to your browser and may then be stored on your hard drive. These cookies are not used to identify you personally.

Information about the cookies used on this site and their purpose follows.

How can I control cookies?

You can use your browser settings to:

  • delete all cookies;
  • block all cookies;
  • allow all cookies;
  • block third-party cookies;
  • clear all cookies when you close the browser;
  • open a ‘private browsing’ / ‘incognito’ session, which allows you to browse the internet without storing local data; and
  • install add-ons and plug-ins to extend browser functionality

To find out how to do this for your specific browser, please see the links below.  These links will take you to external websites and may be updated by their owners from time to time.  If you find a broken link, please let us know.

Please note that limiting or disabling cookies in this way may affect the overall performance of our site.

Cookies used on our site

Analytics

We collect information about visits to our site so that we can understand which areas of our site are attracting the most visitors and which specific pages visitors seem to find most useful. We do this using Google Analytics software.

Our site will function without Google Analytics cookies and you can opt out of these here:

Google Analytics cookies opt out

Google Analytics shows us:

– which pages you have visited on our site and how long you spend on each page

– how you reached the site e.g. what type of device you have used to view the site

– what you click on during your visit

The information collected by Google Analytics does not allow us to identify who you are, nor do we use this information to target advertisements or pass any data to third parties.

Which Google Analytics cookies are used on this site?

Name Purpose Expires after
_utma Determines the number of unique visitors to the site 2 years
_utmb Used alongside utmc to calculate the time you spend on our site 30 minutes
_utmc This works with _utmb to calculate when you close your browser when you close your browser
_utmz This tells us whether you reached the site from a search engine or via another website 6 months
ga_nextpage_params This stores data that is sent to Google on the next page you request when you close your browser

Google states that:

“The information generated by the cookies about use of (our website), including your IP address, will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. (Agile Applications has activated IP anonymization).  This means that Google will truncate/anonymize the last octet of the IP address. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address is sent to and shortened by Google servers in the USA. On behalf of the website provider Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage to the website provider. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google”.

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en-GB

 

More information about Cookies set by Google can be found here:

https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies

 

Authentication – Customer Access

The cookies that are sent to your device when you log in to our customer area are used only to authenticate your device and will expire at the end of your session.

 

Cookies set by WordPress

Our site is hosted by WordPress which sets cookies that it considers ‘strictly necessary’ for technical reasons, that enable a personalised experience for visitors or allow the display of advertising from selected third-party networks.  Advertising is not enabled on our site.

The cookies set by WordPress include:

ab – used for AB testing of new features.
akm_mobile – stores whether a user has chosen to view the mobile version of a site

cookietest – checks if cookies are enabled to provide appropriate user experience.
botdlang – used to track the language a user has selected to view popular blogs in.
wp_sharing_{id} – used to track whether or not a user has already performed an action

tk_ni|tk_ai|tk_qs – collection of internal metrics for user activity, used to improve user experience.

Some of these cookies may be set when a page is loaded, or when a visitor takes a particular action, such as clicking the ‘like’ or ‘follow’ button on a post.

WordPress and third party/embedded content

We use different third-party applications and services to enhance the experience of our website visitors including social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (through the use of sharing buttons).  Cookies may be set by these third parties and used by them to track your online activity. We have no direct control over the information that is collected by these cookies.  Please see “How can I control cookies?” for information on how to block these.

You’ll find Facebook and Twitter cookie policies at the links below:

https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-cookies

https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies/

WordPress – web beacons and other tracking technologies

‘Web beacons’ are small transparent images that provide website usage statistics, and which are often used in conjunction with cookies, but which are not stored on your computer in the same way.  If you disable cookies, the web beacons may still load, but their functionality will be restricted.

Cookies set by Jetpack

We use Jetpack from WordPress to extend our site functionality.  Jetpack sets the following cookies:

Jetpack Comments

Cookie Name Duration Purpose
comment_author_ 347 days All three of these are site specific. They duplicate the cookies already set by Core for commenting.
comment_author_email_ 347 days As above.
comment_author_url_ 347 days As above.

Mobile Theme

Cookie Name Duration Purpose
akm_mobile 3.5 days Tracking whether a user wishes to view the mobile version of a site.

Subscriptions

Cookie Name Duration Purpose
jetpack_comments_subscribe_ 347 days Used to store the state of the post and comment subscription checkboxes.
jetpack_blog_subscribe_ 347 days As above.

EU Cookie Law Banner

Cookie Name Duration Purpose
eucookielaw 30 days Used to store the state of acceptance to the EU Cookie Law banner.

 

Caldera Forms

This is used to provide the contact form on our site.  Caldera does not set cookies.  The information that you provide to us via this form is deleted on a monthly basis.

 

Social Media

If you read our posts on social media, the platform concerned may place cookies on your device.  You can read more about these at:

https://www.linkedin.com/legal/cookie-policy

https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-cookies#

https://en-gb.facebook.com/policies/cookies/

https://help.instagram.com/1896641480634370?ref=ig

https://policy.pinterest.com/en-gb/cookies

Use of IP addresses

Every computer has a specific IP address which identifies it just as a telephone number identifies your phone line.

Your anonymised IP address will appear on our usage logs which we analyse from time to time to ensure the integrity and security of data on our servers. We do not link IP addresses to anything that would allow us to identify you personally except for our online contact form. This means that whilst we will log your visit to our site, you remain anonymous.