Cookie Policy

We use cookies to help improve your user experience and provide you with more of the content you enjoy. They enable us to understand how you use the site and track any patterns with regards how you are using our website. This helps us to develop and improve our website as well as products and / or services in response to what you might need or want. By continuing to use this website you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

What’s a cookie?

• A “cookie” is a piece of information that is stored on your computer’s hard drive and which records how you move your way around a website so that, when you revisit that website, it can present tailored options based on the information stored about your last visit. Cookies can also be used to analyse traffic and for advertising and marketing purposes.

• Cookies are used by nearly all websites and do not harm your system.

Which cookies do we use?

Here are the cookies we use to help us improve your user experience. Not all of these will be switched on at any one time but we want to give you a full and detailed list so that you know exactly how they are used.

Google Analytics: _ga _gid _gat

These are Google Analytics cookies. They help us know which pages on our website are popular with visitors and provide other useful stats. This helps us to fine tune our service and bring readers more of the content they enjoy.

Cloudflare: _cfduid

This is a Cloudflare security cookie. It helps determine if trusted visitors are trying to visit the site so that they be can be granted immediate access without being challenged. This is useful if, for example, someone is trying to visit our site using public wifi where some machines are infected but others are not.

WordPress: wp-settings-2 wp-settings-time -2

These are WordPress cookies (WordPress is the platform that this website is built on). These cookies help to streamline the user experience. For example, if a user is a member it might offer them a tailored experience in terms of the content that’s displayed and any privileges that they should be able to access. It also helps to ensure they are not logged out prematurely.

Thrive: tve_leads_unique

This is a Thrive Themes cookie. If users choose to sign up to our email newsletter it helps us know which of the signup forms are more popular.

Different types of cookies

• Cookies are either:

– Session cookies: these are only stored on your computer during your web session and are automatically deleted when you close your browser – they usually store an anonymous session ID allowing you to browse a website without having to log in to each page but they do not collect any personal data from your computer; or

– Persistent cookies: a persistent cookie is stored as a file on your computer and it remains there when you close your web browser. The cookie can be read by the website that created it when you visit that website again. [We use persistent cookies for Google Analytics.]

• Cookies can also be categorised as follows:

– Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are essential to enable you to use the website effectively, such as when buying a product and / or service, and therefore cannot be turned off. Without these cookies, the services available to you on our website cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet.

– Performance cookies: These cookies enable us to monitor and improve the performance of our website. For example, they allow us to count visits, identify traffic sources and see which parts of the site are most popular.

– Functionality cookies: These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make and provide enhanced features. For instance, we may be able to provide you with news or updates relevant to the services you use. They may also be used to provide services you have requested such as viewing a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect is usually anonymised.

Please note that third parties who advertise on our website (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

How to turn off or delete cookies

By using this website you agree to the use of these cookies. However, you can delete cookies and withdraw usage consent at any time simply by changing your browser settings. You can find further information on how to do that here:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Important: Please note, if you are a member of this website and you disable the use of cookies you may not be able to access key areas of this website and may notice disruption.