Cookies
What is a cookie?
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. We use cookies on our website to improve and personalise your online experience. They are widely used in order to make websites more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.
How do cookies help us?
The cookies we use help us in the following ways:
• Make our website work correctly
• Remember your settings during and between visits so you don't have to re-enter information
• Improve the speed and security of our website
• Set up web pages so you can share them on social networks like Facebook and Twitter
• Personalise our site for you so you can find what you need faster
• Improve our website for you
• Improve our marketing so you see messages that are relevant to you
The cookies on our website don't:
• Collect any information that someone could use to identify you
• Collect any sensitive information
• Pass information to third parties that someone could use to identify you to third parties
Run computer programs or infect your device with viruses.
Essential cookies
Some cookies are always on when you visit us, and you can’t turn them off unless you change your browser settings - but this may affect how the website functions. We call these essential cookies and they enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility.
Performance cookies
We also use performance cookies to make your experience more enjoyable. You can switch these on or off at any time and you can always change your mind.
These cookies collect anonymous information about how you use our websites. For instance, they tell us which pages you visit most often, and if you receive any error messages from our web pages. These cookies do not identify you. We use these cookies to measure and analyse how our customers use our websites and to improve their functionality and user experience.
Disabling these cookies limits our ability to develop and improve the website in the future.
Google Analytics cookies
Google Analytics cookies help us improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. For more information on how these cookies work please see our table below. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form.
Cookie |
Description |
Category |
Type |
_gid |
This cookie is part of Google Analytics and is primarily used to distinguish users on the website. This is a third-party cookie with an expiration time of 24 hours. |
Persistent |
Performance |
_ga |
This cookie is part of Google Analytics and is used to report the traffic that comes to the website, information on the source of where users come from or what campaign to explain how a user reaches the website. This is a third-party cookie with an expiration time of 2 years. |
Session |
Performance |
_gat |
This is a pattern type cookie set by Google Analytics, where the pattern element on the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. |
Session |
Performance |
_gat_UA-42731211-2 |
This is a pattern type cookie set by Google Analytics, where the pattern element on the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. |
Session |
Performance |
ARRAffinity cookies
Cookie |
Description |
Category |
Type |
ARRAffinity |
This cookie is present in our contact/client portal and is set by websites run on the Windows Azure cloud platform. It is used for load balancing to make sure the visitor page requests are routed to the same server in any browsing session. Cookie expires after the user's session has ended. |
Session |
Performance |
Social Sharing Cookies
Cookie |
Description |
Category |
Type |
_atuvc |
These cookies allow for sharing of a page on multiple social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), and show content from those social media sites which we use to enhance the performance and experience of our website for our users. These social platforms all have their own cookies which are controlled by them and do not allow us access to your accounts or provide us with any confidential information relating to any of your accounts. |
Persistent |
Performance |
_atuvs |
These cookies allow for sharing of a page on multiple social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), and show content from those social media sites which we use to enhance the performance and experience of our website for our users. These social platforms all have their own cookies which are controlled by them and do not allow us access to your accounts or provide us with any confidential information relating to any of your accounts. |
Persistent |
Performance |
Chatroom Cookies
Cookie |
Description |
Category |
Type |
_atuvc |
This cookie is used for our chat room functionality and for identifying when logged in customers are on the website. |
Persistent |
Performance |
Third Party Cookies
These social sharing cookies allow for sharing of a page on multiple social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), and show content from those media sites which we use to enhance the performance and experience of our website for our users. These social platforms all have their own cookies which are controlled by them and do not allow us access to your accounts or provide us with any confidential information relating to any of your accounts.
How long do cookies last? Some are erased when you close the browser on your website or app. Others stay longer, sometimes forever, and are saved onto your device so that they’re there when you come back.
How do I manage my cookies and tracking?
Essential cookies are always on when you visit us. On your first visit to us, we’ll tell you about our other types of cookies and ask you to choose which cookies we can use. You can always change your mind by going to your settings.
Stopping all cookies might mean you can’t access some of our website.
Another way to control some tracking is in the settings on your device.
Further information can be found on www.allaboutcookies.org