What are cookies?
Cookies are small files that websites place on the device you’re using to browse the site. Cookies are commonly used to record some aspect of your visit to a site, such as choices you’ve made or preferences you’ve set during your visit.
How and why we use cookies
We use cookies to give you the best experience when you visit our website. By using cookies, we can make it easier for you to do many things, such as managing your accounts, policies, or login details, and applying for products and services. Cookies can also allow us to tailor the content of our website so we can show you services or adverts we think you may be interested in.
Cookies we use
The table below explains the cookies we use and why:
| Name | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| PHPSESSID | This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users’ unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed. | session |
| cookieyes-consent | CookieYes sets this cookie to remember users’ consent preferences so that their preferences are respected on their subsequent visits to this site. It does not collect or store any personal information of the site visitors. | 1 year |
| _ga_CMDVV9V2ZQ | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. | 2 years |
| _ga | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site’s analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. | 2 years |
Keeping your personal information safe
Our cookies do not store personal information such as your name, address, phone number or email in a format that can be read by others. The cookies we use cannot read or search your computer, smartphone or web-enabled device to obtain information about you or your family, or read any material kept on your hard drive.
We may use a small number of cookies that store encrypted versions of information where you have asked us to. However, this is encrypted so that only we can read this information. The website that places a cookie owns that cookie. This means only that website and other sites that it has agreed to share information with can read the information stored using a cookie.
Links to sites provided by others
If you follow a link from our website to another website, please be aware that the owner of the other website will have their own privacy and cookie policies for their site. We recommend you read their policies as we are not responsible or liable for what happens at their site.
How to manage and switch off cookies
Your web browser provides settings that allow you to manage or switch off cookies. If you do switch off cookies, remember that you may not be able to use all of the services on our website.
You can find out more about managing and switching off cookies at the independent website: allaboutcookies.org
The types of cookies we may use on this site
Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are essential for our online services and tools to work. They collect or record information that we need to make our site work.
Common uses for this type of cookie include:
- storing information so that shopping baskets can be provided.
- storing information for billing or third–party functionality.
- allowing users to log in or access private areas of a site.
These cookies only last for a single browsing session – when you leave our site, they are removed.
Performance cookies
These cookies help us to monitor and improve how our website works.
Common uses for this type of cookie include:
- collecting information about which pages visitors go to most often.
- noting if visitors get any error messages from web pages.
- understanding which links visitors like to follow (including adverts) and which they choose not to.
The information collected using these cookies is anonymous and cannot be used to identify an individual visitor.
Functionality cookies
These cookies allow us to provide you with enhanced features that need to remember your preferences and choices, such as your user name, language or region. They also let us monitor how our website is performing so we can keep on improving it.
Common uses for this type of cookie include:
- providing you with local information, such as health providers in your area.
- remembering how you like to use our site, such as what text size you like or what media software you use.
- remembering what topics you’re interested in so we can provide you with related products, services and information.
The information we store in these cookies is encrypted so that only we can read it.
You can find out more about managing and switching off cookies at the independent website: allaboutcookies.org