Cookie Policy

1. Introduction

We use cookies to make the Website work, to improve your experience, and to provide analytics. This page explains what cookies are, the types of cookies we use, the lawful bases under UK GDPR for processing, and how you can manage or withdraw consent.

2. What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files placed on your device (computer, tablet or mobile) when you visit a website. They can be session cookies (deleted when you close your browser) or persistent cookies (remain for a set period). Cookies may be first-party (set by the website you’re visiting) or third-party (set by a different site/service).

3. Lawful bases & UK GDPR

Under UK GDPR we rely on different lawful bases depending on the cookie type:

• Strictly necessary cookies: these are essential for security and the basic operation of the Website (for example, preventing CSRF on form submissions). These do not require consent to be set in most cases because they are necessary for the Website to operate. We rely on legitimate interests or necessity for performance of a service to set these cookies.
• Analytics & performance cookies: these collect information about how visitors use the Website. We rely on freely given consent for these cookies—you must be able to accept or reject them. You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Third-party cookies: supplied by external providers (e.g., Google). Where these are non-essential we will only set them after you have given consent.

4. Types of cookies we use

Below is a non-exhaustive list of the primary cookies used on our Website. Cookie names and durations can vary depending on vendor configuration and updates; treat the names below as examples and check your runtime cookie output for exact names.

Note: If you run additional plugins, marketing tools, or widgets (e.g., chat widgets, social embeds, advertising networks) they may set their own cookies. Ensure your deployed cookie list reflects all cookies actually set in production.

5. Consent and how to manage cookie preferences

We present a cookie banner when you first visit the Website. You can:

• Accept all — sets essential and non-essential cookies;
• Reject non-essential — only strictly necessary cookies are set;
• Manage preferences — choose which categories (e.g., analytics) you consent to.

You can withdraw or change your consent at any time by:

1. Using our cookie preference centre (the Manage preferences option on the cookie banner or accessible from the footer).
2. Deleting or blocking cookies in your browser (see below). Note that blocking strictly necessary cookies may break the Website.
3. For Google Analytics specifically you can opt out via Google’s add-on: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Browser controls: To manage cookies for your browser, consult:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Edge
• Safari

6. Third-party cookies

We use third-party services (such as Google Analytics). These services may set cookies on your device and process analytics data. We recommend reviewing the privacy policies of those third parties to understand how they use cookies and how they process personal data.

7. Data retention

Cookie retention periods are set by the cookie owner. For analytics cookies we retain identifiers and aggregated analytics for a period consistent with the cookie durations shown above (for example, _ga typically 2 years). If you withdraw consent we will take reasonable steps to delete or anonymise identifiers we control, subject to any legal or technical constraints.

8. Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect data collected via cookies. Strictly necessary cookies (such as CSRF protection tokens) are used to improve site security when you interact with forms and secure areas.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we make material changes we will update the “Last updated” date at the top and where appropriate notify users in a prominent way.

10. Contact

If you have questions about our use of cookies or this policy, contact our Data Protection Officer:

For more information about data protection in the UK, you can also consult the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).