1. What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer, tablet, or mobile device when you visit a website. They are widely used across the internet to make websites work more efficiently and to provide useful information to website owners.
Cookies are stored by your web browser (such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge) and can be read by the website that created them when you return. Some cookies are essential for a website to function properly, while others are used to help website owners understand how visitors interact with their site so they can make improvements.
Cookies can be either "first-party" (set by the website you are visiting) or "third-party" (set by a service used by that website, such as an analytics provider). They can also be "session" cookies (which are deleted when you close your browser) or "persistent" cookies (which remain on your device for a set period of time or until you manually delete them).
2. How we use cookies
We use cookies on this Website for two purposes: to remember your consent preferences (essential) and to understand how visitors use our site (analytics). We do not use cookies for advertising, marketing, retargeting, or tracking you across other websites.
All non-essential cookies require your explicit consent before they are placed on your device. When you first visit our Website, a cookie consent banner will appear asking you to accept or decline analytics cookies. No analytics or session recording cookies are set until you actively consent.
We use the following services in connection with cookies on this Website:
- Google Tag Manager (GTM): manages the conditional loading of analytics scripts based on your consent preferences.
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4): collects anonymous website usage statistics.
- Microsoft Clarity: records anonymous session replays and generates heatmaps of visitor interactions.
3. Essential cookies
Essential cookies are necessary for the basic operation of the Website. They enable core functionality such as remembering your cookie consent preferences. These cookies do not collect information about you that could be used for marketing or tracking purposes.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary for the Website to function, they do not require your consent under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR). You can still block them through your browser settings, but doing so may affect the functionality of the Website.
4. Analytics cookies (Google Analytics 4)
We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to collect anonymous, aggregated data about how visitors use our Website. This helps us understand which pages are most visited, how visitors navigate between pages, where visitors arrive from (e.g. search engines, links from other websites, or direct visits), and whether visitors encounter any errors or usability issues.
GA4 uses cookies to distinguish between different visitors and to understand how individual browsing sessions relate to each other. The data collected is aggregated and anonymised. We have configured GA4 to anonymise IP addresses where possible and we have disabled data sharing with Google for advertising purposes.
These cookies are only set if you consent to analytics cookies through our cookie consent banner.
Google Analytics 4 retains user-level and event-level data for 14 months, after which it is automatically deleted from Google's servers. You can learn more about how Google uses data at Google's Privacy Policy.
5. Session recording cookies (Microsoft Clarity)
We use Microsoft Clarity to record anonymous session replays and generate heatmaps showing how visitors interact with our Website. Session replays allow us to watch anonymised recordings of how visitors navigate through the site, which helps us identify confusing navigation patterns, broken user flows, or elements that are not working as intended.
Microsoft Clarity automatically masks sensitive input fields (such as password fields and fields marked as sensitive) to prevent any personal information from being captured in recordings. We do not use Clarity to collect or identify personal information about individual visitors.
These cookies are only set if you consent to analytics cookies through our cookie consent banner.
Microsoft Clarity retains session recording data for 30 days, after which it is automatically and permanently deleted. You can learn more about how Microsoft uses data at Microsoft's Privacy Statement.
6. Google Tag Manager
We use Google Tag Manager (GTM) to manage the deployment of analytics scripts on our Website. GTM is a tag management system that allows us to load or block scripts (such as GA4 and Clarity) based on your consent preferences.
GTM itself does not set cookies, does not collect personal data, and does not store any information on your device. It acts purely as a management layer. When you consent to analytics cookies, GTM loads the appropriate scripts. When you decline, GTM ensures that no analytics scripts are loaded and no analytics cookies are set.
You can learn more about Google Tag Manager at Google's Tag Manager page.
7. Managing your cookie preferences
Using our cookie consent banner
When you first visit our Website, a cookie consent banner will appear at the bottom of the page. This banner gives you the choice to accept or decline non-essential (analytics) cookies. Your preference is saved in the cookie_consent cookie so that we do not ask you again on every visit.
You can change your cookie preferences at any time by clicking the "Cookie Settings" link in the footer of any page. This will re-display the consent banner, allowing you to update your preferences. If you change from "accept" to "decline", any analytics cookies that have already been set will be cleared.
Using your browser settings
Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. You can typically choose to block all cookies, block only third-party cookies, clear cookies when you close the browser, or receive a notification before a cookie is set. Below are instructions for common browsers:
- Google Chrome: Settings > Privacy and Security > Cookies and other site data. Here you can block third-party cookies, block all cookies, or clear cookies on exit.
- Mozilla Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data. Firefox also supports Enhanced Tracking Protection, which blocks known tracking cookies by default.
- Apple Safari: Preferences > Privacy > Manage Website Data. Safari blocks many third-party cookies by default through its Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature.
- Microsoft Edge: Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Manage and delete cookies and site data. Edge also offers tracking prevention levels (Basic, Balanced, and Strict).
Please note that if you block all cookies (including essential cookies), some parts of the Website may not function correctly. For example, the site will not be able to remember your cookie consent preferences and you will be asked to set them again on each visit.
Opting out of specific services
In addition to managing cookies through our banner or your browser, you can opt out of the specific analytics services we use:
- Google Analytics: you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, which prevents your data from being collected by Google Analytics on any website you visit.
- Microsoft Clarity: you can opt out of Clarity data collection by declining analytics cookies through our consent banner. Microsoft does not currently offer a standalone browser add-on for opting out of Clarity specifically.
8. Cookies set by other websites
Our Website may contain links to other websites. If you follow a link to a third-party website, that website may set its own cookies on your device. We have no control over the cookies set by third-party websites and this Cookie Policy does not cover their use of cookies. We recommend that you check the cookie policy of any website you visit.
We do not embed third-party content (such as social media widgets, embedded videos, or advertising networks) that would set additional cookies on your device while browsing our Website.
9. Do Not Track signals
Some browsers offer a "Do Not Track" (DNT) feature that sends a signal to websites requesting that your browsing activity is not tracked. There is currently no universally accepted standard for how websites should respond to DNT signals.
Our approach is consent-based: we do not set analytics or session recording cookies unless you have actively consented through our cookie banner. If you have not consented, no tracking takes place regardless of your browser's DNT setting.
10. Legal basis for cookies
Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) and the UK GDPR:
- Essential cookies (such as our consent preference cookie) are permitted without consent because they are strictly necessary for the Website to function as requested by you. This falls under Regulation 6(4) of PECR.
- Analytics and session recording cookies (GA4 and Clarity) require your consent before they can be set. We obtain this consent through our cookie consent banner. This consent must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous, and you can withdraw it at any time.
For more information about the lawful basis for our processing of personal data, please see Section 4 of our Privacy Policy.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the cookies we use, the services we integrate, or applicable laws and regulations. When we make changes, we will update the "last updated" date at the top of this page.
If we add new categories of cookies or make changes that significantly affect how cookies are used on the Website, we will ask for your consent again through the cookie consent banner.
We encourage you to review this policy periodically so that you are aware of any changes.
12. Further information
For more details about how we handle your personal data, including your rights under the UK GDPR, please see our Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions about our use of cookies, or if you would like to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us:
- Email: [email protected]
- Post: Vertanet Ltd, Second Floor, Kirkland House, 11-15 Peterborough Road, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 2AX
You can also find general information about cookies, including how to manage and delete them, at aboutcookies.org and allaboutcookies.org.
If you are concerned about how cookies are being used, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection authority, at ico.org.uk or by telephone on 0303 123 1113.