Cookies, without the runaround
This page lists the cookies this website uses, what each one is for, how long it lasts, and how you can change your mind about them at any time.
Nothing on this site that tracks you runs until you say so. The detail below is here so you can check that for yourself.
Last updated:
What cookies are
A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store. It lets the site remember something about you — that you have already dismissed a banner, for example, or which pages you looked at. Some are set by the site itself, and some are set by third-party services the site loads.
Cookies are not programs and cannot carry viruses or read anything else on your device. They can only hold the information the site that set them chooses to put there, and a site can only read the cookies it set — one website cannot look at the cookies another website left on your browser.
Related technologies work in a similar way, and where we refer to cookies on this page we mean those too:
- First-party cookies are set by this website. Third-party cookies are set by a service we load, such as Google Analytics.
- Session cookies are deleted when you close your browser. Persistent cookies stay until they expire or you remove them.
- Local storage is a similar browser store that keeps data until it is cleared. Our consent tool uses it alongside a cookie.
How we approach them
This site runs on a straightforward principle: nothing optional is set until permission allows it.
Only one optional service runs on this website — Google Analytics, which tells us which pages are being read. It is held back until permission allows it, and you can refuse it or withdraw your choice at any time using the Cookie settings link in the footer. Refusing costs you nothing: every part of this site works exactly the same either way.
What we do not use:
- No advertising or marketing cookies.
- No conversion or remarketing pixels.
- No session recording or heatmaps.
- Nothing that follows you to other websites.
How the banner behaves depends on where you are. In the UK, the EEA and Switzerland — and in the US states that require it — nothing optional runs until you actively agree, and the banner stays until you make a choice. In other countries the same options are available through the footer settings link, and you can opt out at any point.
Optional services and privacy choices
Whether optional services need permission before they run depends on your location and the settings for this site. Services you previously declined stay off. If we cannot determine which services are allowed, they stay off.
You can decline optional services or withdraw permission at any time in Cookie settings. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, advertising stays off unless you explicitly allow it in Cookie preferences. This signal does not automatically turn off functional services or analytics.
- Google Analytics
Measure visits and how visitors use this website, so we can see which pages are useful.
Analytics
_ga is set for 2 years and _ga_* for 2 years. Google Analytics 4 retention for this property is set to 14 months. Google acts as a processor; the data is reported to us in aggregate rather than as individual visitor profiles.
https://policies.google.com/privacy - YouTube
Play the videos embedded in our articles and service pages. YouTube is a Google service and may set its own cookies once a video loads.
Functional
YouTube sets its own cookies when a video is served, including preferences and viewing measurement. Names and durations are set by Google and change over time; see Google's cookie documentation for the current list. Embedded in privacy-enhanced mode where available.
https://policies.google.com/privacy
The cookies we use
On small screens the list shows the cookie name, purpose and duration. Scroll the table sideways if you want to see the provider column too.
The analytics cookies in this table are only ever set once permission has been given. If you refuse, the table still describes what is available on the site, but none of it reaches your browser. Cookie names and durations are set by the providers themselves and may change without notice — we will update this table when we become aware of a change.
Kinds of cookie we use
Data protection law sorts cookies into three groups. Here is where this site stands on each.
Strictly necessary
In useThe record of your consent choice. It is required for the site to respect your preference, so it is set regardless of what you decide. It holds no personal information.
Analytics
Permission firstGoogle Analytics 4, used to understand which pages are read and how visitors move around the site. Held back until permission is given, and switched off again the moment permission is withdrawn.
Marketing and advertising
Not usedWe set none. There are no advertising cookies, no remarketing pixels and no cross-site tracking on this website.
Managing your choice
You can change or withdraw your decision at any time. Use the Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page — the banner is only shown once, but the settings panel stays available permanently. Reopening it lets you switch analytics off again, and the change takes effect straight away.
Withdrawing permission does not affect the lawfulness of anything done before you withdrew it — information already collected while you had agreed remains validly held until it expires under the retention periods in our Privacy Policy.
Cookies set by other services
Some parts of this site load content from other companies. When that happens, the company providing the content may see your IP address and may set its own cookies. Those cookies are outside our control — Google's own privacy and cookie policies explain what it does with the information.
Google Fonts
Serves the typefaces used across the site so text renders as designed on any device. Your browser requests the font files directly from Google, so Google sees your IP address and the page you were on.
Cookies: Google does not normally set cookies for font delivery, but the request itself is logged by Google. These requests are treated as essential to the page rendering correctly, so they are not held back by the banner.
YouTube
Plays the videos embedded in our articles, service pages and blog. Permission is required before any of these load — until then a placeholder appears in their place, with a link to the settings panel. Where available the embeds also use YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode, which defers some tracking until you press play.
Cookies: Once a video loads, YouTube may set cookies to remember your preferences and measure viewing. These are set by YouTube, not by us.
Google Calendar
Powers the booking link on our contact page. It is not an embed — nothing loads from Google unless you choose to click through, at which point it opens in a new tab.
Cookies: Google sets cookies to run the booking interface and keep you signed in if you have a Google account. Because this only happens after you click the booking link, it sits outside the banner.
We keep this list as short as we can. If we add a service that sets cookies, we will add the provider and its purpose here and update the last-updated date at the top of the page.
Browser controls
Your browser gives you control over cookies directly. Every mainstream browser lets you view what is stored, delete individual cookies, block all third-party cookies, or block everything.
You will usually find these settings under a heading like “Privacy” or “Cookies and site data” in your browser's preferences. Blocking cookies will not break anything on this site — there is nothing essential here that depends on them.
Blocking third-party cookies is the most effective way to limit what Google can set when a page loads a font, an embedded video or the booking link, since all of those cookies come from Google rather than from us.
Changes to this policy
We review this page whenever we change something that affects cookies — adding a tool, removing one, or switching provider. When that happens we update the “last updated” date at the top, and if the change means new cookies are being set we will add them to the table above with their purpose and duration.
Where a change is significant, we will make it clear on the site rather than quietly amending this page. A change to this policy never widens what we are allowed to do with information collected before it — your existing choice stands until you change it.
More information
For how we handle personal information more broadly — what we collect through forms, why we are allowed to hold it, who else sees it and what rights you have — see our Privacy Policy.
If you want to understand cookies in general rather than just on this site, the Information Commissioner's Office publishes guidance for the public at ico.org.uk.
Questions
If you have a question about how this site uses cookies — or you want to know which cookies you currently have set — email us at contactus@jonesdigital.co and we will answer plainly.
You can also reach us through the contact page. This policy was last reviewed on .
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