What are cookies?
A cookie is a small text file which is sent from the website to your computer. It contains information about you as a user on the website to personalise your experience. For example, to determine if you are a registered user and, if so, allow you access to registration protected areas of the site or the correct user profile.
Session cookies are only stored for the duration of your visit to the website and will be removed when the browser window is closed. For example, when you close your browser window the relevant authentication cookie is removed and you will need to login again the next time you visit the website.
Permanent cookies are stored for a period of time and are used to identify you when you return to the site. For example, your username may be remembered on the login page.
Registration and Login
Actions such as Registration and Login will set cookies which allows the browser to know which access to allow the website visitor.
First Party Cookies
| Cookie name | Duration | Intrusion level | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential cookies - these cookies are essential for the website to work properly and, strange as it is, so that we can tell if you have agreed to accept cookies. | |||
| SESS* | session | low |
|
| has_js | session | low | The site will determine if the browser has JavaScript enabled and a cookie is set so that the correct version of particular functionality is served. |
| SERVERID | session | low | Our sites are hosted on a cluster of servers and a cookie is set so that the browser looks at one of the servers for the duration of the visit. |
| Other cookies | |||
| PERSISTENT_LOGIN* | permanent 20 years+ | low | Remember me function keeps you logged in other than for non-secure areas. You will need to login again to view your user profile or see the admin area if you are an administrator of the website. |
| webform- | permanent 12 months | low | Used for webforms eg to tell if clients have submitted the webform to stop multiple submissions. |
| __utmb | session | low | These are Google Analytics cookies. Google Analytics is used to look at the way people navigate through the site, which pages and links are popular etc to make sure that the site is effective in getting information to the site visitor. Google Analytics will not record any personal information such as your name or login details. For more details, see Cookies and Google Analytics. |
| __utmc | session | low | |
| __utma | permanent 24 months | low | |
| __utmz | permanent 6 months | low | |
| __utmz | permanent 6 months | low | |
| __utmv | session | low | |
| __utmx | session | low | |
| Admin cookies - used in the Administration area only | |||
| imce* | permanent 15 days | low | Cookie set for use in the admin area to remember if you want images/documents sorted by name, size, date etc and for resizing images. |
Third party cookies
If this site has code from a Third Party site, the Third Party site may set Third Party cookies on your computer:
- if the page with the code is viewed, eg Google Analytics, YouTube
- if you click the link to the Third Party site eg Facebook, Twitter, Google +1, LinkedIn, Vimeo, AddThis, Asset.tv.
The intrusion level of Third Party cookies vary and you should check their Privacy Policies for more details.
Help Guides on Removing Cookies
The following guides can help you delete cookies stored by your browser:
- Chrome
- Internet Explorer
- Firefox
- Microsoft Edge
- Safari