1. Cookies in plain terms
A cookie is a small file a website asks your browser to keep. On your next request the browser hands it back, which is how a site can tell one visit apart from another. Local storage, tracking pixels, tags and software development kits do much the same job by different means. Everything in that family is covered by this page, even where the word cookie is loose.
2. The permission model we follow
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, read with UK GDPR, allow only one category of storage to be set without asking: the storage a site cannot work without. Everything else needs a clear yes from you beforehand.
So on this site:
- strictly necessary cookies load on your first request, because the page cannot be served safely without them;
- measurement and advertising storage stays switched off until you press Accept on the notice in the corner of the screen;
- pressing Decline is a complete answer. Nothing is queued for later and the notice will not badger you again for twelve months;
- nothing on the notice is pre-selected in our favour, and the two buttons carry equal weight.
3. Groups of storage in use
| Group | Why it exists | Asked first? | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Routing requests, keeping the connection secure, filtering bot traffic and protecting the enquiry form against automated abuse | No | End of session up to 12 months |
| Your choice about cookies | Recording the Accept or Decline you gave, so the notice does not reappear on every page | No | 12 months |
| Measurement | Counting page views, visit length, entry pages and traffic sources in aggregate, so we can see which pages earn their place | Yes | Up to 24 months |
| Advertising | Attributing enquiries to the campaigns that produced them, and occasionally showing our adverts on third-party sites | Yes | Up to 13 months |
4. Changing your answer
Your decision lives in your own browser, in local storage, under the key mic-cookie-consent. A companion key ending -at records the moment you chose, which is the evidence we would rely on if the choice were ever questioned. Nothing about that pair leaves your device.
To change what you allow:
- Clear this site’s stored data from your browser (see the next section for where).
- Reload any page on myinfocentre.co.uk. The notice reappears because the stored key has gone.
- Press whichever button now reflects what you want.
A different browser, a different device or a private window each keeps its own answer, so a choice made in one will not carry across to another.
5. Controls inside your browser
Browsers give you a second, broader layer of control that works across every site you visit, not just this one. Look under Settings, then Privacy or Site settings, where you can normally:
- see and delete the cookies and stored data one site has kept;
- refuse third-party cookies while keeping first-party ones;
- wipe all stored data automatically each time the browser closes;
- block storage entirely, either for one site or for all of them.
Blocking the strictly necessary group will make parts of this site behave oddly, most likely the enquiry form. On the Do Not Track header there is still no agreed industry standard for what a site should do when it arrives, so we do not act on it; declining on our notice gets you the same outcome and is recorded properly.
6. Storage set by other organisations
Some of the groups above involve suppliers rather than us. Our hosting and security provider sets the strictly necessary items. Our analytics provider sets the measurement items, and only once you have consented. Where a campaign is running for us, an advertising platform may place a conversion tag, again only after consent.
Those files are read by the supplier who set them, under their own privacy terms, and we cannot control what they hold or for how long. It is worth reading their notices if you want the full detail. We do not permit any supplier to use data from this site to build profiles for unrelated advertising.
7. If you decline
Nothing on this site is gated behind cookie consent. Every page, document and form works the same either way. Declining only means our reporting sees fewer visits than actually happened, which is a cost we accept.
8. Updates to this page
We revisit this policy whenever a supplier or tag changes, and at least once a year regardless. The revised date at the top of the page tells you when it last moved. A change that widens what we collect will not apply to you until you have been asked again.
9. Getting in touch
Cookie questions go to hello@myinfocentre.co.uk. For the wider picture on personal data, including your rights and how to use them, read the Privacy Policy.