This cookie policy only relates to your use of our website, https://iofc.org.uk/ (Website). This policy contains important information on how we use cookies and should be read together with our [link to privacy notice] which sets out how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information generally, as well as your rights in relation to your personal information and details of how to contact us and supervisory authorities if you have a complaint.
A cookie is a small text file which is placed onto your device (e.g. computer, smartphone or other electronic device) when you use our Website. These help us to recognise you and your device and store some information about your preferences or past actions.
For example, we may monitor how many times you visit the website, which pages you go to, traffic data, location data and the originating domain name of your internet service provider. Such information helps us understand how we can improve our services and/or products and services to meet your needs; deliver relevant website content and help you quickly find information relevant to you on our Website; and use data analytics to improve our Website, client relationships and experiences through research, statistical analysis and behavioural analysis.
Types of Cookies
Session cookies – are temporary files stored on your device and erased from your device when you close your browser. These allow websites to link actions of a user in a single browser session for example they will make sure that any items placed in virtual shopping baskets are transferred to a checkout or keep you logged in as you move through private sections of a website.
Persistent cookies – are stored on devices for either a long time or a time limited period. They are only deleted when they expire or when you delete cookies from your device. These are used to remember user inputs and settings for example, log in information so you don’t have to log in on your next visit. They can also be used to collect information about your interests and choices and other organisations creating a user profile to enable targeted marketing.
First party cookies – These cookies are set by the website you’re visiting. And only that website can read them.
Third party cookies – are set by a domain other than the one being visited for example Google and if you have been browsing google.com prior to visiting our Website google may set certain cookies including those set out below. Please be aware that these cookies may change from time to time and we have no control over the operation of these cookies. For information of third party cookies please see the table set out below and follow the link for further information regarding the use of data by Google.
To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set, visit the Information Commissioners (ICO) website at www.ico.com for further information or see www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. Additionally you can find more about certain types of cookie by visiting https://cookiepedia.co.uk/
We ask for your permission to place cookies or other similar technologies on your device, except where they are essential for us to provide you with a service that you have requested. You can however manage cookies by changing the settings. You may have to refresh the page for the updated settings to take effect.
Alternatively, most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings.
If you do not want to accept any cookies, you may be able to change your browser settings so that cookies (including those which are essential to the services requested) are not accepted. If you do this, please be aware that you may lose some of the functionality of our Website.
Throughout our Website we may link to other websites owned and operated by certain third parties (e.g. support forum and partner announcements). These other third-party websites may also use cookies or similar technologies in accordance with their own separate policies. For privacy information relating to these other third-party websites, please consult their policies as appropriate.
You can find out how to manage cookies for popular third-party browsers by accessing the following links:
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
To find information relating to other browsers, visit the browser developer’s website.
The table below provides more information about the cookies we use and why:
| Type | Name | Purpose | Expiry |
| First-party cookie | catAccCookies Cookie Consent | Cookie set by the UK cookie consent plugin to record that you accept the fact that the site uses cookies. | 1 month |
| First-party cookie | cookie_settings | Used to store a user’s cookie settings for the website. | 1 year |
| First-party cookie | Visits | This message is displayed on the homepage to decide if the covid-19 message should be displayed or not. This cookie keeps track of the number of requests a user has made to the homepage. | 1 hour |
| First-party cookie | _ga Universal Analytics (Google) | This is a web analytics service provided by Google Inc which uses cookies to uniquely identify a user | 2 years |
| First-party cookie | _gid Universal Analytics (Google) | This is a web analytics service provided by Google Inc which uses cookies to show us how visitors found and explored our site, and how we can enhance their experience. It provides us with information about the behaviour of our visitors (e.g. how long they stayed on the site, the average number of pages viewed) and also tells us how many visitors we have had. | 1 day |
| First-party cookie | _gat | This cookie is used to throttle analytics requests to limit requests being sent from a user’s browser to Google. | 1 minute |
| Third Party Cookie | ANID | The “ANID” cookie is used for advertising served across the web and stored in google.com. | 1 year |
| Third Party Cookie | DV | Used to collect information about how a user uses the website. | 7 minutes |
| Third Party Cookie | 1P_JAR | This cookie carries out information about how the end user uses the website and any advertising that the end user may have seen before visiting the website. | 1 month |
| Third Party Cookie | NID | This cookie is set by DoubleClick (which is owned by Google) to help build a profile of a user’s interests and show you relevant ads on other sites. | 1 month |
| Third Party Cookies | CONSENT | If the user hasn’t been to a google.com domain before visiting the website these cookies won’t appear. But if a user ticks the captcha checkbox, the NID cookie mentioned above will be set. | 2 years |
| Third Party Cookies | SIDCC __Secure-3PAPISID __Secure-APISID __Secure-SSID APISID __Secure-HSID SAPISID HSID __Secure-3PSID SSID SID SEARCH_SAMESITE | If the user has been on a google.com domain and been logged in, these cookies will also be sent to us when loading the Recaptcha API: |