What’s a cookie?
A “cookie” is a piece of information that is stored on your computer’s hard drive and which records how you move your way around a website so that, when you revisit that website, it can present tailored options based on the information stored about your last visit. Cookies can also be used to analyse traffic and for advertising and marketing purposes.
Cookies are used by nearly all websites and do not harm your system.
If you want to check or change what types of cookies you accept, this can usually be altered within your browser settings. You can block cookies at any time by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. By not blocking cookies and continuing to browse you are authorising the use of cookies. If you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.
How do we use cookies?
We use cookies to track your use of our website. This enables us to understand how you use the site and track any patterns with regards how you are using our website. This helps us to develop and improve our website as well as products and / or services in response to what you might need or want.
Cookies are either:
Session cookies: these are only stored on your computer during your web session and are automatically deleted when you close your browser – they usually store an anonymous session ID allowing you to browse a website without having to log in to each page but they do not collect any personal data from your computer;
or
Persistent cookies: a persistent cookie is stored as a file on your computer and it remains there when you close your web browser. The cookie can be read by the website that created it when you visit that website again. We use persistent cookies for Google Analytics.
Cookies can also be categorised as follows:
Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are essential to enable you to use the website effectively, such as when buying a product and / or service, and therefore cannot be turned off. Without these cookies, the services available to you on our website cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet.
Functional cookies: These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make and provide enhanced features. For instance, we may be able to provide you with news or updates relevant to the services you use. They may also be used to provide services you have requested such as viewing a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect is usually anonymised.
Analytics cookies: These cookies enable us to monitor and improve the performance of our website. For example, they allow us to count visits, identify traffic sources and see which parts of the site are most popular.
Advertisement cookies: These cookies are designed to gather information from you on your device to help us display advertisements to you based on relevant topics that interest you. This means that the cookies can follow the user as they visit other websites. Our websites don’t display the advertisements, but we can target users with advertisements elsewhere even after they’ve left our sites. Examples of targeting and advertising cookies include social media cookies that are placed on sites to track users around the web to provide ads to them on social media platforms.
The type of cookies used and their purpose
Google Analytics cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use this website. This information is collected in an anonymous form and is used to help us improve the site.
We also require a cookie to remember you when you are logged in. Disabling all cookies will prevent you from subscribing and logging in.
We may use cookie data to show you relevant advertising on third-party sites (e.g. Facebook, Google, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter). This could involve showing you an advertising message where we know you have previously visited one of our websites. If you don’t want to be shown targeted advertising messages from TCV, some third-party sites allow you to request not to see messages from specific advertisers on that site in future. If you want to stop all personalised services from TCV, including targeted advertising messages on third party sites you can visit your browser’s settings and disable personalisation there.
However, if you prefer to disable cookies (on this site AND on others), the most effective way to do this is to disable cookies in your browser. We suggest consulting the Help section of your browser or taking a look at the About Cookies website which offers guidance for all modern browsers. But remember, you won’t be able to log in and enjoy the site!
Our full Privacy Policy is also available
Cookies in embedded content
Please note that during your visits to this website you may notice some cookies that are not related to our websites.
We sometimes embed content from social media and other third-party websites onto our own websites. These may include Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo and Instagram. As a result, when you visit a page containing such content, you may be presented with cookies from these websites and these third-party cookies may track your use of this website. TCV does not control the dissemination of these cookies and you should check the relevant third party’s website for more information.
Where we embed content from social media and other third party websites, some websites may use Google Analytics to collect data about user behaviour for their own purposes. TCV does not control this. For more information, see the Google webpage How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps.
Types of Cookies we use
Sharing tools
You may also see embedded ‘share’ buttons on this website; these enable users to easily share content with their friends through a number of popular social networks. When you click on one of these buttons, a cookie may be set by the service through which you have chosen to share content. Again, TCV does not control the dissemination of these cookies.
Controlling cookies
You can configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. (Each browser is different, so check the “Help” menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.)
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Contacting TCV about this cookie policy
If you have any questions or comments about this Cookie Policy please contact us or email dataprotection@tcv.org.uk.
Effective Date: 22nd May 2018. Last Amended 7th February 2023.
