What cookies are

Cookies are small files a website asks your browser to store. They are commonly used to keep you signed in, to remember preferences, or to follow visitors between websites for advertising. Related technologies such as local storage work in much the same way, and this policy covers those too.

What this site uses

Browsing this site sets no advertising cookies until you accept them. The table below lists everything that can appear, and when.

Name	Set by	Purpose	Expires
_ga	Neosmart, first party, by Google Analytics	Tells one visitor’s browser from another so visits can be counted. Only set if you accept.	2 years
_ga_78PSY38Q7H	Neosmart, first party, by Google Analytics	Keeps the state of your visit for the same purpose. The suffix is our property’s identifier. Only set if you accept.	2 years
_gcl_au	Neosmart, first party, by Google’s tag	Records that you arrived and later made an enquiry, so Google Ads can tell us which adverts are working. Only set if you accept.	90 days
_gcl_aw	Neosmart, first party, by Google’s tag	Identifies the advert you clicked, and is set only if you reached us from one. Only set if you accept.	90 days
Google advertising cookies on google.com, googleadservices.com and doubleclick.net	Google	Used by Google to match an enquiry back to an advert. Only set if you accept.	As set by Google, up to two years
neosmart-ads-consent (local storage)	Neosmart, first party	Remembers whether you accepted or declined, so you are not asked again on every page. Stores only that one word.	Until you clear your browser storage
reCAPTCHA (_GRECAPTCHA and related storage)	Google, on google.com	Tells people and automated scripts apart so the enquiry form is not abused. Set when the contact page loads.	Up to six months, as set by Google
neosmart_marketing_cms_session	Neosmart, first party	Keeps a member of our staff signed in to the content system. Never set for ordinary visitors, and restricted to the /cms area of the site.	8 hours

The sign-in cookie is marked HttpOnly and SameSite=Strict, which means it cannot be read by scripts and is not sent when another website links to ours. It holds only a random session reference.

What this site does not use

For the avoidance of doubt, this website carries no social media tracking pixels, and no third-party fonts or embedded players. The links to our Instagram and LinkedIn pages in the footer are ordinary links and set nothing unless you follow them.

The Google tag described above measures our own site and our own advertising. We do not use it to build advertising audiences, to follow you around other websites, or to sell or share anything about you.

Consent

Advertising cookies are not necessary for this site to work, so we ask before setting any. The first time you visit you will see a short notice offering Accept and Decline. Nothing advertising-related is stored until you choose Accept, and the two answers are equally easy to give.

If you decline, Google’s tag still loads but is held in a mode where it stores nothing on your device and receives no identifier for you. We are told only that a visit or an enquiry happened, with nothing that points back to you.

To change your mind either way, clear this site’s stored data in your browser and the notice will appear again on your next visit.

The sign-in cookie is strictly necessary for staff to manage the site and reCAPTCHA is there to keep the enquiry form secure, so neither depends on your answer. If you would prefer not to be subject to the reCAPTCHA check at all, you can contact us by email or telephone rather than through the form.

How to control cookies

Every major browser lets you see what is stored, delete it, and block cookies in future. The help menu in your browser will explain how, and the guidance at ico.org.uk covers it in plain terms.

Blocking cookies will not stop you reading this site. It may stop the enquiry form from submitting, because reCAPTCHA needs its storage to work; the email address and telephone number below are the alternative.

Changes to this policy

If we add anything that sets a cookie, we will update this policy and the table above before doing so. The date at the top shows when it was last revised.

Contact

Questions about this policy can go to hello@neosmartcl.com or 0161 706 1358. Our privacy policy explains how we handle personal information more generally.