Cookies are used to help you get the most out of using the Internet. Find out what cookies are and what we do to protect your privacy.

A “cookie” is a piece of information, like a tag, that’s stored on your computer, tablet or phone when you visit a website. It can help identify your device – like your PC or mobile device – whenever you visit that website.

They are used by most major websites and our own website is no exception. To make the best use of our website, on whichever device you’re using, you’ll need to make sure your web browser is set to accept cookies.

We use cookies and some other data stored on your device to:

• give you a better online experience
• allow you to set personal preferences
• protect your security
• measure and improve our service
• work with partners and measure marketing

A cookie will typically hold:

• the name of the website that it has come from
• how long the cookie will stay on your computer or phone
• a value, normally in the form of a randomly generated unique number

How we use cookies
To give you a better online experience we use a number of cookies. Our site uses ‘session-based’ cookies, which are stored by your web browser for the duration of your visit to our website, but these cookies expire automatically when you close your browser or sign out.

Cookies are used for a variety of things that help improve your online experience. We use cookies, primarily to:

• make login faster by remembering your device
• make the page load quickly by sharing the workload across computers
• help optimise our pages for your browser or device

Some of our partners drop cookies on this site, they may associate these cookies with hashed emails, IP addresses and browser types for the purpose of making advertisements more relevant to you during your browsing experience.

Managing Cookies
The easiest way to manage cookies is by using your browser settings. You can also choose how you want to deal with cookies when given the option by a website.

You can accept or refuse cookies. Accepting cookies is usually the best way to make sure you get the best from a website.

Most PCs automatically accept them, but you can change your browser settings to restrict, block or delete cookies if you want. Each browser is different, so check the ‘Help’ menu of your particular browser (or your mobile phone’s handset manual) to learn how to change your cookie preferences. Many browsers have universal privacy settings for you to choose from.

How to manage cookies in Internet Explorer
Cookie settings in most versions of Internet Explorer can be found by clicking the tools option and then the privacy tab.

How to manage cookies in Firefox
Cookie settings in Firefox are managed in the Options window’s Privacy panel. See Options window – Privacy Panel for information on these settings

How to manage cookies in Chrome
Click on the spanner icon on the toolbar, select settings, click the under the bonnet tab, click on content settings in the privacy section.

How to manage cookies in Opera
You can manage cookies in Opera if you Click on settings, then Preferences, then Advanced and finally Cookies

How to manage cookies in Safari
Choose Safari, then preferences and then click security. You should then be able to specify if and when Safari should accept cookies.

How To manage cookies on your mobile phone
To manage cookies on your mobile phone please consult your manual or handbook.