Cookie Policy
What this site stores on your device, why, and how to change your mind at any time.
This page explains the cookies and similar technologies this website uses, what each one does, and how to change your mind at any time. It sits alongside our Privacy Notice, which covers personal data more broadly.
Last updated: September 2026.
The short version
We set no cookies at all until you choose. Nothing is dropped on your device when you first arrive, and if you decline, nothing is set beyond the single cookie that remembers your decision. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies, and we do not sell anything about your visit.
What a cookie is
A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to store. It lets a site remember something between pages or between visits, such as the fact that you have already answered the cookie banner. Some related technologies, like local storage, work in a similar way and we treat them the same.
The law
Cookies in the UK are governed by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, alongside the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. The rule is straightforward: cookies that are strictly necessary to deliver the service you asked for can be set without permission, and everything else needs your consent, freely given and as easy to withdraw as it was to give.
The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 relaxed this a little, so that purely statistical measurement and remembering display preferences can in some cases be set without consent. We have not taken advantage of that. We still ask first, because we would rather you were in control of it.
What we set
Strictly necessary
| Cookie | Purpose | Lasts |
|---|---|---|
| cookieyes-consent | Remembers the choices you made in the cookie banner, so we do not ask again on every page. Set by our consent tool, CookieYes. | 12 months |
If you log in to the site, which only our own staff do, WordPress sets session and preference cookies that are needed to keep you logged in. These are deleted when the session ends or when you log out.
Analytics, only if you accept
| Cookie | Purpose | Lasts |
|---|---|---|
| _ga | Google Analytics 4. Tells us how many people visit, which pages are useful and where visitors arrive from. It distinguishes one browser from another; it does not tell us who you are. | Up to 2 years |
| _ga_77TBBG74VV | Google Analytics 4, keeps the session state for our specific property. | Up to 2 years |
The Google Analytics tag is held back until you accept the analytics category. If you decline, it is never loaded and these cookies are never created.
Functional, performance and advertising
The banner lists these categories because our consent tool offers them as standard. We do not currently use any cookies in them. If that ever changes, this page and the banner will list them before they are set.
Content embedded from other websites
A small number of pages embed content hosted elsewhere: a Google map on the contact page, a handful of YouTube videos in news articles, and one BBC clip. When that content loads, the provider can set its own cookies, under its own policy rather than ours. Our video embeds use YouTube’s no cookie domain, which means YouTube does not store anything on your device unless you actually press play. If you would rather avoid these entirely, decline the relevant category and avoid interacting with the embedded item, or block third party cookies in your browser.
Changing your mind
Click the small consent icon at the bottom left of any page, labelled Consent Preferences, to reopen the banner and change any category. Your choice takes effect immediately and applies across the site. Withdrawing consent is exactly as easy as giving it.
You can also clear or block cookies in your browser. Every browser handles this slightly differently, and the built in help is the most reliable guide:
Bear in mind that blocking the strictly necessary cookie will simply mean the banner asks you again on every visit.
To opt out of Google Analytics on every website, not just ours, Google publishes a browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Questions
If anything here is unclear, or you want to know exactly what was set during your visit, contact our Data Protection Officer at info@advancedoverwatch.com or on 028 7087 8077. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.