Cookies Policy

Last Updated: 14 June 2025

This Cookie Policy explains how BritishContracts.com (“Our Site”) uses cookies and similar technologies to provide, customize, and improve your experience on our Site. It also explains your choices regarding these technologies.

By continuing to use Our Site with cookies enabled in your browser/device settings, you are agreeing to our use of cookies as described in this policy. You will have seen a cookie notice banner when you first visited our Site – this banner allows you to consent to or manage non-essential cookies. You can change your preferences at any time as explained below.

1. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are widely used by website owners to make their websites work, or to work more efficiently, as well as to provide reporting information.

Cookies set by the website owner (in this case, British Contracts) are called “first-party cookies.” Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are “third-party cookies.” Third-party cookies enable third-party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website (e.g., analytics or interactive content). The parties that set these third-party cookies can recognize your device both when it visits our Site and when it visits certain other websites.

Cookies can remain on your device for different periods. Session cookies exist only while your browser is open and are deleted automatically once you close your browser. Persistent cookies survive after your browser is closed and remain on your device until a set expiration date or until you delete them. Persistent cookies are used to remember you when you return.

2. How We Use Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies for several reasons:

  • Essential Cookies: These are first-party cookies that are necessary for Our Site to function properly. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas, navigate the site, and use features. Without these cookies, some services on Our Site cannot be provided. (For example, if our site has a login or an AI tool requiring a session, a cookie might keep you logged in or remember inputs between steps.)

  • Analytics Cookies: We want to understand how visitors use Our Site so we can improve it. For this, we may use analytics cookies. These cookies collect information about how you interact with our Site, such as which pages you go to most often, how you found our Site, and any errors you encountered. The information is aggregated and anonymous – it does not identify you personally. For instance, we use Google Analytics to gather this information and report on website usage statistics. This helps us analyze traffic patterns and user behavior, so we can enhance user experience. (We have configured Google Analytics in compliance with privacy best practices, such as anonymizing IP addresses.)

  • Functionality Cookies: These cookies allow Our Site to remember choices you make and provide enhanced, more personal features. For example, they might remember your preferences (such as language or region selection) or remember if you’ve interacted with a particular component (like dismissing a pop-up) so it doesn’t bother you again. The aim is to make using Our Site more convenient for you.

  • Performance and Reliability: We might use certain cookies or similar tools to distribute site load and ensure stability (for example, a service like Cloudflare may set a cookie to identify trusted web traffic and improve page load times).

  • No Advertising Cookies: We do not use cookies to serve third-party advertising on Our Site, nor do we share cookie data with ad networks. You will not see targeted ads on our platform based on cookies.

  • Third-Party Features: If Our Site includes content or features provided by third parties (like a video embedded from YouTube, a Google Map, or a social media “share” button), those third parties may set cookies. For example, when you play an embedded YouTube video, YouTube might set cookies to track video views or remember your preferences. Similarly, our use of Google Analytics involves Google setting cookies to collect analytics data. We strive to limit third-party cookies and only use reputable providers.

3. What Cookies Does Our Site Use?

We’ve categorized the cookies we use and given examples below. (Note: specific cookie names and providers may change over time, but the purposes will remain as described.)

3.1. Strictly Necessary Cookies (Essential):

These cookies are essential for you to browse our Site and use its features. They don’t gather info about you for marketing. For example:

  • BCSessionID – (First-party) Maintains your session state (e.g., remembering inputs in a form or keeping you logged in during your visit). Expires when you close your browser (session cookie).

  • cookieConsent – (First-party) Remembers your cookie preferences (i.e., whether you’ve accepted or declined non-essential cookies) so we don’t keep asking you. Typically persists for about 6-12 months.

3.2. Analytics and Performance Cookies:

These cookies collect aggregated information about how visitors use Our Site:

  • _ga – (Google Analytics, third-party) Used to distinguish users with a random identifier. Helps count how many people visit, and how they navigate the site. Not strictly necessary. Lifespan: 2 years.

  • _gid – (Google Analytics, third-party) Used to distinguish users on a daily basis. Lifespan: 24 hours.

  • _gat – (Google Analytics, third-party) Used to throttle request rate (limit the collection of data on high traffic sites). Lifespan: 1 minute.

    (Note: With IP anonymization enabled, Google Analytics will shorten IP addresses in EU/UK, and we do not send personal info through Analytics. These cookies tell us things like which pages are popular, how long users stay, etc.)

We may also use similar analytical cookies from other service providers from time to time, but any such usage will be for internal use and site improvement only.

3.3. Functionality Cookies:

  • PreferredLanguage – (First-party) Remembers if you selected a preferred language or region on the site (if applicable). Persists for a few weeks.

  • ToolSettings – (First-party) If our AI contract tool or other interactive feature has settings (like preferred template type), this cookie might store those settings so you don’t have to re-enter choices. Persists for the session or short period.

3.4. Third-Party Cookies / Embedded Content:

As mentioned, if we embed content or use external services, they might set cookies:

  • YouTube: If a YouTube video is embedded, YouTube/Google may set cookies such as VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE(estimate bandwidth, lasts ~6 months) or YSC (session cookie for video statistics) and others to track video usage. These are set only when you play or interact with the video.

  • Social Media: If we had, say, a Twitter feed or Facebook “like” button embedded, those platforms might set cookies to allow interaction or to count shares. (Currently, we do not have such integrations that set cookies, but we mention as an example.)

We endeavor to minimize the use of third-party cookies. Any third-party cookie usage is not directly under our control; however, we only include third-party content from sources we trust. For more details on those cookies, you can refer to the privacy/cookie policies of the respective third parties (e.g., Google’s for YouTube/Analytics).

4. Your Choices and Control Over Cookies

4.1. Cookie Consent Tool: When you first visit Our Site, you will see a banner or pop-up explaining that we use cookies and giving you the option to accept or manage cookies. Non-essential cookies (like analytics) will not be set unless you opt-in (depending on applicable legal requirements). You can use the provided tool (if available on the Site) to adjust your cookie preferences at any time. For example, you might choose to disable analytics cookies but keep functionality cookies.

If you want to change your preferences after initially setting them, you can typically find a “Cookie Settings” link on our Site (often in the footer or in this policy page) to revisit the consent manager. Alternatively, clearing your cookies will often trigger the consent banner to appear again on your next visit.

4.2. Browser Settings: Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings preferences. You can set your browser to refuse all or some cookies, or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit. You can also delete cookies that have already been set. The steps to do this vary by browser. Here are links to instructions for managing cookie settings in popular browsers:

Please note: If you disable or refuse cookies, some parts of Our Site might become inaccessible or not function properly. For instance, disabling strictly necessary cookies could prevent you from logging in or using certain interactive features.

4.3. Do Not Track: Some browsers have “Do Not Track” (DNT) features that can send a signal to websites indicating you do not want to be tracked. Our Site does not currently respond to DNT signals in a different way from normal cookie settings, because there is no common standard yet for what websites should do when receiving such signals. We respect your choices as described in this policy (e.g., if you decline analytics, we won’t run analytics scripts). We will monitor developments around DNT and may revisit this if a standard emerges.

5. Changes to This Cookie Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time, for example to reflect changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. The “Last Updated” date at the top indicates when the latest changes were made. We encourage you to review this Cookie Policy periodically to stay informed about our use of cookies.

We may also provide additional notice of significant changes, such as via a notice on Our Site or through other communication channels when legally required.

6. Contact and Further Information

If you have any questions about our use of cookies or this Cookie Policy, please feel free to contact us. The best way to reach us is via the contact form on Our Site. Simply mention that your inquiry is about “cookies” or “privacy” and we will route it to the appropriate team.

For more information about how we collect, use, and protect personal data on Our Site (beyond cookies), please see our Privacy Policy, which addresses these topics in detail.

By using Our Site, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Cookie Policy. Thank you for visiting BritishContracts.com, and we hope you have a smooth experience. If you have any trouble related to cookies or otherwise, don’t hesitate to let us know – we’re here to help ensure you can use our resources comfortably and confidently.

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