Which cookies does this website use?

Our website uses both first and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are set by Ecology, and third-party cookies are set by another site.

We use cookies to allow the website to work properly, and these are considered strictly necessary so are always on (active). We also use cookies for analysis, marketing and sometimes to interact with social networking sites. You can control your use of these cookies via our consent management tool, but they are always turned off by default.

The tables below list the cookies we use on our website and explain why we use them. We only collect information that is necessary for the purposes described below.

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are considered strictly necessary for the sites to function, are set by the Ecology website, and so are always on (active). They allow users to log in to their online account with Ecology and help us to identify we are dealing with the same user when they move from one page to the next while logged in. The user key within the cookie is encrypted for security and is destroyed when you close your browser.

Cookie	Placed By	Functionality	Purpose	Expiration
OptanonConsent	Ecology	This cookie is set by the cookie compliance solution from OneTrust. It stores information about the categories of cookies the site uses and whether visitors have given or withdrawn consent for the use of each category. This enables site owners to prevent cookies in each category from being set in the user’s browser, when consent is not given. The cookie has a normal lifespan of one year, so that returning visitors to the site will have their preferences remembered. It contains no information that can identify the site visitor.	Strictly Necessary	1 year
OptanonAlertBoxClosed	Ecology	This cookie is set by websites using certain versions of the cookie law compliance solution from OneTrust. It is set after visitors have seen a cookie information notice and in some cases only when they actively close the notice down. It enables the website not to show the message more than once to a user. The cookie has a normal lifespan of one year and contains no personal information.	Strictly Necessary	1 year
SOCS	Google	Stores user’s consent choices for Google services	Strictly Necessary	1 year
XSRF-TOKEN	Smart Money People	Prevents cross-site request forgery.	Strictly Necessary	2 hours
_cf_bm	Cloudflare	Bot protection & security	Strictly Necessary	30 minutes
bigbite_session	Smart Money People	Maintains a user session to enable functionality such as submitting and managing reviews via the Smart Money People service.	Strictly Necessary	Session
wp_lang	WordPress	Used to store the user’s language preference to ensure content is displayed in the correct language.	Strictly Necessary	Session
wordpress_test_cookie	WordPress	Used to check whether the user’s browser supports cookies. This is necessary for the proper functioning of the website.	Strictly Necessary	Session
visitor_session_partitioned	Glia	Used by the Glia customer service platform to maintain a user session and enable chat functionality.	Strictly Necessary	1 Year
api.glia.eu
incompat_visitor_session
ts_did	Transmit Security	Used by Transmit Security to identify devices and support secure authentication and fraud prevention.	Strictly Necessary	1 Year
GCLB	Google Cloud Load Balancer	Used to ensure requests are routed to the correct server and to maintain session consistency.	Strictly Necessary	Session
_cfuvid	Cloudflare	Used for rate limiting and bot detection to help protect the website from malicious traffic.	Strictly Necessary	Session

 

Performance and Analytics Cookies

These cookies enable us to understand how users use our website, to understand where a user has come from and to help improve the way our site works. They are set by our analytics partners, Google and Hotjar. All information is aggregated and does not directly identify individual users, although some data may be considered personal data under applicable regulations. If you do not keep these cookies on, we will not be able to monitor the performance of our website.

Cookie	Placed By	Functionality	Purpose	Expiration
_ga*	Google	Used by Google Analytics to distinguish users and track how visitors interact with the website, helping us improve performance and user experience.	Analytics	1 year
_hjSession_*, _hjSessionUser_*	Hotjar	Hotjar uses cookies (such as hjSession* and hjSessionUser*) to analyse user behaviour, including session tracking and heatmaps, helping improve usability and performance.	Analytics	Hotjar uses both session cookies (which expire after the session ends) and persistent cookies (which may remain for up to one year) to analyse user behaviour.

 

Marketing and Advertising cookies

These cookies help make the advertisements you see on websites and platforms as relevant to the user as possible. This may be based on a user’s previous browsing activity and interactions with our website. These cookies may involve data being shared with third-party platforms such as Google and Microsoft.

Cookie	Placed By	Functionality	Purpose	Expiration
IDE	Google / DoubleClick	Used by Google Ads (DoubleClick) to record and report on user actions after viewing or clicking on an advert, and to help deliver relevant advertising.	Marketing	13 months
DSID	Google / DoubleClick	Used by Google Ads (DoubleClick) to identify users across websites and measure the effectiveness of advertising.	Marketing	2 weeks
ADS_VISITOR_ID	Google	Used by Google Ads to identify visitors and measure interactions with advertising, helping to assess campaign performance.	Marketing	2 years
AEC	Google	Used by Google to help ensure requests are made by the user and to prevent fraudulent activity in advertising.	Marketing	6 months
NID	Google	Used by Google to store user preferences and personalise advertising across Google services.	Marketing	6 months
APISID, SAPISID, SID, SIDCC, SSID, HSID, S	Google	Used by Google to identify users, maintain session security, and support the delivery and measurement of personalised advertising across Google services.	Marketing	Up to 1 year
_gcl_au	Google	Used by Google Ads to store and track conversions, helping to measure the effectiveness of advertising.	Marketing	3 months
MUID	Microsoft	Used by Microsoft (Bing Ads) to identify users and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.	Marketing	2 weeks
_uetvid	Microsoft	Used by Microsoft Advertising to identify users and measure advertising performance	Marketing	16 days
_uetsid	Microsoft	Used by Microsoft Advertising to track user sessions and measure interactions with the website for advertising purposes.	Marketing	Session

Social Networking cookies

These cookies are set by the social media provider (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) when you share or like a page on our website. The Ecology website does not currently use any social networking cookies. We will update this page if this situation changes.

Banking Platform (on-line.ecology.co.uk)

We strictly limit cookies in place on our Banking Platform (on-line.ecology.co.uk) to only those strictly necessary for the platform to operate, and analytics cookies, which enable us to learn more about how you use the platform and help us to improve your experience. We only use these cookies with your prior consent.