Cookies and storage
Last updated
We use what the site needs to work, plus Google Analytics, which is always on. Two more things are on by default, and you can switch either off at any time in Cookie settings: identified visits and session recordings. There are no advertising cookies.
What's on, and what you can switch off
- Strictly necessary (always on): keeps the site working and secure, remembers your cookie choice, and delivers the forms you send.
- Analytics (always on): Google Analytics counts visits, pages and clicks so we can see which pages help. Advertising features are off.
- Identified visits (on unless you switch it off): if you arrive from a link in one of our emails, or send us a form as a new contact, a random ID links the pages you view afterwards to your contact record, so we can follow up on what's relevant to you. The pages you viewed before sending a form (
ht_journey, below) are sent with the form and linked in the same way. - Session recordings (on unless you switch them off): Microsoft Clarity records how pages are used, with form fields masked. Never on this page, the Privacy Policy or the Terms.
The banner lets you accept these settings or update them. Either way, the settings above apply from your first page view.
Everything we store
| Name | Type | Purpose | Category | How long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
cc_cookie | Cookie (ours) | Remembers your cookie choice and its date | Necessary | 12 months |
ht_lt, ht_mp, ht_cta | Session storage (ours) | How you arrived this visit (campaign tags, referring site) and which key pages you viewed; sent only with a form you submit | Necessary | Until you close the tab |
ht_form_*, ht_book_step, ht_sc_state, ht_lead | Session storage (ours) | Keeps what you typed if you refresh, and links your pre-call answers to your booking | Necessary | Until you close the tab |
ht_cc_legacy | Local storage (ours) | Only if you chose “Reject all” on our earlier cookie banner: keeps identified visits and session recordings off for you until you make a new choice | Necessary | Until your next choice |
ht_sc | Local storage (ours) | Your last scorecard score and band, so you can see it next time (no personal details) | Functional | Until cleared |
ht_internal | Local storage (ours) | Marks our own team’s browsers so their visits are excluded from analytics | Necessary (team only) | Until cleared |
ht_vid | Cookie (ours) | A random ID (not your email address) from a link in one of our emails, or created when you send us a form as a new contact, so we recognise your return visits and see which of our pages you view afterwards | Identified visits (on unless you switch it off) | 180 days |
ht_vid_pending, ht_vsess | Session storage (ours) | Holds an email-link ID for a moment while the page applies your choice (deleted straight away if identified visits are off), and stops the same page being counted twice in one visit | Identified visits | Until you close the tab |
ht_journey, ht_jsess | Local storage / session storage (ours) | A short list of the pages you view on this site and a few key clicks (for example "Book a diagnosis"), with the time and a random visit number, never form contents. Sent with a form you submit, so we can see how you found what you needed. Deleted straight away if you switch off identified visits | Identified visits | Last 50 entries, up to 30 days (ht_jsess: until you close the tab) |
ht_ft, ht_visits | Local storage (ours) | How you first found us, and how many visits, to understand which channels help | Analytics (always on) | 90 days (first touch) |
_ga, _ga_* | Cookie (Google Analytics) | Counts visits, pages and clicks. Its random ID also lets us see the path one anonymous visitor took through the site (Rev. 13, lawyer to re-confirm). With identified visits on, for people we know from an email link or a form, it also gets the random ID above (never your email address) | Analytics (always on) | 13 months |
_clck, _clsk | Cookie (Microsoft Clarity) | Session recordings and heatmaps; form fields are masked | Session recordings (on unless you switch them off) | 1 year / 1 day |
_GRECAPTCHA | Cookie (Google reCAPTCHA) | Spam protection on forms, if switched on | Necessary | 6 months |
Browser privacy signals
If your browser sends Global Privacy Control (GPC), identified visits and session recordings start switched off. You can still switch them on in Cookie settings. Google Analytics still runs.
Changing your mind
Use "Cookie settings" in the footer of any page. Switching off identified visits deletes the ht_vid cookie, the ht_journey page list and any held email-link ID straight away, removes the ID from Google Analytics, and stops us recording the pages you view. Switching off session recordings stops Clarity and deletes its cookies. Your choice is kept for 12 months; we show the banner again after that, or sooner if what we use changes.
Google Analytics can't be switched off in Cookie settings. To block it, use your browser's privacy settings or an extension such as Google's opt-out add-on.
More about how we handle personal information is in our Privacy Policy.