Cookie policy

Cookies are small files that are placed on your computer by websites when you visit them. As well as providing information to the owner of the website they are sometimes needed to either make the website work or to make the website work more efficiently. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

As well as gaining a better understanding of how visitors use our website and platforms, cookies enable us to better tailor what we provide online to suit our visitor’s needs based on their usage which in turn improves user friendliness. In order to do this some cookies are applied when you enter our website/platform however they are collected in a non-personally identifiable format and the details of the cookies we use can be found at the bottom of this page. Please note that the names of cookies may change over time.

Strictly necessary cookies
These are cookies needed only for the operation of a website and if they were not used the website would not work correctly, because of this we do not ask for your specific consent for these however for all other cookies your informed consent is required.

Session cookies
These are temporary cookie files that are deleted once you close the browser which means that when you revisit the site you will be treated like a new visitor.

Analytical/Performance cookies
These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that you can find what you are looking for easily.

Targeting cookies
These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.
These cookies are also used to prevent underage users from certain activities.

Cookies that send information to us
The cookie that is placed by the Home Group domain on a user’s computer is called a First Party Cookie. By default, browsers allow first party cookies as they remember the user whilst they are navigating around the website and stop the need for the user to keep confirming details and agreeing preferences.

Cookies that send information to other companies
Third party cookies are set on the Home Group website or platforms by third parties i.e. Facebook. They may use the data collected from these cookies to anonymously target advertising to you on websites based on your visit to the Home Group website/platform. An example of this is if you click on the Home Group Homes Facebook link from the Home Group Homes’ website, your ‘like’ or ‘share’ will be recorded by Facebook (as they set the cookie) and your data will be collected.

Demographics and interest reporting
Our website and platforms use Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting. This is used in order to allow us to target advertising based on what is relevant to a user and improve the reporting of website usage etc. We will not use any information we receive through Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting to identify any individual user of our site.

Further details of cookies used on our website can be found below. Please note that the names of cookies may change over time and that cookies will expire according to the timescales on the cookies list.

The following cookies are strictly necessary cookies:

ASP.NET_SessionId > sessions data are stored on remote server memory and every session will have unique session ID. A new session ID is generated for each page request until the session object is accessed. And client has a reference of the sessionid which is stored in cookie. Expires at browser close.

RequestVerificationToken > this is an anti-forgery cookie set by web applications built using ASP.NET MVC technologies. It is designed to stop unauthorised posting of content to a website, known as Cross-Site Request Forgery. Expires at session end.

The following cookies are session cookies:

_eiccwebchat_session > this is for our live chat and it expires at the end of each session.

_wc_cust_guid > gathers no data, but it is used by our live chat to provide the live chat service and expires after 24 hours.

The following cookies are first party cookies:

COOKIE_POLICY >used to tell the rest of the site the cookie policy has been accepted or rejected. Expires after six months.

The following cookies are analytical cookies:

Google

_utma > stores the amount of your visits, the time of the first visit, the previous visit, and the current visit. Expires after two years.

_utmb -> used to check approximately how fast people leave the site: when a visit starts, and approximately ends (expires quickly). If you look at cookie state changes (e.g. using firecookie), you will see these change regularly. Expires after 30 minutes.

_utmc > as above. Expires at browser close.

_utmz > records whether the visitor came from a search engine (and if so, the search keyword used), a link, or from no previous page (e.g. a bookmark). Expires after six months.

utmt_{{UA tracking id}} > this cookie is set by Google Analytics. According to their documentation it is used to throttle the request rate for the service - limiting the collection of data on high traffic sites. Expires after ten minutes.

_ga > This cookie is set by Google Analytics and identifies unique users.

_gid > installed by Google Analytics, this cookie stores information about how visitors use a website and helps create an analytics report of how the website is performing. The data collected includes the number of visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visited anonymously.

_gat > This cookie is used to throttle request rate. These third-party cookies are placed on your device to allow us to use the Google Analytics service. These cookies collect information about how visitors use our website. We use this information to compile reports and to help us improve the website.

Hotjar

_hjIncludedInSessionSample > is set to let Hotjar know whether that user is included in the data sampling defined by your site's daily session limit. Expires after 30 minutes.

_hjIncludedInPageviewSample > is set to let Hotjar know whether that user is included in the data sampling defined by your site's pageview limit. Expires after 30 minutes.

_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress > is used to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie. Expires after 30 minutes.

_hjid > is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the Hotjar User ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behaviour in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID. Expires after 365 days.

The following cookies are tracking cookies:

Facebook

_fbp > Used by Facebook to track and store visits to site. Expires after three months.

You are able to adjust your computer settings to reflect your preference as to whether or not you are happy to accept cookies or not and you can request a warning before cookies are accepted. Instructions on how to do this can be found in the ‘help’ sections of your computer browser, please note you will have to change the settings on each computer and browser you use to reflect your preferences.

By refusing cookies you may restrict the features of the Home Group website/platforms that you access however cookies are not needed to use many parts of the Home Group website/platforms.

If you would like to find out more about cookies and their use on the internet, you may find the following links useful:

All About Cookies

Microsoft Cookies Guide

Further details on Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting.

To adjust your online advertising choices visit Your Online Choices.

Your display advertising preferences are adjusted through Google Ad Settings. Opt out of Google Analytics.

For more information on the legislation regarding cookies please visit the Information Commissioners Office's website.

Write to us – Home Group, One Strawberry Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4BX

Email us - If your query isn't urgent, please get in touch with Austin at dpo@homegroup.org.uk

Phone us - urgent requests should always be called through to us on 0345 141 4663