Cookie Policy

Cookie Policy for www.paraqual.co.uk

This Cookie Policy explains how ParaQual ("we", "us", "our") uses cookies and similar technologies on www.paraqual.co.uk (the "Site"). It tells you what cookies are, which ones we use, why we use them, how long they last, and how you can control them.

We only set non-essential cookies with your consent. When you first visit the Site you are shown a cookie banner where you can accept or reject analytics and advertising cookies. Rejecting them does not affect your ability to use the Site. You can change your choice at any time using the Cookie Settings link, which is also in the footer of every page.

This policy should be read together with our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle personal data more generally.

Cookies are small text files that a website places on your computer, tablet or phone when you visit. They let the site remember your actions and preferences, such as whether you are logged in, so you do not have to re-enter them each time you return or move between pages.

Cookies set by us are called first-party cookies. Cookies set by other organisations through our Site, such as Google, are called third-party cookies. Cookies can be session cookies, which are deleted when you close your browser, or persistent cookies, which stay on your device until they expire or you delete them.

We also use similar technologies such as browser local storage, which works in the same way for the purposes of this policy. For simplicity we refer to all of these as "cookies".

Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), we may set cookies that are strictly necessary for the Site to work without asking for consent. All other cookies, including analytics and advertising cookies, are set only after you have given your consent through the cookie banner.

You can withdraw your consent at any time and it is as easy to withdraw as it was to give. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdrew it.

These cookies are essential for the Site to operate securely and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are only set in response to actions you take, such as logging in, submitting a form or making a payment. You can block them in your browser, but parts of the Site will then not work.

Our own server also counts public pages it serves regardless of your cookie choice, including repeat visits. These access records contain the time, page path without query strings and approximate country, region and city from a local lookup database. Daily visitor estimates use a server-generated keyed hash of the date, network address and browser user agent; no visitor cookie is set for this estimate. The hash changes each day, and the report stores no raw IP addresses or user agents or sends them to an external location service. Browser Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control signals disable daily grouping; unlinked page views are still counted. Advertising attribution remains separate and requires consent.

We use Google Analytics 4, provided by Google Ireland Limited, to understand how visitors find and use the Site: which pages are viewed, how long people stay, which qualifications attract interest, and which marketing campaigns or search terms bring visitors to us. This helps us improve the Site and spend our marketing budget responsibly.

Google Analytics stores information such as an anonymous identifier for your browser, the pages you view, your approximate location derived from your IP address, and your device and browser type. IP addresses are not stored by Google Analytics 4. We have not enabled any feature that would allow Google to identify you by name.

If you reject analytics cookies, Google Analytics still receives limited, cookieless signals such as the page address and the campaign you arrived from. These signals contain no identifier and cannot be linked to you or to any other visit. Google uses them only to produce aggregate estimates of overall traffic.

You can also opt out of Google Analytics across all websites by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

We advertise our qualifications on platforms such as Google Ads and LinkedIn. When you accept advertising cookies, these platforms can measure whether a visit from one of our advertisements led to an enquiry or a confirmed purchase, so we can tell which campaigns work. For LinkedIn, our server sends the purchase time, value, currency, an order event identifier, a hashed email address and the available li_fat_id click identifier after payment succeeds. No LinkedIn purchase is triggered just by visiting checkout or a thank-you page. We do not use cookies to show you personalised advertising on other websites, and we do not sell your data to advertisers.

You can control the advertisements Google shows you at Google Ads Settings. Further information about how Google uses data from sites that use its services is available at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

Information collected by Google Analytics and Google Ads may be processed on servers outside the United Kingdom, including in the United States. Google is certified under the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, and transfers are additionally covered by the UK International Data Transfer Addendum to the standard contractual clauses. Stripe processes payment data under equivalent safeguards.

On this Site. Click Cookie Settings here or in the footer of any page to reopen the cookie banner and change your choice. Choosing Reject switches off analytics and advertising cookies immediately. Cookies that were already set will expire naturally or can be deleted using your browser.

In your browser. Most browsers let you see which cookies are stored, delete them individually or all at once, and block cookies from particular sites or from all sites. Instructions for the most common browsers are available here: Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Microsoft Edge.

If you block strictly necessary cookies you will not be able to log in, submit forms or complete a payment on the Site.

We review this policy at least once a year and whenever we add, remove or change a cookie. The date at the top shows when it was last updated. If we start using a new category of non-essential cookie we will ask for your consent again through the cookie banner.

If you have any questions about this policy or how we use cookies, please email director@paraqual.co.uk or call (+44) 1184050421.

If you are not satisfied with our response you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.