Cookie Policy

Every Step Social Care

How We Use Cookies on Our Website

Version: 1.0

Effective Date: May 2025

Last Reviewed: May 2025

1. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer, tablet, or mobile phone when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work correctly, improve efficiency, and provide information to the website owner.

Cookies do not contain personal information such as your name or bank details on their own, but they may be linked to information we hold about you if you have provided your details through our forms.

2. How We Use Cookies

The Every Step Social Care website at www.everystepsocialcare.co.uk uses cookies to:

Ensure the website works correctly and securely
Remember your preferences and settings
Understand how visitors use our website so we can improve it
Measure the effectiveness of our content and pages

We do not use cookies to collect your personal data for advertising or marketing purposes, nor do we share cookie data with third parties for commercial gain.

3. Types of Cookies We Use

3.1 Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are essential for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually set in response to actions you make, such as filling in a form or setting your privacy preferences.

You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the website may not work as a result. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Purpose: Website security, load balancing, session management
Duration: Session (deleted when you close your browser)
Consent Required: No

3.2 Analytics and Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our website. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site.

All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not know when you have visited our site and will not be able to monitor performance.

Provider: Google Analytics (where installed)
Purpose: Understanding user behaviour, page views, traffic sources
Duration: Up to 2 years
Consent Required: Yes — only set after you accept analytics cookies

3.3 Functionality Cookies

These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages.

If you do not allow these cookies, some or all of these features may not function correctly.

Purpose: Remembering your language and region preferences, form data
Duration: Up to 12 months
Consent Required: Yes — only set after you accept functionality cookies

3.4 WordPress and CMS Cookies

As our website is built on WordPress, some cookies are set by the WordPress platform to manage user sessions and security. These are technical cookies that do not collect personal data for marketing purposes.

wp-settings: Stores user preferences for the WordPress admin interface
wordpress_logged_in: Maintains a logged-in state for admin users only
Duration: Session or up to 1 year
Consent Required: No (strictly necessary for site management)

4. Your Cookie Choices

4.1 Cookie Consent Banner

When you first visit our website, you will see a cookie consent banner. You can choose to accept all cookies, reject non-essential cookies, or customise your preferences. You can change your choices at any time.

4.2 Managing Cookies in Your Browser

Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. You can:

View what cookies are stored on your device
Delete cookies individually or all at once
Block cookies from all or specific websites
Set your browser to notify you when a cookie is being set

To manage cookies in your browser, please follow the guidance for your specific browser:

Google Chrome: Settings > Privacy and Security > Cookies and other site data
Mozilla Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data
Safari: Preferences > Privacy > Manage Website Data
Microsoft Edge: Settings > Cookies and Site Permissions

Please note that restricting cookies may impact the functionality of our website and other websites you visit.

4.3 Opting Out of Google Analytics

If we use Google Analytics, you can opt out of analytics tracking across all websites by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available at: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

5. Third-Party Cookies

Some pages on our website may include content from third parties (for example, embedded maps or social media sharing buttons). These third parties may set their own cookies. We do not control these cookies and recommend you review the cookie and privacy policies of those third parties.

We do not permit third-party advertising cookies on our website.

6. Updates to This Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in technology, regulation, or our website. When we make significant changes, we will update the ‘Last Reviewed’ date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you via a banner on the website.

7. Contact Us

If you have any questions about how we use cookies, please contact us:

Email: info@everystepsocialcare.co.uk

Telephone: [Your Phone Number]

Address: South East London, UK

Website: www.everystepsocialcare.co.uk

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk if you have concerns about how we handle cookies or personal data.