Cookie Policy

1.  What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (computer, tablet or smartphone) when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work correctly and efficiently, and to provide information to the owners of the website.

Cookies can be either:

•       First-party cookies — set by the website you are visiting (in this case, hancockhamlin.co.uk); or

•       Third-party cookies — set by a different domain, typically because the website uses an embedded service such as a payment provider or video platform.

Cookies may be session cookies (deleted when you close your browser) or persistent cookies (which remain on your device for a set period, or until you delete them).

 2.  Which cookies require your consent?

UK law (the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, as amended — ‘PECR’) distinguishes between two categories of cookie:

Strictly necessary

Essential for the website to function (e.g. security, session management, fraud prevention). Without these cookies, the site cannot operate correctly. No consent required — these cookies are placed automatically.

Analytics and performance

Used to understand how visitors use the website (e.g. which pages are visited most, how long visitors stay). The data collected is aggregated and cannot identify you individually. Consent required — these cookies are placed only if you accept analytics cookies via our cookie banner.

Functional (third-party services)

Set by third-party services embedded in our website (such as payment processing or video delivery) when you actively use those services. These cookies are functional in nature and do not track you for advertising purposes. No separate consent required — these cookies are activated only when you choose to use the relevant service (e.g. making a payment or joining a session).

Our recommendation: When you first visit our website, a cookie consent banner will be displayed. This banner is powered by Squarespace’s built-in cookie management tool. You can choose to accept or decline analytics cookies. Strictly necessary cookies will always be active. Your choice will be remembered for future visits, and you can change it at any time (see Section 5).

3.  Cookies we use

3.1  Squarespace first-party cookies (strictly necessary)

Our website is hosted on Squarespace. Squarespace places a small number of strictly necessary cookies that are required for the website to function. These include:

• crumb (Strictly necessary) — Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) protection, prevents unauthorised actions on your behalf. Duration: Session.

• squarespace-announcement-bar (Strictly necessary) — Records whether a site-wide announcement bar has been dismissed. Duration: Persistent (varies).

• ss_cid (Strictly necessary / Analytics) — Squarespace visitor identifier, used to understand site traffic at an aggregated level. Duration: 2 years.

• ss_cvr (Strictly necessary / Analytics) — Squarespace visitor record, used alongside ss_cid for traffic analysis. Duration: 2 years.

• ss_cvisit (Analytics) — Records the current visit session for Squarespace analytics. Duration: 30 minutes.

• ss_cpvisit (Analytics) — Records the previous visit session for Squarespace analytics. Duration: 2 years.

• SqSpVisitRecord (Analytics) — Squarespace analytics visit record, session-level data. Duration: Session.

Squarespace analytics cookies (those identified as ‘Analytics’ above) are only placed if you have accepted analytics cookies via our cookie banner. For full details of cookies set by Squarespace, please refer to the Squarespace Cookie Policy at www.squarespace.com/privacy/cookies.

3.2  Third-party service cookies

We use two third-party services that may set functional cookies on your device when you actively use those services. These cookies are necessary for those services to function and are not used to track you for advertising purposes.

Stripe (payment processing)

Provider: Stripe, Inc. (USA)

Purpose: Functional cookies used during the checkout process to enable secure payment processing, fraud prevention, and session management. Active only when you proceed to payment.

Data transferred: Billing and payment data processed by Stripe directly. No card data is shared with or stored by HancockHamlin.

Further information: stripe.com/privacy

Zoom (programme delivery)

Provider: Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (USA)

Purpose: Functional cookies set when you access or launch a Zoom session from our website or materials. Used for session authentication and functionality.

Data transferred: Session participation data (name, email as provided to Zoom). See Section 7 of our Privacy Notice.

Further information: explore.zoom.us/en/privacy

A note on unintentional third-party cookies: We do not intentionally embed any advertising, social media tracking, or behavioural profiling cookies on our website. However, some third-party services (including those listed above) may update their cookie behaviour from time to time. If you notice a cookie that is not described in this notice, please contact us at dataprotection@hancockhamlin.co.uk so that we can investigate and update this notice accordingly.

4.  How we use data collected via cookies

Data collected via Squarespace analytics cookies is used solely to understand how visitors use our website — for example, which pages are visited most frequently, where visitors come from, and how long they stay. This information is aggregated and does not identify individual visitors.

We do not use cookie data to:

•       Build profiles of individual visitors for marketing or advertising purposes;

•       Target you with personalised advertisements on our website or on other websites;

•       Share your browsing behaviour with third parties for their own commercial purposes.

5.  Managing and withdrawing consent

5.1  Our cookie consent banner

When you first visit www.hancockhamlin.co.uk, a cookie banner will be displayed. You can:

•       Accept all cookies (including analytics cookies);

•       Accept strictly necessary cookies only; or

•       Adjust your preferences at any time by clicking the ‘Cookie Settings’ link [to be added to website footer].

Your preferences will be remembered for future visits via a cookie preference record stored on your device. If you clear your browser cookies, you will be asked again on your next visit.

5.2  Browser settings

Most browsers allow you to view, manage, delete and block cookies. The links below provide guidance for the most common browsers:

•       Google Chrome: support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647

•       Mozilla Firefox: support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop

•       Microsoft Edge: support.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-edge/delete-cookies-in-microsoft-edge

•       Apple Safari: support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac

Please note that blocking all cookies may affect the functionality of our website and some features may not work as intended. Strictly necessary cookies cannot be disabled through our banner, as they are required for the site to operate.

5.3  Opt-out tools for analytics

You can opt out of Squarespace analytics by declining analytics cookies via our cookie banner. There is no separate opt-out mechanism required.

You may also use your browser’s ‘Do Not Track’ setting, although not all websites respond to this signal.

6.  International data transfers via cookies

Because our website is hosted on Squarespace (based in the USA), and because Stripe and Zoom are US-based services, data processed by cookies or through these services may be transferred to and processed in the United States. We ensure that such transfers are protected by appropriate safeguards, as described in Section 7 of our Privacy Notice. For details of the transfer mechanisms in place, please refer to our Privacy Notice.

7.  Changes to this notice

We may update this Cookie Notice from time to time, for example if we add new features or services to our website. We will update the version number and date at the top of the document. The current version of this notice is always available at www.hancockhamlin.co.uk/cookies.

We will review and update this notice at least annually, or whenever there is a material change to the cookies we use.

8.  Contact us

If you have any questions about our use of cookies, or if you notice a cookie that is not described in this notice, please contact us:

Email: dataprotection@hancockhamlin.co.uk

Post: HancockHamlin Ltd, Tynevale House, Main Street, Acomb, Hexham, Northumberland, NE46 4PW, UK

For questions about how we use your personal data more broadly, please refer to our Privacy Notice at www.hancockhamlin.co.uk/privacy.