COOKIE POLICY
Last updated: 19 October 2026
What’s a cookie?
We are required to obtain your consent for all non-essential cookies used on our website. You can block cookies (including essential cookies) at any time by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block essential cookies you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.
How do we use cookies?
– Session cookies: these are only stored on your computer during your web session and are automatically deleted when you close your browser – they usually store an anonymous session ID allowing you to browse a website without having to log in to each page but they do not collect any personal data from your computer; or
– Persistent cookies: a persistent cookie is stored as a file on your computer and it remains there when you close your web browser. The cookie can be read by the website that created it when you visit that website again. We use persistent cookies for Google Analytics.
– Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are essential to enable you to use the website effectively, such as when buying a product and / or service. Without these cookies, the services available to you on our website cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet.
– Performance cookies: These cookies enable us to monitor and improve the performance of our website. For example, they allow us to count visits, identify traffic sources and see which parts of the site are most popular.
– Functionality cookies: These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make and provide enhanced features. For instance, we may be able to provide you with news or updates relevant to the services you use. They may also be used to provide services you have requested such as viewing a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect is usually anonymised.
– 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.
– First and third party cookies: First party cookies are cookies set by our website. Third party cookies are cookies on our website that are set by a website other than our website, such as where we have adverts on our website or use Facebook pixels so that we can show you relevant content from us when you are on Facebook.
We use third party cookies on our website and these are set out in the table below.
You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:
Cookie Title Cookie Name | Purpose |
Cloudflare security cookie __cf_bm | This cookie is essential for our site to work securely. It is set by Cloudflare, which protects our site from automated bots and malicious traffic, and it helps tell genuine visitors apart from bots. It expires after 30 minutes. |
Cookie consent cookie cookiez-user-consent | This cookie is essential for our site to remember the choice you made in our cookie banner, so that we respect your preferences and do not ask you again on every page. It is set by our cookie consent tool. |
Google Analytics _ga | These cookies enable us to estimate our audience size and usage pattern. They collect information about how visitors use our website, such as how many people visit, where they have come from and which pages they look at, and we use this to compile reports and help us improve the website. These cookies are only set if you click Accept All or switch analytics on in our cookie settings. They expire after 13 months. |
Visitor statistics without cookies
We also count visits to our website using Burst Statistics, a tool that runs on our own website and does not use cookies or store anything on your device. It works out how many people visit, which pages they look at and where they came from, using an anonymous code that changes every day, so we cannot recognise you across days or identify you personally. We use this information only to understand how our website is used and to improve it. The data stays on our own website and is not shared with anyone else or used for advertising. If you would prefer not to be counted, you can switch on the “Do Not Track” setting in your web browser and we will not record your visits, or you can email us at jasmine@thesharpenedleader.com.
You can alter your cookie preferences at any time by clicking the cookie icon at the bottom of any page of our site, choosing Customise and switching the analytics cookies on or off. Please refresh your page to ensure that the new settings have taken effect.
You can also control your cookie settings through your web browser.
You can opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, by going to http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Except for essential cookies, all cookies will expire after 13 months.
If you have any questions about the cookies that we use, feel free to email us at jasmine@thesharpenedleader.com.
