Cookie policy
Everything this site can put on your device is listed below, in full: the handful of things it needs to work at all, and the analytics that appear only if you accept.
Last updated 14 September 2026
Your choice
When you first arrive, a banner asks whether you’re happy with analytics cookies. Until you answer, none are set — the analytics tag loads in a mode where it is not permitted to store anything, and only switches over if you accept.
Accept and Decline sit side by side, styled identically and weighted the same, because a choice isn’t free if one option is easier to find than the other. Declining costs you nothing: no feature is withheld and no nag returns.
Change your mind whenever you like
Your choice is stored in your browser, not on our servers, and you can reopen the banner and change it at any time — from here, or from the Cookie settings link in the footer of every page.
Essential — always on
These don’t ask permission, and UK law doesn’t require them to: the rules exempt storage that is strictly necessary to provide something you actually asked for. Neither of these tracks you, and neither is shared with anyone.
| Name | Type | Set by | Lasts | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
mps_cookie_consent | Local storage | First party (this site) | Until you clear your browser storage | Remembers whether you accepted or declined analytics cookies, so you aren't asked again on every page. Holds only the word "granted" or "denied" and a version number — nothing that identifies you. |
admin_session | Cookie | First party (this site) | 24 hours | Keeps a member of MPS staff signed in to the private area used to publish articles. It is never set for ordinary visitors — only after a successful staff login. |
Worth noting that the first row exists because of the consent rules rather than in spite of them — remembering that you said no is the only way to avoid asking again on every page.
Analytics — only if you accept
These are set by Google Analytics and appear only after you accept. We use them to see which pages are read and where people give up, so we can fix the pages that aren’t working. We don’t use them for advertising, we don’t build profiles, and we don’t sell anything to anyone.
| Name | Type | Set by | Lasts | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
_ga | Cookie | Third party (Google Analytics) | 2 years | Distinguishes one visitor from another so Google Analytics can count people rather than page loads. Only set if you accept. |
_ga_* | Cookie | Third party (Google Analytics) | 2 years | Holds the state of your visit — when it started, how many pages in you are. The name ends with this site's Google Analytics property ID. Only set if you accept. |
If you decline, or simply never answer, none of these are written. If you accept and later change your mind, the tag stops storing anything from that moment — you can clear the ones already set through your browser’s settings.
Measurement that uses no storage at all
Some measurement happens without putting anything on your device. Because nothing is stored or read there, the cookie rules don’t apply to it — but you should still know it exists:
- Vercel Web Analytics. Counts page views and referrers. It sets no cookie and stores nothing on your device: your IP address and browser details are turned into a one-way hash on Vercel's servers, which is discarded daily and can't be traced back to you or joined up across days.
- Server logs. Our host records the usual request details, including IP address, for security and troubleshooting. These are held briefly and are not used to build any profile of you.
The fonts on this site are served from our own servers rather than from Google’s, so loading a page doesn’t tell Google anything about you. There are no social media widgets, embedded videos, chat boxes or advertising tags anywhere on the site.
Controlling cookies in your browser
Every browser lets you see the cookies a site has set, delete them, and block them in future — usually under Settings, then Privacy. Blocking all cookies will stop this site remembering your cookie choice, so the banner will reappear on each visit, but nothing else here will break.
Your browser may also offer a “Do Not Track” setting. We don’t rely on it, because it was never given an agreed meaning — the banner is the answer we act on.
Questions
What happens to your data once it reaches us — the legal bases, how long things are kept, who else sees them and your rights — is set out in the privacy notice.
Anything else, email info@mps-accountancy.co.uk.