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 cookies that appear only if you accept — along with what Google Analytics sends when you don’t.
Last updated 29 October 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 starts using cookies if you accept. It does still send Google some details of your visit in that mode, and carries on doing so if you decline; what it sends is listed below.
Microsoft Clarity, which records how visitors scroll and click, works differently: it isn’t loaded at all unless you accept, so if you decline or never answer, nothing reaches it.
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 the MPS team signed in to the private area used to manage the website. It is never set for ordinary visitors — only after a successful team login. |
admin_invite_token | Cookie | First party (this site) | Up to 24 hours, or until the invitation is accepted | Holds the one-time code from a team invitation link while the person it was sent to sets up their account, so the code isn't left in the address bar or browser history. Only set for someone who opens an invitation link. |
admin_reset_token | Cookie | First party (this site) | Up to 24 hours, or until the new password is saved | Holds the one-time code from a team member's password reset link while they choose a new password, so the code isn't left in the address bar or browser history. Only set for someone who opens a reset link. |
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 cookies — only if you accept
These are set by Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity, 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. Clarity does that by recording how visitors scroll, move and click on a page, never what they type, and turning those recordings into heatmaps. 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. |
_clck | Cookie | Third party (Microsoft Clarity) | 1 year | Gives your browser a random ID so Microsoft Clarity can tell a returning visitor from a new one, and records that you agreed to it. Only set if you accept. |
_clsk | Cookie | Third party (Microsoft Clarity) | 1 day | Joins up the pages you look at in one visit, so Clarity keeps them as a single recording. Only set if you accept. |
_cltk | Session storage | Third party (Microsoft Clarity) | Until you close the tab | Keeps Clarity's recording of each open tab separate. Only set if you accept. |
CLID | Cookie | Third party (Microsoft, on clarity.ms) | 1 year | Records when Clarity first saw your browser, on this site or any other that uses it. Only set if you accept. |
MUID | Cookie | Third party (Microsoft, on its own domains) | About 13 months | An ID for your browser that Microsoft uses across its own websites and services, including for its own advertising. We don't use it for advertising. Only set if you accept. |
ANONCHK | Cookie | Third party (Microsoft, on its own domains) | 10 minutes | Records whether the MUID has been linked to Microsoft's advertising ID. Clarity always sets it to 0, meaning it hasn't. Only set if you accept. |
MR | Cookie | Third party (Microsoft, on its own domains) | 7 days | Tells Microsoft whether the MUID needs refreshing. Only set if you accept. |
SM | Cookie | Third party (Microsoft, on its own domains) | Until you close your browser | Keeps the MUID the same across Microsoft's different domains. 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, Clarity stops recording straight away, deletes its _clck and _clsk cookies and isn’t loaded again, and Google Analytics stops storing anything from that moment and goes back to the cookieless requests described next — you can clear the rest through your browser’s settings.
Google Analytics without cookies — whatever you choose
Google Analytics runs on every page whether or not you accept. Without your consent it sets no cookies and stores nothing on your device, but it does read some details from your browser, and it sends Google:
- The address and title of each page you view, and the site or link that brought you here.
- Your browser and operating system with their version numbers, your device model where your browser shares it, and your screen size and language.
- What you do on a page: how long you stay, how far you scroll, links you click to leave the site or to call or email us, and starting to fill in the contact form.
- When you send an enquiry, the business structure you picked, if you picked one. Nothing you type into the form is sent: not your name, contact details or message.
- A random identifier that exists only in your open browser tab and is never saved, so it's gone once you close or reload the tab.
Like any request your browser makes, these carry your IP address, which Google uses to work out roughly where you are. We use the results only to see which pages help people and which bring in enquiries, never for advertising.
Declining the banner doesn’t stop these requests; it only keeps the cookies off. To stop them, install Google’s opt-out browser add-on, or block google-analytics.com in your browser or with a content blocker. The site works the same either way.
Measurement that uses no storage at all
Some other 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, and a few things people do here: clicking a button through to the contact form or to call or email us, starting and sending the form, and answering the cookie banner. Each is counted with only the kind of button it was (in the header, at the end of an article and so on) or the answer given, never anything you type. 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 they don’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.