1. Background and objectives
This cookie policy explains what electronic cookies are, how our main website uses them and how all visitors to our website can It manage cookies.
2. What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (computer, smartphone, tablet, etc.) when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work more efficiently and to provide information to website owners.
To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.
3. How do we use cookies?
Cookies such as Google Analytics help us to collect information on how people use our website, including the number of visitors, and which parts of the site they visit. This information helps us to make improvements to our website and make sure it is meeting your needs.
4. What cookies are present on the website and why?
You can view the cookies used on our sales website in the tables below (as at 1 April 2026). These cookies are set either by Alliance Homes or by third parties, such as YouTube or Microsoft, when content or software from those third parties are used on the site.
Necessary cookies:
These are essential to enable you to move around the website and use its features.
Cookie |
Name |
Expires |
|
_GRECAPTCHA |
Google reCAPTCHA sets a necessary cookie (_GRECAPTCHA) when executed for the purpose of providing its risk analysis. |
6 months |
|
ASP.NET_SessionId |
ASP.Net_SessionId is a cookie which is used to identify the user's session on the server. The session being an area on the server which can be used to store session state in between http requests. |
Session |
Analytics cookies
We use analytics cookies to understand how visitors interact with our website. These cookies collect information such as pages visited, time spent on the site and how users navigate between pages. The information is used to improve the performance and usability of our website. Analytics cookies may collect a unique identifier and where possible this data is anonymised and does not directly identify you.
Name |
Cookie |
Expires |
|
_ga |
ID used to identify users |
1 year |
|
_ga_* |
Used to identify and track an individual user session. |
2 years |
|
_gid |
ID used to identify users for 24 hours |
24 hours |
|
_gat |
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager |
58 seconds |
|
_dc_gtm_ |
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests |
1 minute |
|
AMP_TOKEN |
Contains a token code that is used to read out a Client ID from the AMP Client ID Service. By matching this ID with that of Google Analytics, users can be matched when switching between AMP content and non-AMP content. |
1 year |
|
_gat_* |
Used to set and get tracking data |
1 hour |
|
_gac_ |
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together. |
90 days |
|
__utma |
ID used to identify users and sessions |
2 years |
|
__utmt |
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests |
10 minutes |
|
__utmb |
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server. |
30 minutes |
|
__utmc |
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session. |
session |
|
__utmz |
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server |
6 months |
|
__utmv |
Contains custom information set by the web developer through the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated each time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server. |
2 years |
|
__utmx |
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test. |
18 months |
|
__utmxx |
Used to determine when the A / B or Multivariate test in which the user participates ends |
18 months |
|
FPAU |
Assigns a specific ID to the visitor. This allows the website to determine the number of specific user-visits for analysis and statistics. |
session |
|
FPID |
Registers statistical data on users' behaviour on the website. Used for internal analytics by the website operator. |
1 year |
|
FPLC |
This FPLC cookie is the cross-domain linker cookie hashed from the FPID cookie. It’s not HttpOnly, which means it can be read with JavaScript. It has a relatively short lifetime, just 20 hours. |
20 hours |
|
_clck |
This cookie is installed by Microsoft Clarity to store information of how visitors use a website and help in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected includes the number of visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visited in an anonymous form. |
1 year |
|
_clsk |
This cookie is installed by Microsoft Clarity to store information of how visitors use a website and help in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected includes the number of visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visited in an anonymous form. |
24 hours |
|
SM |
This is a Microsoft cookie used to measure the use of the website for internal analytics. |
Session |
|
CLID |
The cookie is set by embedded Microsoft Clarity scripts. The purpose of this cookie is for heatmap and session recording. |
1 year |
|
MicrosoftApplications TelemetryDeviceId |
Used to store a unique device ID for tracking behaviour and usage of the website. |
1 year |
|
ASP.NET_Sessio |
General purpose platform session cookie, used by sites written with Microsoft .NET based technologies. Usually used to maintain an anonymised user session by the server. |
Session |
|
ASP.NET_Sessio _Fallback |
Fallback session cookie to support older browsers that haven't implemented the Secure flag, in modern evergreen browsers this cookie is never set as it hasn't got the Secure flag. |
Session |
|
.AspNetCore.Antiforgery. |
Anti-forgery cookie is a security mechanism to defend against cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks. |
Session |
|
__Request VerificationToken |
This is an anti-forgery cookie set by web applications built using ASP.NET MVC technologies. It is designed to stop unauthorised posting of content to a website, known as Cross-Site Request Forgery. |
Session |
Marketing Cookies
We do not use marketing or advertising cookies and do not carry out any profiling for marketing purposes. However, third party providers such as social media platforms or video providers may set their own cookies when you interact with our content. We do not control these cookies, and we do not store them.
Name |
Purpose |
Expires |
|
GPS |
Registers a unique ID on mobile devices to enable tracking based on geographical GPS location. |
1 day |
|
VISITOR_INFO1 _LIVE |
Tries to estimate the user's bandwidth on pages with integrated YouTube videos. Also used for marketing. |
6 months |
|
PREF |
This cookie stores your preferences and other information, in particular preferred language, how many search results you wish to be shown on your page, and whether or not you wish to have Google’s SafeSearch filter turned on. |
10 years |
|
YSC |
Registers a unique ID to keep statistics of what videos from YouTube the user has seen. |
Session |
|
DEVICE_INFO |
Used to detect if the visitor has accepted the marketing category in the cookie banner. This cookie is necessary for GDPR-compliance of the website. |
180 days |
|
LOGIN_INFO |
This cookie is used to play YouTube videos embedded on the website. |
2 years |
|
VISITOR_ PRIVACY _METADATA |
YouTube visitor privacy metadata cookie. |
6 months |
|
lu |
Used to record whether the person chose to remain logged in. |
2 years |
|
xs |
Used in conjunction with the c_user cookie to authenticate your identity to Facebook. |
90 days |
|
c_user |
Used in conjunction with the xs cookie to authenticate your identity to Facebook. |
90 days |
|
m_user |
Used to authenticate your identity on Facebook's mobile website. |
90 days |
|
pl |
Used to record that a device or browser logged in via Facebook platform. |
90 days |
|
dbln |
Used to enable device-based logins. |
2 years |
|
aks |
Determines the login state of a person visiting accountkit.com. |
30 days |
|
aksb |
Authenticates logins using Account Kit. |
30 minutes |
|
sfau |
Optimizes recovery flow after failed login attempts. |
1 day |
|
ick |
Stores an encryption key used to encrypt cookies. |
2 years |
|
csm |
Facebook fraud prevention. |
90 days |
|
s |
Facebook browser identification, authentication, marketing, and other Facebook-specific function cookies. |
90 days |
|
datr |
Used to prevent creation of fake / spammy accounts. Datr cookie is associated with a browser, not individual people. |
2 years |
|
sb |
Facebook browser identification, authentication, marketing, and other Facebook-specific function cookies. |
2 years |
|
fr |
Contains a unique browser and user ID, used for targeted advertising. |
90 days |
|
oo |
Ad optout cookie. |
5 years |
|
ddid |
Used to open a specific location in an advertiser's app upon installation. |
28 days |
|
locale |
This cookie contains the display locale of the last logged in user on this browser. This cookie appears to only be set after the user logs out. |
7 days |
|
_fbp |
Used by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products such as real time bidding from third party advertisers. |
3 months |
|
_fbc |
Used by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products such as real time bidding from third party advertisers. |
2 years |
|
js_ver |
Records the age of Facebook javascript files. |
7 days |
|
rc |
Used to optimise site performance for advertisers. |
7 days |
|
campaign _click_url |
Records the Facebook URL that an individual landed on after clicking on an ad promoting Facebook. |
30 days |
|
wd |
This cookie stores the browser window dimensions and is used by Facebook to optimise the rendering of the page. |
Session |
|
usida |
Collects a combination of the user’s browser and unique identifier, used to tailor advertising to users. |
Session |
|
presence |
The presence cookie is used to contain the user’s chat state. |
Session |
5. How to change cookie preferences
You can control, accept and decline cookies. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of our site and any preferences will be lost if you delete cookies. You can change your cookie preferences at any time by clicking on the triangular icon with a ‘c’ in it. It will bring up a pop-up box allowing the user to define their cookie preferences.
Alternatively, most web browsers allow users to control most cookies through the browser settings. Find out how to manage cookies on popular browsers:
• Google Chrome
• Microsoft Edge
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Opera
• Apple Safari
To find information relating to other browsers, visit the browser developer's website.
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
6. Monitoring, consultation, and review
The Head of Communications is responsible for the implementation, monitoring and review of this policy.
Customers, colleagues, and service users may be involved in giving feedback on this policy, leading to amendments where appropriate.
The Data Protection implications of the policy have been considered. Including but not limited to:
• IAR amendments/updates
• ROPA amendments/updates
• New or updated Data Protection Impact Assessment
• Privacy Notice amendments
• Retention periods for any new data and method of archiving or deletion.
This policy will be reviews within two years of its approval date.
This policy will be signed off by the Strategic Leadership Team
This policy will be published externally on the Alliance Homes website.
7. Equality and diversity
This policy is subject to a periodic Equality Impact Assessment (EIA).
The purpose of such an assessment is to consider the effect of the policy regarding the recognised protected characteristics of equality ad ensure that it does not unfairly impact any individual or group. The protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity or other grounds set out in our Equality and Diversity Strategy and Single Equality Scheme. Remedial action will be undertaken if a detrimental effect is identified.
The EIA also requires the policy author to consider whether the policy is likely to negatively impact on a person’s Human Rights.
This policy and any other related Alliance Homes publications can be provided in other formats for those with visual, literacy or language difficulties.
8. Complaints
If you would like to raise a complaint in relation to this policy, you can do this by calling us on 03000 120 120 or emailing us at act@alliancehomes.org.uk.
All complaints will be handled in line with the latest Alliance Homes Complaint Handling Policy.
9. Associated documents
- Alliance Homes Privacy Notice
- The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.
- The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)
10. Version control and approval updates
|
Approval stage |
Date completed |
|
Equality Impact Assessment completed |
7/4/26 |
|
EIA reviewed by Appropriate Trained Person |
21/05/2026 |
|
SLT review / approval |
May 2028 |