Information about our use of cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

We use the following cookies:

  • Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.
  • Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
  • Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
  • 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. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

You block cookies 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 all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.

In general, cookies are used to retain user preferences, store information for things like shopping carts, and provide anonymous tracking data to third party applications like Google Analytics. As a rule, cookies will make your browsing experience better. However, you may prefer to disable cookies on this site and on others. The most effective way to do this is to disable cookies in your browser. We suggest consulting the Help section of your browser or taking a look at the About Cookies website which offers guidance for all modern browsers.

The use of cookies on the Flood Guidance website

What is a cookie?

Cookies are tiny files sent to your browser from a web server and temporarily stored on your computer’s hard drive to help deliver you a better web experience. Most websites use cookies in one form or another. Cookies cannot be used to obtain information from files in your computer.

How you can control cookies

By default, most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies. If you prefer you can alter your browser preferences, either to notify you when you have received a cookie or to refuse to accept cookies. You can also delete any cookies that have already been set.

If you choose not accept cookies, you may not be able to use certain features on our site.

How we use cookies on this site

The Flood Guidance website makes only limited use of cookies. We use them to help you find your way around the site, to check whether you have logged in (necessary to reach some areas of our site), and to ‘remember you’ after you have registered with us (if you tell us to).

Specific cookies the Flood Guidance site may create fall into two groups. Those necessary to make the site work, and those that add extra functionality to make it easier for you to use.

Strictly necessary cookies

This site uses ‘session cookies’ to maintain information about where you are on the site and whether you have logged in. These are deleted as soon as you close your browser.

Functionality cookies

These cookies are not required for our site to operate, but can provide extra functionality for you. We will tell you if a feature will use cookies before you use it.

Social network sharing cookies

Some of our pages invite you to ‘share’ them via social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or LinkedIn. If you chose to use the ‘share this’ function, those sharing sites may set a cookie on your machine. You can read more about how these sites use cookies by clicking on the relevant link: FacebookTwitterGoogle+ and LinkedIn.