What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files on your computer, smart phone, tablet or other device. They are made by your web-browser when you visit a website. Every time you go back to that website, your browser will send the cookie file back to the website’s server.
Cookies, and other similar technologies – also known as tags, pixels, beacons and floodlights – do lots of different jobs. For example, letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences and improving the user experience.
Cookies also help website owners to understand which parts of a website people are using, and how, to help them make the website more useful, useable and effective. They can also help to personalise content and digital advertisements, reach more relevant audiences with adverts, and offer social media features. Information supplied in cookies also allows website owners to measure the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns to help make them more efficient.
Cookie categories
Different types of cookie fulfil different functions on a website. The table below explains the cookies Breaking Barriers uses:
| Cookie category | Cookie description |
| Necessary (sometimes also known as ‘Essential’) | Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies. |
| Statistic (sometimes also known as ‘Analytics’) | Statistic cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously, for example using Google Analytics. |
| Marketing | Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third-party advertisers. |
The law states that we can store cookies on your machine if they are essential to the operation of the Site (‘Necessary/Essential’ cookies). But, for all others, we need your permission.
You can update your cookie preferences on our website at any time. Simply click on the “C” icon in the bottom-left corner of any page on the site. This will allow you to set preferences for Statistic/Analytics and Marketing cookies.
You can set your browser to not accept any cookies, including ‘Necessary/Essential’ cookies. However, some of our website features may not function as a result. Learn more about cookies and how to manage them by visiting All About Computer Cookies or Cookie Control (which provides the cookie preferences service on our website).
Meta
Meta is the company that owns Facebook and other online social media and communications platforms, including Instagram.
We use Meta cookies so we can collect and send information to Meta about actions taken by visitors on our website. We also use Meta cookies to measure the effectiveness of our Meta ad campaigns which, in turn, helps ensure that we’re using our resources effectively.
Meta uses this information to provide services to us and also for further processing for its own business purposes. We and Meta are joint controllers of the processing involved in collecting and sending your personal information to Meta using cookies and similar technologies as each of us has a business interest in Meta receiving this information. The services we receive from Meta that use this information are delivered to us through Meta’s Business Tools. These tools allow us to target advertising to you within Meta’s social media platforms by creating audiences based on your actions on our website and allow Meta to improve and optimise the targeting and delivery of our advertising campaigns for us.
Our relationship with Meta: As we are joint controllers with Meta for certain processing, we have:
- entered into an agreement in which we have agreed each of our data protection responsibilities for the processing of your personal information described above;
- agreed that we are responsible for providing to you the information in this privacy policy about our relationship with Meta; and
- agreed that Meta is responsible for responding to you when you exercise your rights under data protection law in relation to its processing of your personal information as a joint controller.
Meta also processes, as our processor, personal information that we submit for the purposes of matching, online targeting, measurement, reporting and analytics purposes. These services include processing carried out on the platform when they display our advertisements to you in your news feed at our request after matching contact details for you that we have uploaded to them. These advertisements may include forms through which we collect contact information you give to us.
Further information: The Meta company that is a joint controller of your personal information is Meta Platforms, Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA. For further information regarding Meta and their use of your personal information, please see:
- Meta’s UK Controller Addendum for Business Tools which include information regarding how our and Meta’s responsibilities to you are allocated as controllers of your personal information; and
- Meta’s Data Policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy which includes details of the legal reasons (known as ‘lawful bases’) on which the platform relies to process your personal information, together with details regarding your data protection rights.
Contact us
This policy was last updated in October 2023. If you would like to know more about what cookies we use on our site, please contact us.