About cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device by websites that you visit that are used in order to make a user's experience more efficient, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site. Mark Allen Group use these first-party cookies to help personalise and enhance your online experience when visiting our websites. We also use third-party cookies – those from a different service provider to the website you are visiting – to help with our analytics, advertising and marketing efforts. Mark Allen will only be able to directly recognise and read the information contained in first-party cookies.

Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.

Other tracking technologies

There are other technologies which we deploy which track behaviour on our website. ‘Tracker Pixels’ are a means of allowing us to check whether you have viewed our content. These 'pixels' are essentially tiny, invisible images on our web pages that, once loaded, will communicate your interaction with our content. This allows Mark Allen and our partners to gauge the validity of material being presented to you.

Third parties

We avail of third-party technologies across our sites. These technologies help us to understand how you use the site and the ways in which we can improve your user experience. These technologies may track certain information such as the pages you visit across our site as well as how long your visit lasts. This allows us to continue providing engaging content.

We may also use social media plugins on this site that allow you to view videos and otherwise interact with certain content. In order for these technologies to work, trusted third parties will set cookies and tracker pixels throughout our site. Once enabled, these technologies may be used to enhance your profile or to contribute to the data they hold for various purposes outlined in their respective privacy policies. We encourage our visitors to review these third parties’ policies in advance of granting consent to deployment.

What information do we obtain from you?

For each visitor to our sites, we automatically gather certain potentially identifying information and store it. This information includes your Internet Protocol (IP) address, your browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, your operating system, date/time stamp, processor or device serial number, unique device identifier, and clickstream data. We collect this information on an individual basis and in aggregate, or combined form.

Our use of cookies and similar tracking technologies

We use cookies to provide you with the best user experience on our website, this includes:

• Network optimisation.
• Remembering you when you wish to log in to your account.
• Providing support for social media features.
• Allowing you to view embedded content.
• Analysing visitor traffic across our site.
• Providing you with more relevant advertising content.
• Remembering your cookie consent status.

Categories of tracking technologies that we set

Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function. They are set for security purposes and in response to actions made by you which amount to a service request such as logging in to our platform or as you fill out forms on our site. You have the option to disable these cookies via your browser settings, but should you do so, certain aspects of our site will no longer function.

Performance/analytics cookies

These cookies allow use to determine the number of visits to our site as well as where that traffic originates. This helps us understand which pages are the most popular as well as how it is that you come to view them. For example, when enabled, we use Google Analytics for aggregated, anonymized website traffic analysis. In order to track your session usage, Google drops a cookie (_ga) with a randomly-generated ClientID in your browser. This ID is anonymized and contains no identifiable information. We also send Google your masked IP Address. We use Google Analytics to track aggregated website behaviour, such as what pages you looked at, for how long, etc. This information is important to us for improving the user experience and determining site effectiveness.

This information will not be combined by Mark Allen for profiling purposes, however, certain third parties such as Google may use this information in aggregate form for the purposes outlined in their respective privacy notices. If you disable this category of cookie our site will still work, though its improvement over time will be hampered.

For more information on Google Analytics as well as how you may opt-out of being tracked on this and other sites, please see the following links:

• Information for visitors of sites and apps using Google Analytics
• Google Analytics Opt-Out

Functional/preference cookies

These cookies allow a website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you're in) and tailor the website to provide enhanced features and content for you. They may also be used to provide services you've asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. Without these cookies, a website cannot remember choices you've previously made or personalise your browsing experience. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.

Targeting/marketing cookies

These cookies gather information about your browsing habits across different websites. They may be set through our website by us or by our advertising partners They remember that you've visited a website and share this information with other organisations such as advertisers. They do this in order to provide you with advertisements that are more relevant to you and your interests. Although these cookies can track your visits to other websites, they don't know who you are. They do not store personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

When you use any of our websites for the first time you will be notified about our use of cookies via a pop-up banner. The banner may vary from website to website, but they perform the same function: to inform you that cookies or similar technologies are deployed on your device, to provide details about which cookies that are being used, and to give you the option to enable or disable them. Where these cookies or similar technologies may facilitate the processing of personal data, this will be detailed in the cookie descriptions.

You can also disable cookies in your browser settings, although it is important to note that disabling all cookies may mean that the website(s) you are visiting do not function as intended.

If you have any questions or concerns about the cookies we use, please send an email to our Data Protection Officer at dpo@markallengroup.com , including the address of the website you’re asking about. Alternatively, you can write to:

Data Protection Officer
Mark Allen
St. Jude’s Church
Dulwich Road
London SE24 0PB
United Kingdom

Should you wish to make a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data or are unsatisfied with how we have handled your information, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner Office.