Privacy & Cookie Policy

Welcome to the South Staffordshire Water Plc privacy notice

Issue date: 26 July 2023, version 5.1

Who we are

We are South Staffordshire Water Plc, registered in England & Wales with company number 02662742 with our registered office at Green Lane, Walsall, WS2 7PD. We are registered as a Data Controller (registration number Z6670622) with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

We provide our customers with clean water services. To our customers in the West Midlands, South Staffordshire and South Derbyshire we are known as South Staffs Water and to our customers in the Cambridge region we are known as Cambridge Water.

We are part of the South Staffordshire Plc group of companies (“Group”). You can find details about the other companies in our Group here.

Any reference in this privacy notice to “we”, “us” or “our” is a reference to South Staffordshire Water Plc.

About this privacy notice
This privacy notice applies to any person who provides personal data to us when making contact with us or a third party who shares personal data with us, or when using any of our services.

Please take some time to read this privacy notice which applies to the personal data we collect about you. It explains how we collect and process your personal data and tells you about the rights you have.

If we change our privacy notice we will post an up-to-date version on our website so we encourage you to visit this page this page on a regular basis. and We will let you know about any important changes.

For our cookie notice click here.

This privacy notice contains information on:

Please click on any link above to move to a specific section.

Personal data we collect about you
Personal data means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity of an individual has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together and have provided examples as follows:

Identity Information: includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth, gender, national insurance number, video images (including CCTV and other mobile device footage);
Contact Information: includes billing address, home address, email address and mobile and landline telephone numbers, landlord contacts details (if applicable);
Financial Information: includes bank account and payment card details (payment card details are not recorded once the payment has been completed); reference number of court claim and date from county court judgments and information which we obtain from Credit Reference Agencies;
Account Information: includes details about your billing and payment history, other details of services we provide to you, the way you manage your account with us, income, and expenditure details, benefit information, complaints, job details, household details, property type, operational investigations, repairs, interruptions to supply, planned maintenance, meter details, claims, incident details, tariff details;
Technical Information: includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website. Information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time); and any phone number used to call our customer service number;
Device Information: includes the type of device you use, a unique device identifier (for example: your device’s IMEI number, the MAC address of the device’s wireless network interface, or the mobile phone number used by the device), the type of mobile browser you use, and time zone setting. We collect this information via the Microsoft App Centre.
Location Information: includes your current location disclosed by GPS or other technology to enable you to use location-enable services on our website and mobile application. You can withdraw your consent at any time by disabling the location data in your device settings.
Transactional Information: includes details about payments made from you to us through our website, mobile application, your bank, PayPoint, by telephone call to our contact centre or in person.
Profile Information: includes your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback, comments, survey responses and responses to competitions you may enter;
Usage Information: includes information about how you use our website and mobile application, products and services, information about your water consumption and usage which we collect from our meters, current and historical water data usage;
Marketing and Communications Information: includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our the third parties we refer to below, and your communication preferences; and
Vulnerability Information: includes information about your physical or mental health conditions, or disabilities where you have applied for specific tariffs or schemes such as WaterSure and our Assure Tariff, or to register you on our Priority Services Register.

We also collect, use and share aggregated data such as statistical or demographic data. Aggregated data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data as it does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. However, if we combine or connect aggregated data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be processed in accordance with this privacy notice.

How we collect your personal data

We collect personal data in a number of different ways and from a variety of sources.

We will collect information directly from you when you:

contact us through our website or mobile application, by telephone, post or email or fill in forms we provide to you and when we visit your home or premises;
register with us and set up an account to receive our services;
access or use our services on our website or mobile application;
use our services or communicate with us about our services;
sign up to participate in our information sharing community online forums such as H2Online;
visit our premises or receive services where we use recording devices such as CCTV and mobile cameras;
use our voice activated application Alexa Skill or mobile applications or our social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook;
or enter a competition, promotion or survey.

We may receive or collect information about you from third parties such as:

other members of your family or persons authorised to act on your behalf;
landlords (including Landlord Tap) where you are a tenant;
landowners, estate agents and property developers;
social services and medical professionals in relation to customers who are registered on our Priority Services Register or apply to receive our social tariffs;
housing associations and local authorities who assist us in providing our social tariffs and provide us with information to help us to keep your account details accurate and up to date;
other utilities such as Anglian Water Limited and Severn Trent Services Limited who provide sewerage and waste services to you;
our business partners, subcontractors and suppliers in connection with the delivery of services such as fixing leaks;
service partners who provide or help us to provide you with water efficient products and services, such as Homeserve Membership Limited;
if someone makes a complaint about a water leak or notifies us that a property is empty;
from other members of our Group who assist us in managing your account and providing services to you;
from benefits agencies to assist us in assessing applications for social tariffs, our Watersure scheme, debt management and recovery;
the Consumer Council for Water, Ofwat and WATRS where we are dealing with complaints or queries raised with them;
priority services information provided by other utility companies;
law enforcement agencies, the Police, the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue & Customs, fraud prevention agencies and credit reference agencies; and
third party data and insight providers who provide us with relevant information about you, which we use to ensure that your personal data is accurate and up to date, to help us operate our business and deliver services to you.

We may also collect information from publicly available sources such as:

the electoral roll;
Companies House;
the Register of county court judgments;
the Register of bankruptcies; and
the Land Registry.

Why we collect your personal data and our lawful basis for processing
We collect, use, store and transfer your personal data for a number of different purposes and the law requires us to have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. Primarily as a water business we have a legal obligation to supply water, maintain our networks, maintain water quality and charge for our services. We are required to keep reliable and accurate records of all of our communications with our customers. Our activities are also in the public interest and sometimes we process personal data where it is in our legitimate interest. The table below sets out the lawful basis that we use.

Lawful basis for processing

Purpose of processing	Lawful basis
1. Providing water services to you and managing your account
Supplying you with water	Legal obligation and public interest
Managing your supply and the provision of water services and products to you	Legal obligation and public interest
Charging you, collecting monies and debt collection (including by post, by SMS and email where these details are held)	Legal obligation and public interest
Dealing with service and billing enquiries	Legal obligation and public interest
To manage and administer your account	Legal obligation and public interest
To make Guaranteed Service Standards payments	Legal obligation and public interest
To deal with complaints	Legal obligation and public interest
Metering and billing	Legal obligation and public interest
To provide you with service communications about your supply (including by SMS and email, and if relevant by push notifications through the MyAccount website or mobile app) for example about leaks in your supply area, interruptions to water supplies	Legal obligation and public interest
To provide you with service communications about other services (including by SMS and email) such as availability and service interruptions to our MyAccount website or mobile app).	Legitimate interests: we have a legitimate interest to advise customers of issues with our other services in the most cost-effective and timely manner
Keeping our records accurate and up-to-date	Legal obligation and public interest
Fraud prevention	Legal obligation
Data for children under the age of 16 which we may be required to collect for the purpose of any special tariffs or services to vulnerable customers	Consent: If we need to process data about children we will seek consent from a parent or a legal guardian.
To make arrangements on your behalf with approved third party contractors to provide quotations for repairs to leaks on your premises	Consent
2. Legal and Regulatory Compliance
To meet our regulatory and statutory obligations, in particular under the Water Industry Act 1991, Water Industry Act 1999, Water Industry Act 2014, Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016, Water Resources Act 1991, Environment Act 1995 and our Statutory Instrument of Appointment and licence conditions.	Legal obligation
Dealing with risks to your household due to water quality and supply issues	Legal obligation and vital interest
Providing personal data to Ofwat or their appointed suppliers for the purpose of carrying out customer surveys	Legal obligation
Managing our water supply network infrastructure and resources	Legal obligation
Promoting water efficiency	Legal obligation
Service communications (water supply issues, road closures etc.) metering, to comply with the law	Legal obligation and public interest
Complying with instructions, orders and requests from law enforcement agencies, any court or otherwise as required by law	Legal obligation
For a non-household customer (businesses, charities or public sector) to provide information with your retailer and with Market Operator Services Limited ("MOSL") who operate the Central Marketing Systems for the non-household retail market as part of OpenWater	Legal obligation
Fraud prevention and detection of criminal activity	Legal obligation and public interest
3. General Business Activities
To carry out staff training and quality assurance	Public interest and legitimate interest: As a statutory undertaker it is in the public interest and also in our legitimate interest to ensure that our staff are trained and to check and improve the quality of our services.
Managing litigation and compensation claims. Making and defending claims	Legitimate interest: We have a legitimate interest in establishing and defending our legal rights.
Administering and improving our website and mobile application (including implementing and/or notifying you of updates, service downtime, troubleshooting, data analysis and system testing)	Legitimate interest: We have a legitimate interest in processing information we collect to: administer and improve our website and mobile application for the benefit of our customers. contact customers to advise of service improvements (including upgrades and unavailability).
Sharing information with organisations which promote or help us to promote water efficiency services and products, such as Homeserve Limited	Legitimate interest: We have a legitimate interest in promoting products and services which can improve customers water efficiency, reduce leakage and waste water and assist us in meeting our legal obligations.
Carrying out surveys, market and customer research and gathering feedback (for example by inviting participation in feeding back on business plans and changes to future water bills to fund investments)	Legal obligation except for special category data where we rely on legal obligation and substantial public interest for statutory and government purposes. You may receive requests to take part in research and surveys for specific mandatory reasons, such as Ofwat, the water regulator, mandating that water companies approach customers for feedback, except those who have opted out of receiving such requests previously.
Carrying out surveys, market and customer research and gathering feedback (for example by inviting participation in competitions or customer discussion forums)	Legitimate interest: It is in our legitimate interest to obtain feedback from our customers about the services and products that we provide so that we can improve and expand the products and services that we offer.
Analysing trends and profiling activities (including from customer research and feedback)	Legitimate interest: We have a legitimate interest in analysing trends in relation to water consumption and profiling usage information and feedback to tailor goods and services for our customers.
Arrangements with developers and self-lay organisations to supply mains, pipework and meters	Legal obligation
The provision of recreational facilities	Contract
To send you direct marketing for products and services	Legitimate interest: it is in our interest to promote, market and advertise our products and services.
Managing the proposed sale, restructuring, transfer or merging of any or all part(s) of our business, including to respond to queries from the prospective buyer or merging organisation	Legitimate interest: We have a legitimate interest in being able to sell, restructure or otherwise deal with any part of our business and will process personal data in connection with this unless the individual interests of data subjects override this. We may in any event be subject to a legal obligation to process certain personal data in connection with such transactions.
Maintaining the security, security and integrity of our personnel, systems, platforms, premises and communications (and detecting and preventing actual or potential threats to the same)	Legitimate interest: We have a legitimate interest to make sure that our business and personnel are safe, secure and protected.
4. Lawful basis for processing special categories of data
Processing medical, mental and physical health data to assess whether special tariffs can be provided or additional services are required and sharing this information with third parties if necessary and lawful (particularly in the case of an emergency).	Explicit consent: Where we collect ‘special category data’ about your health or disabilities we will always obtain your explicit consent to collect, record and share your information with others, unless processing is necessary to protect someone’s vital interest and they are incapable of giving consent processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; or there is another lawful reason.

Information we share with others

We may need to share your personal data with other third parties as follows:

Category	Types of third parties
Our Group & Employees	We share your personal data with our employees and other companies within our Group, so that we can manage your account and provide you with services.
Regulatory Authorities	We have legal and regulatory obligations to share personal data with our regulators, such as, Ofwat, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Consumer Council for Water, the Water Redress Scheme and the Environment Agency. All of our customers may have their contact information shared with Ofwat and third parties working on their behalf for the purpose of the following customer surveys: Service Incentive Mechanism (SIM), Customer Measure of Experience (C-Mex) and Developer Services measure of Experience – for developers only (D-Mex). You may be contacted by third parties on Ofwat’s behalf about the service you receive from us. This is not a direct marketing call and we have a statutory obligation to share your personal data.
Law Enforcement Agencies	Where we are contacted by HM Revenue & Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions, the police and other similar agencies, we may be required to process personal data for the purposes of law enforcement. We may also share information where we are required to do so to under a legal obligation such as a court order or under statute.
MOSL & Retailers	If you are a non-household customer (businesses, charities or public sector) we will share information with your retailer and with Market Operator Services Limited (“MOSL”) who operate the Central Marketing Systems for the non-household retail market as part of OpenWater. In so far as this comprises personal data we have a legal obligation to share this information. Pennon Water Services Limited (“PWSL”) is a joint venture between South Staffordshire Plc and Pennon Group Limited and operates as a retailer. We share information with PWSL on the same basis as with any other retailer.
Water & sewerage companies	Customers in our supply area receive sewerage services from Severn Trent Water Limited or Anglian Water Limited. We share personal data with these companies for billing purposes and to manage sewerage services under a legal obligation. We also provide both companies with billing services and act as data processors on their behalf.
Credit Reference Agencies	We may share your personal data with and receive personal data from Credit Reference Agencies (“CRAs”) as part of our legitimate interest in managing our business and preventing fraud. More information is available in the section “Credit Reference Agencies” below.
Service Partners	We use carefully selected third parties to help us process your personal data and provide services to you. When we work with third parties they are required to comply with our instructions and provide us with enforceable assurances that they comply with data protection laws. We work with the following categories of service partners: our contact centre and billing partner, who assist us with account management, handling enquiries and complaints, processing payments, reading meters, debt collection activity, managing our special tariffs and schemes for vulnerable customers, providing our contact centre and billing system; IT Service providers who provide software services, to support us with processing our data, providing management information, IT security services, and IT support; operational Contractors and their subcontractors, who provide our network maintenance and repairs, respond to water supply issues, manage pipe repairs, mains replacement, and fit new meters; approved contractors who can assist you in repairing leaks on your premises; research organisations who assist us with carrying out customer satisfaction surveys and market research with the aim of improving our business and services and helping us to comply with our legal and statutory obligations. They will collect and use personal data for the purpose of the research, and surveys, update us if you inform them that any of your details are incorrect and share your personal data with us as necessary; companies who provide customer communications services such as those companies which print bills and send out mailings on our behalf, or provide SMS and email communication services; third party payment providers which help us to process payments including card payments and payment cards; debt recovery companies, Courts, High Court Enforcement Officers and solicitors, for the collection of unpaid charges on our behalf and to recover customer debt; If you request products and services from other third party service providers your receipt of such services will be subject to the specific privacy notice applicable to those services: Homeserve Membership Limited is our affinity insurance partner and provides water related insurance products.
Other third parties	We may also share your personal data with: housing associations and local authorities where we have agreements in place to help keep our customer records up to date and to provide customers with access to our social tariffs; Landlords and Landlord Tap (who act on behalf of Landlords) where you are a tenant; organisations who can provide customers with debt advice such as Citizens Advice and Step Change; organisations and individuals to the extent necessary in the course of handling complaints and managing leakages or other supply matters; local Authorities, Police, Fire and Ambulance Services in the event of an emergency; third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice; professional advisors such as our auditors, insurance company or loss adjusters in order to obtain assurance, advice, make or defend a claim, manage litigation and compensation claims. property agents and property developers for the purpose of carrying out our statutory powers over land.

Credit Reference Agencies

We will share your Identity, Contact, Financial and Transactional Information with CRA’s and they will share this data with us under the terms of their own privacy policies.

We will also share details of your settled accounts and any debts not fully repaid on time.

We will use this personal data to assess your account, inform us in deciding what payment terms are most appropriate to you, make sure the information we hold about you is up to date and accurate, verify your identity, manage your account with us, trace and recover debts and to help detect and prevent criminal activity and fraud.

When CRAs receive a search request from us they may place a search footprint on your credit file that may be seen by other lenders. They provide us with public and shared credit and fraud information, including:

in relation to your personal accounts with us and your accounts with other organisations such as other utility companies;
information about a spouse or partner whom you have advised is jointly liable for account payments and;
where you are the owner, director or partner in a small business, information about your business.

Because we will link your record with that of a spouse or partner you advise us about you must ensure that you have their permission to disclose information about them.

If you owe us money and do not repay in accordance with our terms we will notify our credit reference agency. This could result in your credit rating being negatively impacted.

Further information about the CRAs and the way in which they process and share personal data can be found in the Credit Reference Agency Information Notice here.

The main CRAs that we use are listed below together with links to their privacy notices:

Experian - https://www.experian.co.uk/legal/privacy-statement.html

Equifax - https://www.equifax.co.uk/About-us/Privacy_policy.html

Callcredit - https://www.callcredit.co.uk/legal-information/privacy-centre

Marketing and Market Research

We have a statutory duty to promote water efficiency and use a number of methods to do this, including direct marketing. This may include products and services that we provide or that are provided by a third party such as Homeserve Membership Limited and Save Water Save Money Limited. From time to time we may also tell you about products, services or offers which we provide that we think may interest you. We rely on our legitimate interests to do this. We will never sell your personal data to marketing companies. Our communications regarding market research are not direct marketing, and do not require your consent.

If at any time you wish to stop receiving marketing or communications regarding market research from us please contact us using any of the methods described in our Contact Us section below, or use the link or contact details referred to in the communication that you receive from us. Please also refer to Your Rights below.

Please note you may still receive general non-personalised marketing material and information which we are required to provide to you by our regulator Ofwat which will be included with your bill.

Automated Decision Making and Profiling

We do not carry out any automated decision making.

We carry out limited profiling activities in order to communicate with you better, and in relation to, for example, understanding water consumption, demographic data and ability to pay. This helps us to improve the customer experience and provide you with information that may assist you, for example, whether you would benefit from a water meter. If you object to such profiling activities please inform us using any of the methods described in our Contact Us section below.

CCTV and mobile recording devices
Our sites (including car parks) may be monitored by CCTV and personal data (for example your image and vehicle registration) may be recorded. We record this data for the safety of our personnel and visitors and for the prevention and detection of crime

Our employees and our service provider’s employees may be equipped with and operate “body cameras” and “dash cams” may be located in their vehicles, so that work can be recorded for the security and safety of those employees and for the prevention and detection of crime.

Further information on our CCTV and recording devices policy is available from us through any of the methods described in our Contact Us section below.

Use of our company drones

We operate drones fitted with cameras that can be switched on remotely to record images of our sites and assets. The images are processed for the inspection of apparatus, and for mapping and managing our network and infrastructure.

We rely on our legitimate interests to capture these images. We retain the images for no longer than is required for the purpose for which the images are being recorded, we may keep inspection images indefinitely.

The drones are operated by a licensed and qualified drone pilot. When a drone is used we ensure that the appropriate signage is displayed to advise visitors to the site. The drone is always kept within the pilot’s visual line of sight. Drones are operated on land owned by us or our Group or where we have the express permission of the landowner and in accordance with all drone regulations.

If you have any concerns relating to privacy and the use of our drones please contact us using any of the methods described in the Contact Us section below.

Call recording

We, our Group and the service provider managing our customer contact centre may monitor and record calls for quality, security and training purposes.

How we look after your personal information

When we collect information about you we ensure that we minimise what we collect, but we also try to collect enough accurate and up-to-date personal information to ensure that you can receive our products and services.

We take appropriate care to secure the information we hold about you. We have implemented appropriate organisational and technical security measures to protect your information, such as passwords and information encryption. We also have policies and procedures in place to ensure that there is no unauthorised access to your personal data.

We take seriously our obligations towards your privacy and the protection of information we may hold about you. Whenever we share your personal information we work to ensure it is protected from misuse or loss in accordance with data protection law.

Use of our website and mobile applications

Although we will do our best to protect your personal information once it is within our control, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our website or mobile application; any transmission is at your own risk.

When visiting our website, you may also be providing us with certain information via our use of website ‘cookies’. You can find out more about how we use cookies by reading our cookie policy below.

Our website and mobile application contains links to third party websites. If you follow a link to any of the websites provided by a third party, we will not be responsible for the content and privacy practices of that third party and we accept no liability for those third party websites. Please note that your use of a third party website will be subject to the terms and conditions and privacy notices of that third party.

Where your personal data may be processed

Sometimes we will need to share your personal data with third party data processors in countries that are outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). Where this happens we put adequate safeguards in place to ensure that your data receives the same level of protection as if it were being processed inside the EEA. Please contact us if you would like further information on the specific mechanism we apply when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.

How long we keep your information for

We will retain your information for as long as we need it depending on the purpose for which your personal data has been processed.

Generally we will keep your information for as long as you are a customer and for a period of 6 years after your account has been closed. Your personal information will then either be deleted or anonymised.

In certain circumstances, we may be required to retain your personal information for longer where such retention is required by law or record keeping requirements, including managing our relationship with you, defending any claims, or for tax purposes.

Your Rights
Under data protection law you have rights in respect of your personal data, and these depend on the reason why we are processing your information.

Access: You always have the right to access your personal data and to be provided with copies of it. You may not always receive copies of all of your personal data, for example where requests are excessive, or where it would require disclosure of someone else’s personal data that we do not have their consent to disclose.

Your request is known as a data subject access request (“SAR”) and we have a standard form which you can complete to make it easier for you to make a SAR request. You do not have to use this form but you may find it convenient to.

Rectification: You always have the right to request that we correct any inaccuracies, or complete any gaps, in your personal data.

Erasure: In certain circumstances you may request that we erase your personal data, for example where we no longer need to hold it. The right is not absolute and we can continue to hold your data where, for example, we are legally obliged to retain it

Restriction: In certain circumstances you may request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, for example where you have made, but we have not yet actioned, a request to correct an inaccuracy. However we may continue to use data if, for example, its use it is to protect another person’s rights, or there are public interest reasons for doing so.

Portability: In certain circumstances you have the right to receive the personal data which you have provided to us, including data we collect from your interactions with us and our services, and which we process by automated means. You can also request that this data is transferred to another organisation. This right applies where we are processing data on the basis of your consent or because it is necessary for a contract you have with us.

Objection: Where our processing of your personal data is based on legitimate interests you can object to this processing at any time. However you should be aware that we may still be entitled to continue to process the data where this does not override your interests, rights and freedoms or if the processing is necessary for us to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

Where we are processing your personal data (including profiling) for direct marketing purposes, you have the right to object to that processing and if you do we will not process your data any further for those purposes. You may also choose how we contact you for direct marketing – we will only contact you by electronic means where we have your consent, and you can change your preferences for electronic marketing at any time by contacting us or following the link in the communication you receive.

Where our processing of your personal data is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. If you do decide to withdraw your consent we will stop processing your personal data for that purpose, unless there is another lawful basis we can rely on – in which case, we will let you know.

Where you exercise any of these rights we will respond to you, in most cases, within one month of your request and you will not be required to pay a fee. However, if there are circumstances where we are unable to complete your request within one month (where this is a legal obligation), or at all, or a fee is payable, we will inform you of the reasons and provide details of how you can register a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office.

To exercise any of your rights or request a SAR form please contact us using any of the methods referred to in the contact us section below.

Contact us
We have appointed a Data Protection Officer (“DPO”) who you can contact if you would like any information about our privacy notice or you would like to exercise any of your rights.

You can contact us by:

Emailing: GDPRenquiries@south-staffs-water.co.uk

Writing to: Data Protection Officer at South Staffordshire Water Plc, Green Lane, Walsall, WS2 7PD.

We take our responsibilities in relation to personal data very seriously, so please contact us if you have any concerns about how we are processing your personal data.

You can also contact the Information Commissioners Office at www.ico.org.uk, by writing to them at Wycliffe House Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF or by phone on 0303 123 1113 for further information or advice, or if we have not addressed your concerns and you would like to make a complaint.

Cookie policy

A cookie is a small text file that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit our website.

How we use 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 website. By continuing to browse the website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. .Information on how you can change your cookie settings is below.

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).

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:

Cookie description	Purpose	Name	Expiry date
Functionality cookie	This cookie enables the user to use the functionality on the website	ASP.NET_SessionId	At the end of the session
Functionality cookie	This cookie is used to remember that you have accepted our cookie policy and prevents the policy pop-up from appearing each time you visit within a 90 day period of time. Please note that if you delete cookies this will reappear.	sswAcceptCookie	90 days
Strictly necessary cookie	A strictly necessary cookie which ensures that the user's session is secure.	AuthToken	At the end of the session
Oracle strictly necessary cookie	An essential cookie which enable the user to use the question and action section on our website. Click here for further information about Oracle Corporations privacy policy.	RightNow CX	At the end of the session
Analytical cookie	An analytical cookie used to distinguish users from each other.	_ga	2 years
Google analytical cookie	These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. Click here for an overview of privacy at Google Click here to opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites.	_utma _utmb _utmc _utmv & _utmz	2 years. 30 minutes. When browsing session ends. 2 years.
MyAccount notification cookie	This cookie enables notifications to appear in MyAccount to display necessary information relating to online services.	SSWEmailPopUpShow	It will be deleted when browser is closed.
Hotjar survey invitation cookie	Hotjar cookie that is set once a visitor interacts with a Survey invitation modal pop-up. It is used to ensure that the same invite does not reappear if it has already been shown.	_hjClosedSurveyInvites	365 days
Hotjar poll cookie	Hotjar cookie that is set once a visitor completes a poll using the Feedback Poll widget. It is used to ensure that the same poll does not reappear if it has already been filled in.	_hjDonePolls	365 days
Hotjar poll minimze cookie	Hotjar cookie that is set once a visitor minimizes a Feedback Poll widget. It is used to ensure that the widget stays minimized when the visitor navigates through your site.	_hjMinimizedPolls	365 days
Hotjar feedback minimze cookie	Hotjar cookie that is set when a visitor minimizes or completes Incoming Feedback. This is done so that the Incoming Feedback will load as minimized immediately if the visitor navigates to another page where it is set to show.	_hjShownFeedbackMessage	365 days
Hotjar general cookie	Hotjar cookie that is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the Hotjar User ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.	_hjid	365 days

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