The Business Acquisitions Group Ltd
Cookie Policy
Company Number: 17038316 | Registered in England & Wales
In short
Our websites use a small number of cookies and similar technologies: those needed to make the sites work, Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity to understand how visitors use the sites, and Google Ads measurement so we know which advertising brings people to us. You can control non-essential cookies through your browser settings and the opt-out tools described below.
1. What cookies are
Cookies are small text files that a website places on your computer, tablet or phone when you visit. They let the site recognise your device, remember choices you have made and understand how the site is being used. Some cookies are set by us ("first-party cookies") and some are set by other organisations whose services we use ("third-party cookies").
This policy also covers similar technologies that store or read information on your device, such as pixels, tags, scripts and local storage. We refer to all of these as "cookies".
2. Which websites this policy covers
This policy applies to acquisitionsgroup.co.uk and to our business valuation tool at valuation.acquisitionsgroup.co.uk (together, "our sites").
3. The types of cookies we use
- Strictly necessary cookies — needed for the site to function, for example to keep the site secure, remember that you have logged in to the valuation tool, or deliver a form. These cannot be switched off in our systems.
- Analytics cookies — help us understand how visitors use our sites: which pages are viewed, how long people stay, where they arrive from and where they get stuck. We use this to improve the sites and our content.
- Advertising measurement cookies — tell us when someone who clicked one of our adverts goes on to make an enquiry or request a valuation, so we can measure and improve our advertising. Where enabled, they may also allow our advertising partner to show our adverts to people who have visited our sites.
We do not use cookies to sell data to third parties.
4. The cookies and technologies on our sites
We manage most of the tags on our sites through Google Tag Manager, which itself does not set cookies but loads the services below. The table lists the cookies these services commonly set; the exact names and lifetimes are controlled by the providers and may change.
Strictly necessary
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
wordpress_test_cookie, wordpress_logged_in_*, wp-settings-* | Our website (WordPress) | Checks whether cookies are enabled and keeps administrators logged in. Only set for people who log in to manage the site. | Session to 1 year |
| Session / authentication cookies | Valuation tool | Keeps you signed in if you create an account to save your valuation, and protects the form from misuse. | Session to 30 days |
Cloudflare security cookies (e.g. __cf_bm, cf_clearance) | Cloudflare | Distinguishes genuine visitors from automated traffic and protects the site from attacks. | Up to 30 minutes / 1 year |
Analytics
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga | Google Analytics | Distinguishes visitors by assigning a randomly generated identifier so that visits and pages viewed can be counted. | 2 years |
_ga_* | Google Analytics | Maintains session state for Google Analytics 4. | 2 years |
_clck | Microsoft Clarity | Stores a unique visitor identifier and preferences so that activity can be attributed to the same visitor across visits. | 1 year |
_clsk | Microsoft Clarity | Links page views within a single session into one recording. | 1 day |
CLID, ANONCHK, MR, MUID, SM | Microsoft (clarity.ms) | Used by Clarity to identify the first time a visitor is seen, and to synchronise identifiers across Microsoft services. | Session to 1 year |
Google Analytics collects information such as the pages you visit, how long you spend on them, the site you came from and approximate location derived from your IP address (which is not stored by Google Analytics 4). Microsoft Clarity records how visitors interact with pages — mouse movements, clicks, scrolling and taps — and produces session replays and heatmaps. Clarity masks the content of form fields by default so that what you type is not recorded. For more information see how Google uses data from partner sites and the Microsoft privacy statement.
Advertising measurement
| Cookie | Set by | Purpose | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
_gcl_au, _gcl_aw, _gcl_gs | Google Ads | Stores the identifier of the advert you clicked so that an enquiry or valuation request can be attributed to that advert (conversion measurement). | 90 days |
IDE, test_cookie | Google (doubleclick.net) | Used by Google's advertising network to measure conversions and, where enabled, to show relevant adverts on other sites. | Session to 13 months |
You can learn more about, and opt out of, Google's advertising cookies at adssettings.google.com.
5. Third-party content and forms
Some pages on our sites include content or tools provided by other organisations, which may set their own cookies when the page loads or when you interact with them:
- Enquiry and contact forms are provided by a third-party form and CRM platform and are embedded in our pages. The platform may set a cookie to keep the form working and to associate your submission with your visit.
- Embedded videos from YouTube may set cookies (such as
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVEandYSC) when you play a video, as described in Google's privacy policy. - Social media links and share buttons for LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and Instagram take you to those platforms, which may set cookies once you are on their sites.
We do not control these cookies. Please refer to the relevant provider's cookie or privacy policy for details.
6. How to control cookies
Browser settings. You can block, restrict or delete cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers let you refuse all cookies, refuse third-party cookies only, or be alerted when a cookie is set. Instructions for the most common browsers are here: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Microsoft Edge. If you block strictly necessary cookies, parts of our sites — including the valuation tool — may not work.
Google Analytics. You can prevent Google Analytics from collecting data about your visits to any website by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
Google advertising. You can control how Google uses cookies for advertising at adssettings.google.com, and opt out of many third-party advertising cookies at youronlinechoices.com.
Microsoft Clarity. Clarity honours browser-level cookie blocking; blocking third-party cookies or cookies from clarity.ms prevents it from recognising you across visits.
Deleting cookies does not delete information already collected, and if you clear cookies you may need to repeat any opt-out choices.
7. Your personal data
Some of the information collected through cookies — such as your IP address or a cookie identifier — is personal data. Our Privacy Notice explains how we use personal data, who we share it with, how long we keep it and the rights you have, including your right to object.
8. Contact us
If you have any question about our use of cookies, email [email protected] or write to Data Protection, The Business Acquisitions Group Ltd, The Point, Granite Way, Mountsorrel, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE12 7TZ.
9. Changes to this policy
We review this policy when we add or remove tools on our sites. The version number and date at the top show when it was last changed.