Your choice, explained

Cookies & website storage

Essential cookies support secure accounts and forms. If you choose to allow it, IPI’s own analytics helps us understand visitor numbers, popular pages and referring websites. We do not use advertising trackers.

Last updated: 8 November 2026. Cookies are small pieces of information stored by your browser. Similar rules can apply to other ways a website stores or accesses information on your device.

Essential cookies and security

ipi_session — IPI session cookie. Keeps your visit together, protects form submissions and holds sign-in and basket state. It is a browser-session cookie, not a saved password. The server expires the session after two hours of inactivity or eight hours in total. Browser session-restore settings can affect when the browser removes it.
ipi_cookie_choice — your cookie choice. Set when you choose essential cookies only or allow analytics. It remembers that choice for 180 days. It is not an advertising profile. If the analytics purpose changes, we ask for a fresh choice.
_GRECAPTCHA — Google reCAPTCHA security cookie. Used by Google when reCAPTCHA runs to assess automated abuse. We load it when you interact with a protected form or submit it, rather than simply when you read a page. The provider controls its expiry; your browser’s cookie information shows the current expiry. We use the recaptcha.net endpoint to reduce contact with unrelated Google cookies.

Google processes browser, device and interaction information for this security check on IPI’s behalf. Read Google’s reCAPTCHA information. Refusing optional analytics does not disable security checks, and IPI does not use the security data for personalised advertising.

Optional IPI analytics

Analytics stays off until you choose “Allow analytics”. It runs on IPI’s own hosting; no external analytics company receives the records.

ipi_visitor — optional browser identifier. A random identifier lasting up to 180 days. A protected, pseudonymous version helps count a browser once across the selected reporting period. It is not joined to your membership or account details.
ipi_visit — optional visit identifier. Groups page views into a visit and expires after 30 minutes without a counted page view. Its expiry refreshes during an active visit.

We record public page paths, page-view counts, UK calendar dates, visit timing and the referring website’s domain where the browser supplies it. We discard referring URL paths and query strings. The analytics tables do not store raw IP addresses, full browser user-agent strings, account IDs, form contents or search queries. Private account, payment, members-only and privacy-request pages are excluded, along with administrator and editor browsing and recognised bots.

Pseudonymous records are kept for the current calendar month and the previous 12 months, then removed during normal website use. This supports daily and monthly comparisons. Totals are estimates of consenting browsers, not a count of identified people. The admin dashboard and its exports are accessible only to IPI administrators.

Changing or withdrawing your choice

Use the controls above at any time. Choosing “Essential only” stops collection, removes the optional cookies and deletes analytics records linked to this browser’s current identifier. Already anonymous historical directory totals can remain. If the browser identifier has already been removed, we may not be able to link older pseudonymous records to this browser; the retention limit and the backup arrangements in our privacy policy still apply. Recognised Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control request headers also stop new analytics collection.

You can inspect, block or remove cookies in your browser settings. Removing essential IPI cookies may sign you out or clear your basket and form session. Blocking reCAPTCHA may prevent a protected form from being submitted. You can still email admin@ipi.org.uk, telephone 01707 371144, or write to IPI, 27 Pelham Road, Beckenham, England, BR3 4SQ. A privacy request does not depend on agreeing to optional analytics.

Links, older cookies and server records

External training providers, maps, social networks and other linked websites have their own cookie arrangements. An older version of IPI may also have left cookies in your browser. The previous ipi_cookie_notice acknowledgement is no longer used for consent and is removed when you save a new choice.

Hosting and security logs are separate from optional visitor analytics and are used to operate and protect the service. Historical directory counts from the earlier website are retained separately. See our privacy policy for the wider use, retention and removal of personal information.