Cookie Policy
1. What this policy covers
This policy explains the cookies and similar technologies used on blackslegal.co.uk, what they do, and how you can control them. It sits alongside our Privacy Notice, which explains more generally how Blackslegal Ltd, trading as Blacks Legal, as Solutions4Startups and as LeaseExtensionsDirect, handles personal data. Where a cookie collects personal data, the Privacy Notice also applies to it.
2. What cookies are
A cookie is a small file stored on your device when you visit a website. Cookies let a site remember your actions and preferences, count visitors, and work out how people move around the site. Similar technologies, including pixels, tags, local storage and software development kits, do comparable things, and this policy covers all of them. The rules that apply are in the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, known as PECR.
3. What changed in February 2026
Until recently, almost every cookie that was not strictly necessary required your consent. From 5 February 2026 the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 created narrow exceptions to that rule. Consent is no longer required for cookies used solely for statistical purposes to improve the site, where the information is not shared with anyone else, except to enable them to help us improve the site; for cookies that adapt the appearance or function of the site to your preferences; and for cookies that enable emergency assistance. Two things did not change. For the statistical and appearance exceptions, we must still tell you clearly what these cookies do, and you must still be able to object to them simply and free of charge. Everything outside those exceptions, including advertising and cross site tracking, still requires your consent.
The maximum penalty for breaching the cookie rules also rose, from £500,000 to £17.5 million or 4 per cent of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher.
4. The cookies we use
The site was examined on 2 October 2026, on both the home page and the contact page. Neither page set any cookie at all. The table records what was found.
Cookie or technology | What it does | Consent needed | Found on 2 October 2026 |
Cookies set by WordPress and Elementor | Keep the site secure and make forms and page layout work. | No. Strictly necessary cookies are exempt. | NONE SET. Neither the home page nor the contact page set any cookie. |
wpEmojiSettingsSupports | A one-off check of whether your browser can display emoji, held in session storage and discarded when you close the tab. | No. It is a technical check needed to display the page correctly. | Present, in session storage. It is not a cookie and holds nothing about you. |
Jetpack Stats (stats.wp.com, s0.wp.com) | Counts page views so that we can see which pages are read. Operated by Automattic, which hosts the site. | No. Nothing is stored on or read from your device, so the consent rule is not engaged. | Present. No cookie set. |
Fonts (fonts.wp.com, fonts-api.wp.com) | Serves the typefaces the site is designed in. | No. Nothing is stored on your device. | Present. No cookie set. |
cdn.yoshki.com | A small frame in the page that displays our regulator badge. | A third party frame can set its own cookies, which would need consent. This one did not. | Present. No cookie set when examined. |
Google Analytics (_ga, _gid, _gat) and the legacy _utma, _utmb, _utmc, _utmz | Named in the policy currently published on our site. | n/a | Not in use. There is no Google Analytics on this site. These entries date from an earlier version of our policy and have been updated out of this one. |
Call tracking | Named in an earlier version of our policy. | n/a | Not in use. See section 6. |
Cookie consent banner | Would record the choice you made in a banner. | No, a record of your own preference is exempt. | None, and on the present configuration none is needed, because nothing requiring consent is being set. |
5. Analytics
The site is hosted on WordPress.com and uses Jetpack Stats, which counts page views. It does this without placing a cookie or reading anything from your device, so no consent is required for it under the cookie rules. It does receive your IP address, which is personal data, and we rely on our legitimate interest in understanding which parts of our site are useful. You can object to that at any time using the contact details in our Privacy Notice.
An earlier version of this policy named Google Analytics and a set of legacy Universal Analytics cookies. Neither is in use on the site today, and Universal Analytics has since been retired by Google. Those entries have been updated out of this version.
Why there is no cookie banner: A banner exists to collect consent. On 2 October 2026 we examined the site and found that it sets no cookies at all, and stores nothing on your device beyond a single technical check that is discarded when you close the tab. There is therefore nothing here that requires your consent, and a banner would ask you to agree to nothing. If we add analytics, advertising, embedded media or any other technology that stores or reads information on your device, we will first assess whether it requires your consent, introduce a banner before we use it where it does, and update this policy. |
6. Call tracking, and two updates to the earlier policy
An earlier version of this policy described the use of tracked telephone numbers to identify the marketing channel a caller came from. We examined the site on 2 October 2026 and no call tracking is in use. One telephone number is shown, it is the same number throughout, and it does not change according to how you reached us. This version has been updated to reflect that. If we introduce call tracking in future it will require your consent, because marketing attribution is not a statistical measure of how the site performs, and we will update this policy before we do so.
The second update: The earlier policy carried the heading “Call Tracking and Recording” but dealt only with tracking. Call recording is a substantial subject and it is not a cookie, so it now has a section of its own: every external call on our office telephone line is recorded and transcribed, in both directions, and that is set out at section 6A of our Privacy Notice. This policy covers cookies and similar technologies only. |
7. How long this information is kept
This site sets no cookies, so there is nothing on your machine waiting to expire. The single technical check described in section 4 is held in your browser’s session storage and is discarded the moment you close the tab.
The page view statistics produced by Jetpack Stats are held within the WordPress.com service that hosts our site, and are available to us there for as long as the site remains hosted with them. We do not export those statistics, and we keep no separate copy of them anywhere in the firm. Our host receives your IP address when you request a page, as any web server does; we do not keep a record of it ourselves, and we do not use it to identify you.
Information you send us through the contact form on the site is not covered by this policy. It becomes an enquiry record and is dealt with in our Privacy Notice, which gives the periods we apply to enquiries and to matter files.
8. How to control cookies
We do not operate a cookie banner or a preference tool, because, as section 5 explains, nothing on this site requires your consent. You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings, although blocking strictly necessary cookies may stop parts of the site working. Guidance for each major browser is available from its provider, and the Information Commissioner’s Office publishes general guidance at ico.org.uk.
9. Other websites
Our site links to other websites, including those of our regulators and of organisations we refer to. We are not responsible for their cookies or their privacy practices, and you should read their own policies.
10. Changes and contact
We review this policy at least once a year and whenever the site changes. Questions about it should go to our data protection lead, Kasim Hussain, at [email protected]. If you are unhappy with how we use cookies, please tell us first; section 12 of our Privacy Notice explains how we handle data protection complaints and your right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.