Cookies on UKSR
The UKSR puts small files (known as ‘cookies’) on to your computer to collect information about how you browse the site. Find out more about the cookies we use, what they’re for and when they expire
Cookies that measure website use
We use Google Analytics software (Universal Analytics) to collect anonymised information about how you use GOV.UK. We do this to help make sure the site is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements to the site and to government digital services.
Google Analytics stores information about:
- how you got to the site
- the pages you visit on GOV.UK and how long you spend on them
- what you click on while you’re visiting the site
Google Analytics sets the following cookies.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| _ga | These help us count how many people visit GOV.UK by tracking if you’ve visited before | 2 years |
| _gid | These help us count how many people visit GOV.UK by tracking if you’ve visited before | 24 hours |
| _gat | This randomly generated number is used to reduce the number of requests made | 1 minute |
You can further opt out of Google Analytics cookies for all websites by visiting this page on Google.
Strictly necessary cookies
These essential cookies do things like remember your progress through a form (for example a licence application)
They always need to be on.
Our cookie message
You'll see a message about cookies when you first visit the UKSR. We’ll store a cookie so that your computer knows you’ve seen it and knows not to show it again.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| uksr-cookie-preferences | Saves your cookie consent settings | 1 year |
| connect.sid | Lets us know that you have logged in | 24 hours |
| _csrf | This is set to verify that your requests haven’t been tampered with by a malicious third party | 24 hours |
| XSRF-TOKEN | This is set to verify that your requests haven’t been tampered with by a malicious third party | 24 hours |