Plain-English summary of the cookies and similar storage this site uses, why we use them, how to change your choice, and how long each one lasts. Last updated 15 June 2026.
The short version: we use only the essential cookies needed to run the site, plus optional, privacy-respecting analytics that load only if you accept them. We set no advertising cookies and no cross-site tracking cookies. You can change your choice at any time, and the calculators work fully even if you refuse every optional cookie.
Cookies are small text files that a website asks your browser to store on your device. Each one usually holds a short name and value, the address of the site that set it, and a date when it should expire. When you return to a page, your browser sends the relevant cookies back, which lets the site remember simple things between page views, such as a setting you chose or whether you have already answered a notice.
Similar technologies do much the same job under different names. Local storage and session storage keep small pieces of information in your browser without sending them back automatically on every request. We treat all of these the same way in this policy: if something is stored on your device to make the site work or to measure how it is used, we explain it here. A cookie cannot run programs, install software, or read other files on your device, and it cannot see your name or email unless you have typed those in and chosen to share them, which this site does not ask you to do.
It helps to keep two separate ideas in mind. The first is who sets the cookie: a "first-party" cookie is set by the site you are visiting, while a "third-party" cookie is set by a different company whose code runs on the page. The second is how long it lasts: a "session" cookie is deleted the moment you close your browser, while a "persistent" cookie stays until it reaches its expiry date or you clear it yourself. Both ideas matter below, because they decide whether a cookie needs your consent and how long it can follow you around.
The single most important distinction in this policy is between cookies the site genuinely needs and cookies you can take or leave. We treat these two groups completely differently, and the law does too.
These make the site work and keep it secure, so they are always on and do not ask for your permission. They are first-party and short-lived by design. In practice they do a small number of plain jobs: they remember the choice you made on the cookie banner so you are not asked again on every page, they help serve content reliably, and they support basic security so a page loads the way it should. They do not remember anything sensitive about you, and they are never used to build a profile or to advertise.
Crucially, the calculators on this site run entirely in your browser. When you type a salary, a rank, or a length of service into an AFPS 75, 05 or 15 estimate, that figure is processed on your own device and is not written into a cookie, not stored on a server, and not sent to us. So the strictly necessary cookies never touch the numbers that matter most to you. If you want the full detail of what we do and do not collect, our privacy policy sets it out.
Analytics cookies are different. They are not needed to read a guide or to run a calculation, so they only load if you accept them. Their job is to tell us, in aggregate, which pages are useful: for example, how many people read the AFPS 15 guide, which calculators are opened most, and whether a page is failing to load. That feedback is what lets us spend our time fixing the pages serving personnel and veterans actually rely on, rather than guessing.
We have deliberately kept this measurement non-identifying. It records aggregate, low-detail signals such as page views, an approximate region, and a broad device type. It does not record your name, it does not store the pension figures you enter, and it is not used to build an advertising profile or to sell data. If you would rather we did not measure your visit at all, you simply decline, and nothing on the site stops working.
Because these cookies are optional under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, the rule we follow is straightforward: no optional analytics cookie is set until you have given clear, active consent. Until then, the analytics code does not run.
The first time you arrive, a small banner appears explaining that the site uses essential cookies and would like to use optional analytics. Nothing optional is loaded while that banner is on screen. You stay in control of what happens next, and there is no pre-ticked box doing the choosing for you.
The banner gives you a genuine choice rather than a single "OK" button. You can accept analytics, or you can reject everything optional, and both choices are equally easy to make. Refusing is not hidden behind extra clicks, and it does not nag you to change your mind. Whichever button you press, we store one small first-party record of your decision so the banner does not reappear on every page. That record is itself a strictly necessary cookie: its only purpose is to remember that you have already chosen.
Here is the practical chain of events. Say you accept analytics. We write down your consent, then the analytics code is allowed to load, and from that point your visits are counted in aggregate. Now say you instead reject everything optional. We write down that refusal, the analytics code is never loaded, and no analytics cookie is ever created on your device. In both cases the essential cookies that keep the site running are present, because the site cannot work without them.
A consent decision is not permanent, and you are free to change your mind as often as you like. There are two reliable ways to do it.
Re-open the banner. You can bring the cookie notice back to review or switch your choice. If you previously accepted analytics and now want them off, choose to reject, and we stop the analytics code from loading on your next page view. If you previously declined and want to help us improve the site, choose to accept instead.
Clear the stored choice in your browser.If you delete this site's cookies and local storage through your browser settings, you also delete the record of your consent. The next time you visit, the banner treats you as a first-time visitor and asks again, with nothing optional loaded until you answer. This is a clean way to reset to a neutral starting point.
Whichever route you take, declining or withdrawing consent never breaks the calculators, because the maths happens locally on your device. The worst that happens is that we no longer see your visit in our aggregate figures.
Today we set no advertising cookies and no cross-site tracking cookies. Any storage we set is first-party and serves only the two purposes above: keeping the site working and, if you agree, measuring it in aggregate.
The one place a third party can be involved is analytics, and only if you accept it. If you consent, a privacy-respecting analytics provider, such as Google Analytics, may set its own cookies to count visits and tell genuine page views apart from accidental reloads. These cookies are used to produce the aggregate reports we read; they are not used by us to identify you, to advertise to you, or to follow you onto other websites. If you decline analytics, this third-party code is never loaded and none of its cookies are created.
If we ever add other third-party tools, for example embedded content or anything that would change this picture, we will list them here and, where the rules require it, ask for your consent before they load. We will not quietly switch on advertising or cross-site tracking behind this policy.
Cookies do not last forever, and the ones we rely on are deliberately short or modest in lifespan. The exact figures a provider uses can change, so treat the numbers below as the typical pattern rather than a fixed guarantee.
Strictly necessary cookies. Most of these are session cookies that disappear the moment you close your browser. The main exception is the record of your cookie choice, which is persistent on purpose, because the whole point is to remember your decision across visits so the banner does not pester you. That record typically lasts for several months before it expires and the banner asks again, which is a healthy way to make sure your consent is still current.
Optional analytics cookies.If you accept analytics, the provider's cookies are usually persistent so that two visits a week apart can be recognised as the same return visit in aggregate rather than two unrelated strangers. As a rough guide, a typical analytics cookie lasts up to around two years, while some shorter ones expire within a day. You never have to wait for any of this: clearing the site's cookies removes them immediately, and declining analytics means they are never created in the first place.
Beyond our banner, you are always in control through your browser. Every major browser lets you view, clear, or block cookies, either for all sites or just for this one, usually under a settings menu named something like Privacy, Security, or Site settings. You can also choose to be warned before any cookie is set, or to wipe everything automatically when you close the browser.
Blocking or deleting our cookies will not break the calculators, because the maths runs locally in your browser. The only side effects are small and predictable: if you block the cookie that remembers your consent, the banner will reappear each visit, and if you block analytics you will simply not be counted in our aggregate figures. If you would rather not keep any cookies between visits, browsing in a private or incognito window is a quick alternative, since those windows usually discard cookies and local storage when you close them.
To show how the pieces fit together, here is an illustrative walk-through. Imagine a serving member of the Army visiting on a work laptop to estimate an AFPS 15 figure before a posting meeting.
On the first page, the banner appears and nothing optional loads. They decide they are happy to be counted, so they accept analytics. We store one small first-party record of that consent, and the analytics code is then allowed to load. They open the AFPS 15 calculator and type in their pay and years of service. Those numbers stay on their laptop, are used only to produce the on-screen estimate, and are never written to a cookie or sent to us. In our aggregate reports, all we later see is that the AFPS 15 calculator was opened once from their approximate region on a desktop-class device, with no link back to who they are.
A fortnight later the same person returns from a home computer and changes their mind about being measured. They re-open the banner and reject everything optional. From that page view onward the analytics code does not load and no analytics cookie is created on the home machine. The calculators behave exactly as before, because none of them ever depended on the analytics cookies in the first place. This example uses no real figures and is only meant to illustrate the flow of consent and cookies.
We may update this policy as the site grows. When we do, we will change the "last updated" date above. Material changes, such as introducing a new third-party tool, will be explained in plain English rather than buried in legal text, and where the rules require it we will ask for your consent before anything new loads.
This site is independent and is not affiliated with the Ministry of Defence, Veterans UK, or JPAC. It provides estimates and general information about Armed Forces pensions, not regulated financial advice. Official pension forecasts come from Veterans UK using form 12 for serving personnel and form 14 for preserved members.