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Oldham residents trying to log in to council or NHS online services are being turned away at the door of the internet, not by forgotten passwords but by a silent setting in their own browser. The message that greets them is blunt: 'We can't sign you in. Your browser is currently set to block cookies.

The block means the site cannot recognise returning users, so every click is treated as a first-time visit. Without that tiny text file, the system has no memory of who you are, forcing the login loop to start again.

Cookies, in this context, are simply name badges stored on your computer. They do not track browsing across the web; they only tell the single service that you have already proved your identity.

Each browser, whether Chrome on a phone in Shaw or Edge on a library desktop in Glodwick, holds its own on-off switch. Staff cannot flip it for you, so the barrier stays until the user, or someone sitting beside them, opens the settings and allows cookies for that site.

No deadline looms and no data is lost, but every day the setting stays off is another day of queues at the civic centre counter and phone lines, simply because the digital front door will not open.