Does tracking require consent under GDPR?

Yes, only if tracking involves personal data or identifiers, consent is usually required.

When tracking falls under GDPR + PECR (UK law):

• If your form or site uses tracking cookies, pixels, or similar technologies that create user profiles, monitor behaviour, or identify users (e.g. analytics tied to individuals, marketing pixels), you must obtain valid consent before tracking starts.
• This consent is governed both by UK GDPR (processing personal data) and PECR (rules on cookies & similar tech).

---

Tracking consent key points

✅ Consent is required for:

• Marketing/advertising tracking
• Analytics that identify individuals or are linked to profiles
• Behavioural profiling

✅ Consent not required for:

• Purely essential cookies (e.g. for login sessions or security)
• Aggregated, truly anonymous analytics (if no individual can be identified at all)

👉 If tracking is for additional purposes beyond the core function of the form (e.g. marketing, analytics, profiling), you should:

• Provide separate, optional checkboxes (just like for marketing)
• Clearly explain what data is collected and why

---

Example additional purpose checkbox for tracking:

[ ] I consent to my form usage data being tracked for analytics and service improvement purposes.

Or more specific:
[ ] I consent to tracking of my form usage for personalised content and marketing.

---

Bottom line for your forms

➡ Tracking consent is needed when tracking goes beyond what is strictly necessary for the form’s basic function.
➡ You should either:

• Include an optional checkbox for tracking consent in the form OR
• Manage this at site level through your cookie consent banner (which covers all tracking on the page)