Privacy policy

In short. We read your location to show pharmacies, branches or jobs nearest you, and, while the staff Clock In screen is open, to tell which store you are at; we keep it only with a clock-in, clock-out or move record. Bookings, prescription nominations, job applications and messages go to the branch or team you choose. Staff records, punches and photos are employment records kept by Allied as your employer. Notifications, camera, photos and device biometrics are only used when you allow them. We never sell your information. Questions: damian.ryder@alliedpharmacies.com.

Last updated 26 October 2026

Who we are

Allied Pharmacies Limited operates the Allied Connect app (on iPhone also listed as Allied Pharmacies UK) and is responsible for the personal information described in this notice.

Company number: 07404008
Registered office: Unit 18, Neills Road, Bold Industrial Park, Bold, St Helens, Merseyside, WA9 4TU

Our Data Protection Officer is Damian Ryder. You can contact him at damian.ryder@alliedpharmacies.com or write to the registered office above.

This notice covers both parts of the app:

Public pages that anyone can use without signing in.
The staff portal for Allied employees.

Staff accounts are provided and managed by Allied as part of employment. Staff remain signed in using an essential session cookie until they sign out or the session expires.

What the app collects and why

Public pages

Finding a pharmacy

We use the town, postcode or other search details you enter. If you tap Use my location, the app reads your location to arrange pharmacies by distance. If you chose your pharmacy that way, it reads your location again when it shows the branches or jobs nearest you. Allied does not store your location. If you choose a preferred pharmacy, that choice is stored on your phone.

We use this information to provide the pharmacy-search service you requested.

Booking an appointment

We collect your name, email address, telephone number, selected service, pharmacy, date and time. We send this information to the pharmacy you selected so it can reserve and confirm your appointment.

The service you select may reveal information about your health. We process this information to take the steps you request and, where health information is involved, to arrange or provide pharmacy and healthcare services.

Nominating a pharmacy for prescriptions

We collect your title, name, date of birth, address, contact details, exemption status, NHS number if provided, selected pharmacy and typed signature. We send this information to your selected pharmacy so it can arrange your NHS prescription nomination. This includes health information and is handled under the pharmacy's NHS record-management requirements.

We process it to provide NHS pharmacy services at your request and under the applicable health and social-care conditions in data-protection law.

Applying for a job

We collect your name, date of birth, telephone number, email address, the first part of your postcode, your application answers and your CV. Our recruitment team uses this information to assess your application and communicate with you.

We process it to take steps at your request before potentially entering into an employment contract.

Contacting us

We collect your name, email address, telephone number if provided, the pharmacy or team you wish to contact, and your message. We send it to the relevant pharmacy or team so they can respond.

We process this information to take the steps you requested and to manage enquiries about our services.

Mailing list and offers

If you join our mailing list or select the marketing option on a booking or nomination form, we collect your name, email address and postcode if provided. We use this information to send Allied news and offers with your consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the unsubscribe link in an email or by contacting us.

Marketing is optional and choosing not to receive it does not affect other app services.

Staff who sign in

Your account and employment records

The app uses information from your employee record and Allied's employment systems. This may include your name, employee number, contact and employment details, department, assigned pharmacies, rota, holidays, overtime, expenses, payroll weeks and shift-cover requests.

We use this information to manage your employment, perform our employment contract and comply with our legal duties as an employer.

Where employment records contain health or other special-category information, we process it only where an additional condition under Article 9 of the UK GDPR applies, including employment, social-security and social-protection law where relevant.

Clocking in and out

When you press Clock In, Clock Out or Move, we record the time, your device information, internet address and your location at that moment. This helps confirm that the attendance record was made at the correct pharmacy.

While the Clock In screen is open, the app also reads your location to work out which store you are at and to keep a recent reading ready, so a punch confirms quickly. That reading is used to sort stores and is not stored. It is read again when you open Change site or Another location to list the nearest stores. Your location is kept only when it is recorded with a punch. Clocking in, clocking out and moving on the app need location access: if it is switched off, the app will not record the punch, and you can use the terminal in your shop instead. If your phone cannot find its location in time, the punch is still recorded and may be marked as unconfirmed.

If you clock in as working from home, your location at that moment is compared with the home postcode on your employee record. To do this the postcode alone, without your name, is looked up with a UK postcode service (postcodes.io) to find the area it covers. The first time you clock in from home near that postcode, the place you clocked in from is saved as your home location, and later home clock-ins are measured against it. A home clock-in away from that place is still recorded and is marked for your manager to review. The saved home location is kept while you work for Allied and is replaced if the postcode on your record changes.

We use this information to maintain accurate attendance and payroll records, manage employment and protect Allied's legitimate interests in preventing inaccurate or fraudulent attendance records.

Photos

We collect expense receipts and your profile photo only when you choose to take or select a photograph. Expense receipts are used to assess and record claims. Your profile photograph is used to identify your account within the staff portal.

Notifications

If you allow notifications, Apple Push Notification service (iPhone) or Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (Android) provides the app with a device token. We store that token so we can send the types of staff alerts you enable. You can change notification permissions in your phone's Settings and change available notification preferences in the app.

Biometric sign-in

Face ID or other supported device biometrics are checked by your phone. Allied does not receive or store your face image, fingerprint or biometric templates. A sign-in token is stored using your phone's secure storage. A securely hashed copy is stored on our server so the app can recognise an authorised sign-in token. Signing out ends your current session; if biometric sign-in remains enabled, its separate token stays available so you can sign in again. Turning biometric sign-in off removes that token from your phone and revokes it on our server.

App performance and faults

The app may report its version or build, how long screens take to load, technical device information and details of errors. A report may be associated with your staff account so we can investigate and fix faults. We use this information to maintain the app, diagnose problems and protect its security.

Reporting a problem or an idea

If you choose to send a report with the speech-bubble button on Home, we collect what you write, your staff account, the address and name of the app page, and technical information (your device type, operating system and browser information, and screen size). If you add a screenshot, we also receive that picture of the app screen and anything you draw on it. The screenshot is taken and edited on your phone. Your report text and screenshot are sent only when you press Send.

Reports go to Allied's development team, who use them to investigate problems and improve the app. Service providers working under our instructions, including an AI service, may process the report text and screenshot to sort and summarise reports for the team. Reports, screenshots, your name and the technical details may also be copied into our software-development tools (GitHub), including automated development tools, so the problem can be investigated and fixed. A screenshot shows whatever was on your screen, so please do not include patient details or other sensitive information you do not need to send; drawing over information does not remove it from the picture.

We process reports to maintain and improve the app and to protect its security, which are Allied's legitimate interests.

Screenshots and screen recording

iPhones do not let apps block screenshots. If you take a screenshot in the iPhone app of a page that shows other people's details (approvals, payroll, notifications, messages or the team rota), the app reminds you to keep that information private, and we record that you took one, when, and which page was open. Screenshots of other pages are not recorded. We never receive the picture. While your screen is being recorded or shared, the app hides what is on it. The Android app does not allow screenshots or screen recording.

We do this to protect the confidentiality of staff and patient information, which is Allied's legitimate interest.

Phone permissions

The app may request permission to use:

Location while using the app: to tell which store you are at, for attendance punches, and for finding nearby pharmacies, branches and jobs.
Camera and photos: for expense receipts and profile photographs.
Notifications: for the staff alerts you choose to receive.
Device biometrics, such as Face ID or fingerprint recognition: to protect access to the staff portal.

You can change these permissions in your phone's Settings. The rest of the app will continue to work, although the feature requiring that permission may be unavailable or work differently.

When information is required

Some information is needed to provide the service you request. For example, a pharmacy needs contact and appointment details to confirm a booking, and Allied needs staff attendance information to maintain employment and payroll records. Optional fields are identified where appropriate. If required information is not provided, we may be unable to complete that particular request.

Who we share information with

Where necessary, we may share information with:

The Allied pharmacy or internal team you select.
NHS systems used by the selected pharmacy for prescription nominations and pharmacy services.
Hosting, email, technical-support and other service providers working under our instructions, including AI services (such as Anthropic) that help sort and summarise problem reports sent from the app, and GitHub, where our development team and automated development tools work on fixes.
Apple (iPhone) or Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (Android), to deliver app notifications.
OpenStreetMap providers for map content.
Apple Maps, Google Maps or Waze if you choose to open that service for directions.
Professional advisers, regulators, law-enforcement bodies or other authorities where disclosure is required or permitted by law.

We require service providers acting for us to protect personal information appropriately and use it only for the agreed service. We do not sell personal information.

International transfers

Some technology providers may process information outside the United Kingdom. Where a restricted international transfer takes place, we use an applicable UK adequacy regulation or approved contractual safeguards and any additional protections required by law. Contact our Data Protection Officer if you would like more information about the safeguards used for a particular service.

How long we keep information

Bookings and NHS nominations: for the period required by applicable NHS record-management rules, pharmacy regulation and other legal requirements.
Job applications: normally for 12 months after the role is filled, or as part of the employee's personnel record if the applicant joins Allied.
Contact messages: normally for 12 months.
Mailing-list information: until consent is withdrawn or the information is no longer needed.
Staff employment, attendance and payroll records: for the period required during employment and normally for up to six years afterwards, unless a longer or shorter legal period applies to a particular record.
Notification tokens: until the token becomes invalid, notifications are disabled, the staff account is closed or the token is no longer required.
Session tokens: until sign-out or session expiry. Separate biometric sign-in tokens: until biometric sign-in is switched off, account closure, expiry or revocation.
Records that a screenshot was taken: normally for 12 months.
App performance and fault reports: normally for 12 months, unless needed for longer to investigate an ongoing security or technical problem.
Problem reports you send (including any screenshot): for as long as they are needed to investigate and fix the problem and to keep a record of changes made to the app, including copies kept in our development tools.
Information stored on your phone: until you remove it, sign out where applicable or delete the app.

When a fixed period does not apply, we decide how long to retain information by considering its purpose, legal and regulatory duties, pharmacy and employment-record requirements, and whether it is needed to establish or defend legal claims.

Deleting your information

Public users

Email damian.ryder@alliedpharmacies.com from the email address you used and explain what you would like us to delete. We will normally respond within one month. Some information may need to be retained for legal, regulatory or NHS record-management reasons. An NHS prescription nomination that has already been established can be changed through your pharmacy or GP.

Staff

Staff accounts are created and managed by Allied as part of employment; employees do not create their own accounts in the app. Contact HR to request closure of an account or deletion of information. Some employment, payroll, attendance and other records must be retained after employment ends. We will delete or anonymise information that is no longer required.

Your rights

Depending on how and why we use your information, you may have the right to:

Ask for a copy of your personal information.
Have inaccurate or incomplete information corrected.
Ask for information to be deleted.
Restrict how information is used.
Object to particular uses of your information.
Receive certain information in a portable format.
Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.

These rights are not absolute. For example, we may need to retain information to meet a legal obligation or maintain an NHS or employment record. To exercise a right, contact damian.ryder@alliedpharmacies.com. We may need to confirm your identity before completing a request.

We do not use information collected through the app to make solely automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

Complaints

Please contact our Data Protection Officer first if you have concerns about how we use your information. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office through ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.