This policy explains what personal data PenCompare collects when you use pencompare.com, why we collect it, and what rights you have over it. PenCompare is a trading name of Healthwise360, which is the data controller for this website. Our full contact details are in section 13.

1. The short version

• You do not need an account to use this site, and we do not ask you to register.
• We never collect health or medical data about you. We do not ask what medicine you take, what you weigh, what your BMI is, or what a prescriber has told you — and we have no way to receive that information from the providers we link to.
• We use cookies for affiliate tracking and basic analytics, and we use essential cookies to make the site work.
• We do not sell your personal data.

2. What we collect

Information collected automatically. Like most websites, our servers and analytics tools record technical information when you visit: IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, the page you arrived from, and the date and time of your visit.

Affiliate tracking information. When you click through to a provider, a cookie or tracking parameter records that the click came from PenCompare, so that any resulting commission can be attributed. This tells us that a referral happened. It does not tell us who you are, what you were prescribed, or what medicine you bought.

Information you send us. If you email us, we hold your message and contact details in order to reply.

3. Health data

Health data is special category data under UK GDPR and deserves its own section. We do not collect it, do not process it, and do not want it.

The pages on this site discuss medicines, but browsing them does not tell us anything about your health, and we do not build profiles of visitors based on which medicine pages they read. Please do not send us medical details by email — if you do, we will not add them to any record, and we may delete them.

When you leave this site for a provider’s website, any clinical questionnaire or consultation happens between you and that provider, under their privacy policy, not ours.

4. Cookies

We use three kinds of cookie:

• Essential cookies — needed for the site to function and to remember your cookie choices. These cannot be switched off.
• Affiliate tracking cookies — set when you click through to a provider, so that a referral can be attributed to us.
• Analytics cookies — used to understand which pages are visited and how the site performs, in aggregate.

Non-essential cookies are used only with your consent, and you can withdraw that consent at any time through your browser settings or our cookie controls. Blocking analytics or affiliate cookies does not stop you using the site or change the prices you see.

5. Why we are allowed to use your data

• Consent — for analytics and affiliate tracking cookies that are not strictly necessary.
• Legitimate interests — for keeping the site secure, preventing abuse, and understanding aggregate usage so we can improve the service. We have considered your rights and do not believe this processing overrides them.
• Legal obligation — where we must keep records, for example for tax or accounting.

6. Who we share data with

We share data only with service providers who help us run the site, and only for that purpose:

• our website hosting provider;
• our analytics provider;
• affiliate networks and the providers we link to, for the limited purpose of attributing a referral.

We may also disclose information where we are legally required to do so. We do not sell your personal data and we do not share it with data brokers or advertisers for their own marketing.

7. International transfers

Some of the services we use may process data outside the United Kingdom. Where that happens, we rely on the safeguards permitted by UK data protection law, such as adequacy regulations or standard contractual clauses.

8. How long we keep it

We keep personal data only for as long as it is needed for the purpose it was collected for. Analytics data is retained in aggregate or pseudonymised form. Affiliate tracking cookies expire after a limited period set by the affiliate programme. Emails are kept for as long as needed to deal with the enquiry and any follow-up.

9. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• ask what personal data we hold about you and get a copy of it;
• have inaccurate data corrected;
• ask us to delete data, or to restrict how we use it;
• object to processing based on legitimate interests;
• withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent;
• ask for your data in a portable format.

To exercise any of these rights, email contact@pencompare.co.uk. We will respond within one month.

10. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please tell us first so we can try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

11. Children

This site is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The version published on this page is the version that applies.

13. Who we are and how to contact us

The data controller for this website is Healthwise360, which operates the PenCompare comparison service.

• Post: Healthwise360, Suite RA01, 195-197 Wood Street, London, E17 3NU, United Kingdom
• Email: contact@pencompare.co.uk

For any question about this policy or your personal data, or to exercise any of the rights set out above, contact us using either of the details above.