Data Breach Claim Solicitors

Data breach claim solicitors are available to help you make a data breach claim if you know how to find them. Subject to the strength of your potential claim, solicitors could help you seek compensation. Whether for the emotional distress caused by a breach or the resulting financial loss, if you have been subject to a data breach you may be able to claim compensation. 

Our advisors are available 24/7, and can value your claim for free. If you have a valid claim, they could connect you with our panel of data breach claim solicitors.

Contact us by:

• Using the phone number at the top of the page
• Filling out our ‘make a claim‘ form
• Using our live chat

Choose A Section 

1. What Are Data Breach Claim Solicitors?
2. Definition Of A Data Breach 
3. When Could I Use Data Breach Solicitors?
4. Compensation Payouts For Data Breaches 
5. What Is A No Win No Fee Agreement? 
6. Further Information About Data Breach Claim Solicitors.

What Are Data Breach Claim Solicitors? 

Data breach claim solicitors work for claimants who have suffered due to a personal data breach. 

In order to make a valid claim, you’d need to show that the wrongful conduct of an organisation led to your personal data being compromised in a data breach. For example, there may have been poor staff training in data protection, but the employees were asked to handle personal information regardless.

You’d also need to prove that the personal data breach caused you harm (whether financial, mental or both).

A data breach solicitor can help you claim. If you’d like to see if you can be connected to our panel of data breach solicitors, why not get in touch?

Definition Of A Data Breach

Personal information or personal data is data that identifies a data subject. For example, your name, address, or email address can be used to identify you.

A personal data breach is an unlawful or accidental loss, destruction, alteration, disclosure of or access to personal information. It begins with a security breach. It can also be defined as a security incident that affects the confidentiality, integrity and availability of personal data. 

The UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 both outline certain rights regarding your personal data and how it is handled. An organisation that handles your personal data must adhere to this legislation.

If an organisation does breach data protection legislation, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is an independent body that can take action against them. Though they can issue fines and investigate, they can’t offer compensation to data subjects that have been affected by the breach. 

If an organisation realises a data breach has occurred and it risks your rights and freedoms, they should inform the ICO within 72 hours. They should also inform you.

Data Controller

Data controllers decide how to collect or process personal data as well as the purpose for doing so. Furthermore, a data controller will select the type of personal data they require for processing purposes. Finally, the controller appoints the processor to process the data, if needed. 

Data Processor

Data processors follow the instruction of the controller in processing data. This means that the data is supplied by a customer or another third party. Otherwise, the processor will be told what to collect.

Once a data breach has occurred, you may want to contact data breach claim solicitors. But what can you claim? 

Material Damages

Material damages are the financial losses that are incurred by a data breach. This could include stolen money you weren’t able to recover if your bank details were accessed, for example. In the event of personal data theft leading to identity fraud, a person could apply for credit cards in your name.

Non-Material Damages

Non-material damages are the psychological impacts that can result when your personal data is compromised. For each person, this will be different but can include distress, anxiety and even depression. If you would like to see if you can make a claim, ask our team of advisors about data breach claim solicitors. 

When Could I Use Data Breach Claim Solicitors? 

Data breaches can be caused by a number of factors, including human error and deliberate actions. In any case, provided you can show that the organisation that was supposed to protect your personal data failed to through wrongful conduct, you could make a claim. You’d also need to show that your suffered psychological harm or financial loss as a result of the breach. You could use the services of data breach claim solicitors to help you with this.  

Personal data can be digital or held on physical documents or files.

Physical Data Breach

A physical data breach consists of a physical copy of data being subject to a breach. Some instances of physical data breaches are:

• Personal data is posted to the wrong person.
• Loss or theft of paperwork containing personal information.
• Verbal disclosures of personal data.
• Incorrect disposal of paperwork containing personal data. 
• Leaving documents containing personal data on public transport.

These can be prevented with physical security measures. A security guard at the door of your building or an alarm could be extremely valuable in preventing theft. 

Digital Data Breach

Some examples of what can cause digital data breaches are: 

• A failure to redact personal information when something is published online.
• A failure to use BCC in emails to personal email addresses.
• Personal data emailed to the wrong person.
• Targeted hacks where systems containing personal data are accessed.

What Are The Current Data Breach Claim Statistics? 

The data-security trends published by the ICO show readers that in the 3rd quarter of 2021/22, there were a total 2,404 data breaches. 631 of them were cyber security incidents. After health, the education sector saw more data breaches than anyone else.

Of all the data security incidents, data emailed to the wrong recipient was the most common with 419 reported to the ICO that quarter. 

Compensation Payouts For Data Breaches

If you have a valid personal data breach claim, you could take legal action by hiring data breach claim solicitors to represent you. In the event of a successful claim, you could seek compensation for material damage and non-material damage.

Material damage relates to the financial losses you suffer because of a data breach.

Non-material damages relate to the psychological harm you endure because of a data breach.

Some of the different non-material damages that can be claimed regarding a personal data breach are shown in the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This is a publication solicitors use when valuing injuries. However, it’s important to note that compensation is valued on a case-by-case basis. The figures in the Guidelines are illustrative rather than guarantees. 

We’ve taken figures from the Guidelines and used them in the compensation table below.

Injury	Severity	Compensation Bracket	Notes
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder	Severe	£59,860 to £100,670	Individual is unable to engage in a normal life.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder	Moderately severe	£23,150 to £59,860	Prognosis shows that recovery is plausible but they will suffer significantly.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder	Moderate	£8,180 to £23,150	Recovery will come for the individual but there will be continued effects.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (d)	Less Severe	£3,950 to £8,180	Full recovery within two years.
Psychiatric Damages	Severe	£54,830 to £115,730	Little chance of improvement and unable to perform everyday tasks.
Psychiatric Damages	Moderately Severe	£19,070 to £54,830	Better prognosis than above but still significant problems.
Psychiatric Damages	Moderate	£5,860 to £19,070	Professional help required to improve the victim’s mental state.
Psychiatric Damages	Less Severe.	Up to £5,860	Award dictated by factors such as length of recovery.

The amount you could claim will depend on numerous factors, such as the extent of your suffering and what evidence you can provide to support the claim.

Why not contact our advisors, who can value your claim for free?

What Is A No Win No Fee Agreement? 

When you decide to make your claim, your solicitor may elect to offer you a No Win No Fee agreement. Firstly, this could indicate that you have a strong case. This is because No Win No Fee is an umbrella term for a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), an agreement wherein data breach claim solicitors must meet a condition in order to be paid. In this scenario, the condition is a successful claim. If the claim loses, the solicitor doesn’t receive their fee so they won’t waste anyone’s time by taking on a claim that’s unlikely to win.

In accepting a No Win No Fee agreement, you don’t have to face any upfront or ongoing solicitor fee. Furthermore, if you do not win your case, you will not have to pay the fee at all. What you pay after a successful claim is a pre-agreed percentage of your compensation. This percentage is capped by law. 

To learn more about data breach claim solicitors, contact our team of advisors for an obligation-free consultation. Available 24/7, they can answer queries and connect you with a solicitor if you have a claim. 

Contact us by:

• Using the phone number at the top of the page
• Filling out our ‘make a claim‘ form
• Using our live chat

Further Information About Data Breach Claim Solicitors

Personal Data Breaches | ICO

Your Right To Be Informed | ICO  

Codes Of Conduct | ICO