Estimating Compensation For Council Data Breach Claims

Have you been impacted by a council data breach?  A personal data breach can cause serious harm, both mentally and financially.

Council data breach

Council data breach claims guide

This guide explains how two pieces of legislation called the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) protect the data processing rights of UK residents and what steps you can take to seek compensation from the organisation that handles your data incorrectly.

Our informative guide offers further resources and reading throughout, but it may not answer all of your questions. In this case, we recommend that you get in touch with our team of advisors. They can answer any questions you have regarding the data breach claims process, and may be able to connect you with our panel of data breach solicitors. To learn more:

Choose A Section

  1. A Guide To Estimating Compensation For Council Data Breach Claims
  2. What Is Your Potential Payout From A Council Data Breach Claim?
  3. When Are You Eligible To Claim For A Council Data Breach?
  4. Potential Evidence In A Breach Of Data Protection Claim
  5. Why Use Solicitors Who Can Work On Your Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis?
  6. Learn More About Data Breach Claims

A Guide To Estimating Compensation For Council Data Breach Claims

Personal data is a term that broadly includes any detail that when used on its own or in connection with other information might reveal or infer a person’s identity. The DPA and UK GDPR laws require all organisations to demonstrate a lawful basis for processing personal data.

Your name, postal address and National Insurance numbers can all be examples of personal data. But personal data can also include your special category data. This is data that is more sensitive such as your sexuality, health data, trade union memberships and religious or political beliefs. Because of its sensitive nature, it needs an even higher level of care when being processed.

Data controllers make the decisions about your data and how they use it. Then, a data processor will process your data by following the controller’s instructions.

If you would like to know if you could make a council data breach claim, get in touch with our team today for a free consultation.

What Is Your Potential Payout From A Council Data Breach Claim?

Two areas of potential compensation can be considered in a council data breach claim. Firstly, non-material damage compensation looks at the psychological harm caused by the data breach. For example, if you are caused distress by the breach, this could be covered by non-material damage compensation.

Solicitors and lawyers use a document called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to aid them when valuing settlements for personal data breach claims. It helps by providing guideline amounts of compensation for a number of injuries, including psychological injuries. You can find some examples of these entries below in regards to non-material damage.

Type of Mental Health ConditionAmount BracketsDescriptions
Mental InjurySevere – £54,830 to £115,730Marked issues in all areas of the person’s life with a poor future prognosis indicated
Mental InjuryModerately Severe – £19,070 to £54,830Similar issues as above but a better prognosis expected
Mental InjuryModerate – £5,860 to £19,070Issues that are initially serious but which show an improvement by the time the case may need to be heard at trial
Mental InjuryLess Severe – £1,540 to £5,860The awards in this bracket are guided by the length of time affected by symptoms and how they affect daily life
PTSDSevere – £59,860 to £100,670A profound and far-reaching level of permanent injury causing serious consequences in all areas of life
PTSDModerately Severe – £23,150 to £59,860Similar reduction of quality in life but some improvement seen after professional help
PTSDModerate – £8,180 – £23,150A good recovery overall, with no grossly disabling symptoms remaining
PTSDLee Severity – £3,950 – £8,180A near-full recovery occurs, leaving only symptoms that are minor

It is important to note that these are merely guideline figures, and not guarantees. As a result of this, the compensation you could receive if your claim succeeds may differ.

Material Damage In A Data Protection Breach Claim

The other area of compensation that may apply is material damage compensation. A council data breach can cause serious harm to your financial wellbeing, including:

  • Stolen money from your account
  • Damage to credit score
  • Purchases made fraudulently in your name

In these cases, material damage compensation may be able to help you recover from these costs.

For more information on how solicitors calculate compensation in personal data breach claims, get in touch with our advisors.

When Are You Eligible To Claim For A Council Data Breach?

In order to form the basis of a valid claim, you must be able to prove that:

  • The breach affected your personal data
  • It was caused by the data controller or processor’s wrongful conduct
  • It resulted in you experiencing harm

With this in mind, some examples of personal data breaches that could be caused by wrongful conduct include:

  • When the council sends a letter containing personal data to the wrong recipient or wrong address
  • If a fax containing your personal data was sent to the incorrect fax machine
  • If an employee were to verbally disclose your disciplinary information from your disciplinary records over the phone with an unauthorised party in an HR data breach

If you would like to know whether or not you could make a council data breach claim, get in touch with our advisors. They can help clarify your claim in a brief, informal and completely free assessment.

Potential Evidence In A Breach Of Data Protection Claim

When you make a personal data breach claim, it can be helpful to gather evidence to help support your claim. For example, when preparing to claim, you may collect:

  • Financial evidence: Bills, invoices, and statements can all help to demonstrate the extent of the harm done to your finances
  • Medical evidence: Medical records, notes, and assessment results can all be used to illustrate how the breach has affected your mental health
  • Proof of the breach, such as a letter or email from the council notifying you of the breach, or other correspondence that mentions the breach, how it happened, or what data was involved
  • Letters or emails from the Information Comissioner’s Office (ICO), the independent organisation dedicated to enforcing data protection law, regarding the breach

This evidence can be gathered alone, but you can also gather it with the help of a solicitor. Contact our advisors to find out how our panel solicitors could help you strengthen your council data breach claim.

 Why Use Solicitors Who Can Work On Your Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis?

Personal data breach claims can be complicated, but one of our No Win No Fee solicitors could help you with a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). A CFA can provide you with access to legal representation and guidance throughout the claims process, usually without having to pay a fee to your solicitor. This includes both upfront and ongoing fees.

The only fee your solicitor will ask for comes if your claim succeeds. This success fee is a percentage with a legislative cap, and is taken directly from your compensation. But, in the event that your claim does not succeed, your solicitor will not require a fee for their services.

Contact Us For Free To See If You Could Receive Data Breach Compensation

Our advisors are here to help. If you would like to learn more about initiating a claim after a council data breach, get in touch today. They can offer a free evaluation of your claim, and can also offer free legal advice. Should our advisors find that your claim could be valid, they may then pass you on to one of our panel solicitors. To learn more:

Or, for more resources:

We have also included some of our own guides that you might find useful: 

 

Thank you for reading our guide on claiming for a council data breach.

Writer Jeff Wallowing

Publisher Cat Heart