This guide will help you understand how to seek data breach distress compensation. Suffering from a breach of your personal data can cause catastrophic financial and psychological impacts. Making a data protection breach claim allows you to seek the compensation you deserve.
Data breach distress compensation claims guide
We will discuss what legislation is in place to keep the personal data of UK residents safe. We also explore how you can find out how much your claim could be worth, alongside what evidence you must provide in order to be eligible to make a claim.
Finally, this article will discuss legal representation and how a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel could be beneficial to your claim.
Our advisors are available at any time to answer any questions you might have about starting a personal data breach claim. To reach us, use the following contact details:
- Call 0333 241 2521
- Make a claim through our website
- Use the live chat feature
Choose A Section
- What is a Data Protection Breach?
- When Can You Receive Distress Compensation From a Data Breach?
- Data Breach Distress Compensation – What Could You Receive?
- Top Tips For Claiming After a Data Protection Breach
- No Win No Fee Solicitors – What are the Benefits?
- Learn More About Data Breach Distress Compensation
What is a Data Protection Breach?
When organisations fail to comply with data protection legislation, this is a data protection breach. However, not all instances of a data protection breach will form a valid personal data breach claim.
Personal data includes any information that identifies you. A personal data breach is a security incident that involves the accidental or deliberate loss, alteration, destruction, or unauthorised disclosure of or access to your personal data. Some examples of information that classes as personal data include your:
- Name
- Date of birth
- Home address
- Email address
- Debit and credit card information
The legislation in place to protect your personal data includes the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). According to these regulations, you must have suffered harm due to wrongful conduct from the data controller or data processor in order to make a personal data breach claim.
This definition of data controllers and processors is outlined on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website. The ICO is an independent UK organisation that holds companies accountable for complying with data protection laws, and they also provide information on data security.
Continue with this guide to learn about what steps you need to take to claim data breach distress compensation.
When Can You Receive Distress Compensation From a Data Breach?
You may be wondering when you could make a claim for data breach distress compensation and who could be eligible for compensation. As we mentioned earlier, a breach must occur due to the failings of the organisation in order to form a claim. One example of a data breach that could occur could be your employer emailing disciplinary records containing your personal data to the wrong email address.
You must also suffer harm in order to make a personal data breach claim. This can be psychological harm, such as distress, depression, or anxiety, or it could be financial harm. For example, if your credit card details are compromised, this could lead to criminals tampering with your bank account.
To find out if you can claim compensation if your data is breached, contact our advisors today.
Data Breach Distress Compensation – What Could You Receive?
When making a data breach distress compensation claim, you can seek two heads of claim. One of these is non-material damage. This includes any psychological injury you sustain due to the breach of your personal data. Injuries can include stress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.
The table below shows some examples of compensation brackets for non-material damage. These are from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), which are used by legal professionals when valuing data breach claims. Please note that these figures are guideline amounts only.
| Psychological Injury | Compensation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Psychiatric Injury (a) | £54,830 – £115,730 | Injuries will cause future vulnerability and will greatly affect the injured person’s ability to cope with life. |
| Moderately Severe Psychiatric Injury (b) | £19,070 – £54,830 | The prognosis is more optimistic than above, but significant problems persist. |
| Moderate Psychiatric Injury (c) | £5,860 – £19,070 | A brighter prognosis is reflected through an improvement of symptoms by trial. |
| Less Severe Psychiatric Injury (d) | £1,540 – £5,860 | Daily life and sleep may be affected, and the length of symptoms is considered. |
| Severe PTSD (a) | £59,860 – £100,670 | Injuries affect all aspects of life, preventing the injured person from returning to work or functioning as they would pre-trauma. |
| Moderately Severe PTSD (b) | £23,150 – £59,860 | Significant disability progresses into the future, though the prognosis is improved with professional help. |
| Moderate PTSD (c) | £8,180 – £23,150 | Most injuries can be recovered from, with any continuing effects not being wholly disabling. |
| Less Severe PTSD (d) | £3,950 – £8,180 | Most recovery occurs within two years with only minor symptoms remaining. |
Breach of Data Protection Claim – What Else Could You Claim?
You can also seek compensation for material damage. This includes the financial losses you sustain from the data breach. For example, if money was stolen from your bank account or if charges to your credit card affected your credit score.
Before the Vidal-Hall and Others v Google Inc (2015) case, you were only able to claim for non-material damage if you also made a claim for material damage. However, since this ruling, you can now claim for non-material damage alone or with material damage.
For a free estimate of the value of your claim, contact our advisors today.
Top Tips For Claiming After a Data Protection Breach
If you discover that you’ve been the victim of a personal data breach, you can report the breach to the organisation responsible. They should respond with more details on how this occurred and what steps they will take moving forward. However, if you don’t receive a satisfactory response within 3 months, you can make a complaint to the ICO.
The ICO can investigate the breach on your behalf, but it cannot provide compensation. If the ICO finds that the organisation responsible engaged in wrongful conduct, it may levy a fine against that organisation.
You can also compile evidence to help strengthen your claim. For example, correspondence between yourself and the ICO or responsible organisation can be used as evidence, as well as medical reports and bank statements that prove you have suffered harm.
To learn more about the steps you can take when starting a claim for data breach distress compensation, contact our team today.
No Win No Fee Solicitors – What are the Benefits?
Our panel of No Win No Fee solicitors can help guide you through the claims process without the high costs traditionally associated with legal representation. Similar to other types of No Win No Fee arrangements, Conditional Fee Agreements (CFA) provide a way to fund legal representation with no upfront costs.
In the event that you have a successful claim, your solicitor will require a success fee. This is a legally capped sum taken from your awarded compensation. However, in the event of an unsuccessful claim, you won’t pay this fee.
A solicitor from our panel can work with you on a No Win No Fee basis if you have a valid claim. You can speak to our advisors today to find out if your case meets the relevant criteria.
Contact Us For Free Now To Find Out If You Can Claim
Contact o
- Visit the make a claim section of our website
- Call 0333 241 2521
- Ask your questions using the live chat
Learn More About Data Breach Distress Compensation
You can see some external sources here that may help you with your claim:
Learn About Different Types of Data Breaches and How to Claim Compensation
Thank you for reading our data breach distress compensation guide. Please contact our advisors if you have any further questions.
Writer Jess Aloe
Publisher Cat Heart
