Data Breach Solicitors For Birmingham

This guide will provide information about using data breach solicitors for Birmingham. There are several considerations you should give before deciding on a solicitor to represent your claim, including the experience they have and whether they can offer their services on a No Win No Fee basis. We will discuss these in further detail throughout this guide.

University data breach

Data breach solicitors for Birmingham

There are certain data protection laws in place that set out the responsibilities for those processing your personal data. We will look at how your data could be affected if they do not adhere to these laws.

Additionally, we will discuss the eligibility criteria that needs to be met in order for you to seek data breach compensation as well as the steps you can take to support your potential claim.

Furthermore, we will look at the data breach compensation you could be awarded after making a successful claim.

For more information, you can get in touch with our helpful advisors. They are available 24/7 to offer free legal advice regarding your potential claim. To reach them, you can:

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A Guide To Using Data Breach Solicitors For Birmingham

It’s important to note that you aren’t legally required to use a solicitor when putting forward a data breach claim. However, they can provide several services that may benefit you and your case. For example, they could:

  • Help gather evidence to support your case
  • Ensure you put forward a complete and full claim
  • Use several resources to help them value your claim
  • Give you a realistic timescale of how long your claim could take.

You may wonder whether you need to work with a solicitor located near you but this is not necessary. Instead, before choosing a solicitor, you should consider whether they have experience handling cases similar to your own and whether they can offer their services under a No Win No Fee agreement. This can ensure you work with a solicitor that can benefit you and your case the most.

Our data breach solicitors for Birmingham can work with claimants across the country. They have experience in data protection law and can help you through the different stages of the claims process.

To find out whether one of our panel solicitors could represent your case, please get in touch using the number above.

When Can You Make A Claim For A Data Protection Breach?

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) set out the responsibility data controllers and data processors have to protect your personal data. Data controllers set the purpose for processing and can also process the data themselves. In other cases, they might outsource the latter task to a data processor who acts on behalf of the controller.

If they fail to adhere to data protection law, it could result in your personal data being involved in a breach. A personal data breach is a security incident that affects the confidentiality, availability and integrity of your personal data.

Personal data is classed as any information that could be used to identify you when processed by itself or in combination with other personal information. This could include your name, email address, phone number, and postal address.

In some cases, you may be able to seek compensation following a breach of data protection. However, you would need to prove the following:

  • A data processor or controller failed to adhere to data protection law
  • As a result of their failings, your personal data is breached
  • The breach causes you financial loss or emotional harm.

Data breach examples could include:

  • Human error: This could include a member of staff in the HR department sending an email containing your personal information to the wrong email address leading to an HR data breach.
  • Cyber incident: A data breach of a database could occur if an organisation failed to ensure there was adequate cybersecurity measures in place. This could lead to your personal information being stolen in a ransomware attack.

To find out when you could be eligible to make a data breach claim, please get in touch using the number above.

Potential Evidence That Could Be Used In A Breach Of Data Protection Claim

There are several pieces of evidence that you could gather to support your data breach claim, including:

  • Correspondence with the organisation: If you suspect your personal information has been compromised in a breach, you can get in touch with the organisation directly. Additionally, if a data breach has occurred and put your rights and freedoms at risk, the organisation must notify you without undue delay. Any correspondence you have with the organisation, including letters and emails, can be used as evidence to support your case.
  • Information from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): The ICO is an independent body in the UK set to uphold information rights. Organisations must notify the ICO of a breach that has affected the rights and freedoms of data subjects within 72 hours. Additionally, you could also report a concern to the ICO if you have not heard back from the organisation after contacting them. The ICO may choose to investigate the incident. If they do, you could use their findings as evidence to support your case.
  • Evidence of financial losses: This can include receipts, bank statements, credit card statements and invoices.

You could also seek legal advice by calling an advisor on the number above. They could assess whether you’re eligible to claim and could connect you with one of our panel of data breach solicitors for Birmingham.

How Much Compensation For A Data Breach Could I Receive?

A data breach settlement could comprise compensation for:

  • Material damage: This relates to the financial losses you have incurred as a result of the personal data breach, such as money stolen from your account and loans taken out in your name which could have an impact on your credit score.
  • Non-material damage: This relates to the psychological harm you have experienced as a result of the personal data breach, such as anxiety, distress, depression, stress and post-traumatic stress disorder, in severe cases.

When calculating how much compensation you could be awarded for non-material damage, solicitors can use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The JCG contains guideline compensation brackets for different types of emotional harm.

Whilst we have included figures from the JCG in the table below, you should only use them as a guide. This is because they aren’t necessarily reflective of what you will receive following a successful claim.

HarmSeverityDescriptionCompensation
Psychological InjurySevereA very poor prognosis.£54,830 to £115,730
Psychological InjuryModerately SevereA better prognosis than in more severe cases but still significant issues.£19,070 to £54,830
Psychological InjuryModerateA significant improvement and good prognosis.£5,860 to £19,070
Psychological InjuryLess SevereThe extent to which daily activities and sleep are affected will be considered.£1,540 to £5,860
Anxiety DisorderSevereEvery area of the person’s life is affected negatively.£59,860 to £100,670
Anxiety DisorderModerately SevereA better prognosis than in cases above because of receiving professional help.£23,150 to £59,860
Anxiety DisorderModerateAny persisting issues are not majorly disabling and a significant recovery will have taken place.£8,180 to £23,150
Anxiety DisorderLess SevereA near full recovery within a couple of years.£3,950 to £8,180

To learn more about what you could receive in data breach compensation, get in touch using the number above.

The Benefits Of Using No Win No Fee Data Breach Solicitors For Birmingham

There are different types of No Win No Fee contracts, including a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This allows you access to the services your solicitor provides without needing to pay for them upfront or during the course of the claim. Furthermore, it typically means there is no requirement to pay for the work your solicitor has done on your case if it doesn’t succeed.

If your claim is successful, the solicitor will take a success fee out of your compensation. This is deducted as a legally capped percentage.

This is a service our panel of data breach claim solicitors could offer. Please get in touch using the details provided below to find out whether you’re eligible to have a solicitor work on your case.

Contact Us To Learn Whether You Could Make A Data Breach Claim

We hope this guide on finding data breach solicitors for Birmingham and when you could be eligible to make a claim has helped. However, if you have any other questions after reading, please get in touch with our team of advisors. To reach them, you can:

There are also some more resources below which you may find useful.

 

Find your nearest Data Breach Solicitors

You could get more information by reading our other guides:

 

If you have any other questions about working with data breach solicitors for Birmingham, get in touch using the number above.

Writer Saif Small

Editor Meg Morgan