By Danielle Jordan. Last updated 14th February 2024. In this guide, explore the question “Can you sue someone for disclosing personal information in the UK?”. We also examine who has obligations under data protection laws, what these law state and how failures to meet adhere to them can result in breaches of personal data.
You will find illustrative examples of how data breaches can occur and the harm that these security incidents can cause. Also included is an overview the potential compensation payout that could be awarded for this harm after a successful data breach claim.
The penultimate section of this guide contains a breakdown of the benefits of working with one of our solicitors under a specific No Win No Fee contract for your data breach claim.
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Select A Section
- Can You Sue Someone For Disclosing Personal Information In The UK?
- Examples Of How Someone Could Disclose Personal Information
- What Evidence Could Help You Claim Data Breach Compensation?
- Valuing Claims For The Disclosure Of Personal Information
- Can You Sue Someone For Disclosing Personal Information In The UK With A No Win No Fee Solicitor?
- Learn More About Personal Data Breach Claims
Can You Sue Someone For Disclosing Personal Information In The UK?
The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The UK GDPR along with the Data Protection Act 2018 protect the personal data of those resident in the UK. Data controllers and data processors must adhere to both the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act.
A data controller is generally an organisation. They determine why personal data will be processed and how this will be carried out. Data processing refers to what a controller does with personal data. A controller may instruct a data processor to process personal data for them.
When Can You Make A Claim?
If there was a data breach of your personal information, you may want to know if you could claim compensation. To have valid grounds to do so, you will need to satisfy the claiming requirements as set out in Article 82 of the UK GDPR:
- The data controller or processor did not comply with data protection laws.
- Due to the controller or processor’s failings, your personal data was compromised in a breach.
- As a result of the personal information data breach you suffered harm. This could be financial losses, such as loans taken out in your name or mental health damage, such as emotional distress.
Who Could You Claim Against?
Data breach compensation can only be sought against an organisation, not an individual. So, you can sue someone for disclosing personal information in the UK, but only if your claim is filed against the organisation. For example, if the receptionist at your doctor’s practice sent a copy of your medical records to the wrong email address, you might be able to make a data breach claim against the doctor’s surgery.
Please get in touch with an advisor for more information on the eligibility criteria for data breach claims. You can ring the number above to discuss your potential case with them for free.
Examples Of How Someone Could Disclose Personal Information
Per the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), an independent body set up to govern data protection laws in the UK, a personal data breach is an incident where the security of your personal data is affected in terms of its availability, confidentiality or integrity. This can be accidental or deliberate.
Personal data is information that can be used to directly, or indirectly, identify you as a living individual. For example, your name, your contact details such as phone numbers and email addresses, and your postal address. It could also include your bank account and card information. Additionally, there is special category data which is sensitive and given extra protection under the UK GDPR. This can include data concerning your health as well as data revealing your racial or ethnic origin.
Below we have listed some situations where your personal information could be disclosed leading to financial or emotional harm:
- A bank did not use the BCC (blind carbon copy) feature when sending an email to multiple recipients. This resulted in your email address being shared with other recipients.
- A healthcare professional failed to adequately check your contact details on their records and correspondence concerning treatment for a long-term health condition was subsequently sent to the wrong address in a GP data breach
What Evidence Could Help You Claim Data Breach Compensation?
Claiming compensation for a data breach will require supporting evidence. This is used to show how the data breach impacted you, either financially or mentally. Examples of what you could collect include:
- Banks statements showing unauthorised financial activity in your accounts and associated losses.
- Any correspondence between you and the data controller explaining a breach has occurred and what personal data was affected.
- Medical records detailing the psychiatric impacts of having your personal data disclosed unlawfully or accidentally.
What Steps Should Be Taken Following A Data Breach?
In the event of a data breach that impacts the rights and freedoms of data subjects, data controllers have a legal obligation to notify those subjects as soon as possible and within 72 hours inform the ICO that a breach has occurred. The ICO can then open an investigation into the security incident and, while they cannot compensate you for your losses, the findings of their investigation can be used as evidence for your claim.
Data subjects have the right to raise concerns with the data controller about how their personal data is being handled. Following an unsatisfactory response to your concerns, you can complain to the ICO about the controller’s conduct. However, it is not a legal prerequisite to starting a data breach claim to report a data breach yourself.
Our dedicated team of advisors have experience in assessing the circumstances surrounding data protection law and the misuse of private information. They could connect you with one of our specialist solicitors if they decide your potential claim to sue someone for the disclosure of personal information in the UK is valid. You can speak to a team member using the contact information listed at the end of this guide.
Valuing Claims For The Disclosure Of Personal Information
When you make a personal data breach compensation claim, your award could consist of non-material damage compensation as well as material damage compensation.
Non-material damage compensation covers the psychological effects of the breach. For example, a personal data breach could cause you to develop depression, anxiety, and experience general emotional distress. Similarly, it could exacerbate existing mental health disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Those who value this head of claim may do so in line with the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This text contains a list of physical and psychological injuries with corresponding guideline compensation brackets.
In the table below, we’ve included some examples of these guidelines. Please note that these amounts aren’t guaranteed, and the first entry in this table is not taken from the JCG.
Guideline Compensation Brackets
| Harm | Severity | Description | Guideline Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Severe Psychological Injuries + Financial Losses | Severe | Severe psychological injuries that affect all areas of your life and financial losses that include lost earnings. | Up to £150,000+ |
| Psychiatric Injury | Severe (a) | Multiple aspects of the injured person's life will be severely impacted. Prognosis will be very poor. | £54,830 to £115,730 |
| Moderately severe (b) | More optimistic prognosis but multiple aspects of life still badly affected. | £19,070 to £54,830 | |
| Moderate (c) | Good prognosis with substantial improvement across multiple areas. | £5,860 to £19,070 | |
| Less Severe (d) | Impact on daily activities and length of the period of disability taken into consideration. | £1,540 to £5,860 | |
| PTSD | Severe (a) | All aspects of life will be subject to permanent and severe effects, with no return to pre-trauma level of function. | £59,860 to £100,670 |
| Moderately severe (b) | Significant disability for the foreseeable future but there will be a better prognosis following some recovery after treatment. | £23,150 to £59,860 | |
| Moderate (c) | Large-scale recovery with any continuing effects not causing gross disablement. | £8,180 to £23,150 | |
| Less Severe (d) | Virtual recovery within two years with only minor continuing symptoms. | £3,950 to £8,180 |
What Is Material Damage Compensation?
Material damage compensation addresses the financial losses you experience as a result of the breach. For example, if you lost out on earnings because you needed to take time off work to recover from a psychological injury caused by the breach, these could be recouped under material damage compensation.
This head of claim could also help recover losses such as:
- Money stolen from your bank account.
- Damage to your credit score.
- Damage caused by identity theft.
- Debt and loans taken out in your name.
To learn more about claiming compensation for a data protection breach, contact our team of advisors today. They can provide more information on data protection claims and how much compensation you could receive.
Can You Sue Someone For Disclosing Personal Information In The UK With A No Win No Fee Solicitor?
After speaking to an advisor and getting your potential claim assessed, our team could connect you with one of our specialist data breach solicitors if it is decided you have valid grounds to proceed. The type of No Win No Fee contract our solicitors can offer you is called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
When making a claim under a CFA, claimants experience a number of distinct advantages. First, in most cases, there will not be a fee upfront for the solicitor to begin work on the case. Second, you will not accrue any fees for work the solicitor carries out during the claim. Finally, there will be no fee for the solicitor’s services if the claim results in failure.
Compensation will be awarded for successful claims. This can be for material damage, non-material damage or both. The solicitor will take a legally capped percentage of the compensation amount as their success fee. This cap means you get to keep the majority of any compensation awarded to you.
Contact Our Team
To get more information on the question “can you sue someone for disclosing personal information in the UK?” talk to our advisors. Our team can explain the process of making a data breach claim as well as provide an assessment free of charge of your specific circumstances.
Use any of the below contact details to speak to one of our dedicated team:
- Call on 0800 073 8804.
- Fill in our “claim online” form.
- Use the live chat feature in the bottom left hand of the screen.
Learn More About Personal Data Breach Claims
See some of our other data breach guides:
- Find out more about claiming after a lost files data breach.
- See what compensation you could claim if a company has misused your personal data.
- Learn more about what to do after a medication data breach.
Further Resources
- ICO – Get your data deleted.
- NHS – Guidance on PTSD.
- GOV – Read the government’s Cyber Essentials Scheme for organisations.
Thank you for reading this data breach compensation guide. We hope we have adequately answered the question, “can you sue someone for disclosing personal information in the UK?” To get further advice regarding personal data breaches, or to get your potential claim assessed, reach out to our advisors today. You speak to a member of our dedicated team using any of the contact details provided above.
