Data Breach Compensation – Make A UK GDPR Data Breach Claim

By Danielle Jordan. Last Updated 26th October 2023. If your personal or sensitive information has been exposed or accessed without your consent, you could be entitled to claim data breach compensation.

Below, you can find lots of useful information on making a data breach claim. Specifically, you can find details on:

• The role of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
• The roles of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018
• What organisations could be subject to a data breach claim
• How much compensation you could get after a data breach
• And how you can make a No Win No Fee claim with our expert solicitors.

We’ll also answer questions like:

• How long does a data breach claim take?
• And how much is a data breach claim worth?

We’ll answer many more questions below. You can jump to the section that interests you most by clicking below.

Select A Section

1. Can I Claim For A Data Breach?
2. What Is A Data Breach Compensation Claim?
3. Data Protection Breach Examples
4. Does The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Pay Data Breach Compensation?
5. Evidence To Support A Data Breach Claim
6. How Much Compensation Could I Receive For A Personal Data Breach Claim?
7. Start Your No Win No Fee Data Breach Compensation Claim Today

Can I Claim For A Data Breach? 

If your personal data was breached, you may wonder if you are entitled to compensation. The personal data of all UK residents is protected by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). Personal data is any information that could be used to identify you.

Data controllers, who decide how and why to use your personal data, and data processors, who process the data on behalf of the controller, are both expected to comply with these legislations. If they fail to do so, this is known as wrongful conduct.

Wrongful conduct can lead to a personal data breach. This is any security incident that affects the security, integrity, or availability of your personal data. However, you cannot claim for every data breach.

In order to claim compensation for a data breach, you have to be able to prove that:

• A data breach occurred as a result of wrongful conduct
• Your personal data was affected by a data breach
• You suffered mental or financial harm as a result

We look at a few data breach compensation examples further in this article, or you can speak with an advisor to discuss your eligibility to claim. 

What Is A Data Breach Compensation Claim?

A data breach is the unlawful disclosure or accessing of personal data without your consent. This personal data may have been misused, disclosed, destroyed or lost. It may have occurred as a result of human error. A recent example of this can be found in the PSNI data breach which saw the personal information of all members of the Northern Ireland police force shared by a member of staff accidentally.

A data breach could cause all types of damage and harm. If, for example, your GP sends a letter containing sensitive information to your neighbour’s address and they happen to read the content of that letter, it may provoke significant stress and anxiety.

There may also be financial harm inflicted too. If your bank details have been accessed in a cyberattack, for example, you may be subject to identity theft. A good example of this can be seen in the British Library data breach where hackers obtained personnel data and offered it for sale online.

If you’ve been the victim of a breach of privacy, you’re entitled to make a claim under data protection law.

Advice for data breach claims

Is an email address personal data?

When making a data breach claim, it’s important to be aware of what can be categorised as personal data. People often wonder whether an email address is personal data.

An email address can be counted as personal data. If a third-party accessed your email address, you could be sent spam emails without your consent or be involved in a phishing scam.

If your name also features in your email address, then its unlawful distribution could mean that unauthorised third parties could discover your identity. For example, your email may be, “Johnsmith@email.com.” Therefore, it would be easy to work out your name from your email address.

A data breach compensation calculator can take into account the level of psychological harm that a breach such as this may result in. For more information, including how much your claim could be worth, reach out to our advisors today.

Data Protection Breach Examples

You could make a claim if your personal data was compromised in a data breach due to an organisation breaking the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation’s (UK GDPR) rules. You will also need to prove that the personal data breach caused you to suffer mental harm or financial loss.

There are various ways an organisation’s failures could cause your personal data to be breached. Some examples include:

• The receptionist at your GP surgery verbally sharing your medical records with an unauthorised person without a lawful basis.
• Your employer doesn’t update your workplace’s cyber security, which leads to a cyber-attack. The hacker then leaked your phone numbers (home and mobile), resulting in you receiving unwanted calls and messages.
• Your solicitor fails to lock away or secure a paper file containing your personal information. This could result in your personal data being lost or stolen.
• In terms of real-life examples, a significant breach occurred in March 2023 when Capita, which administers the pension funds for dozens of organisations, suffered a cyber attack, including some of the biggest funds in the country. For more advice on the Capita data breach and compensation claims, head here

It is important to note that not all data breaches can lead to a claim. If you did not suffer any harm due to the data breach, or if the organisation took all the necessary steps and measurements to protect your personal data, but it was still compromised, you might not be able to claim.

Contact our advisors today to receive free legal advice regarding your specific claim. They could also help you answer any question you may have about starting a claim for a personal data breach.

How Long Do I Have To Make A Claim For Data Breach Compensation?

As part of the UK GDPR claims process, you’ll need to ensure you take action within the limitation period. If you fail to start a data breach compensation claim within six years from the date you became aware of the breach, your claim may be statute barred.

Additionally, if your claim for UK GDPR breach compensation is against a public body, the time limit is reduced to just one year. Therefore, we would recommend acting sooner rather than later to maximise your chances of securing data protection breach compensation.

Get in touch at any time for further information.

Does The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Pay Data Breach Compensation?

The ICO is an independent organisation that is charged with enforcing compliance with the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. They’re also charged with enforcing compliance with other laws, such as the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), as well as other legislation.

The ICO does not pay data breach compensation. 

If you believe that you’ve fallen victim to a data breach, the ICO recommends contacting the organisation directly to complain. If nothing comes of that complaint then you can take the matter up with the ICO, ideally no later than 3 months since you last heard from the organisation.

As we’ve seen above, the ICO can issue hefty fines, like the £20m they gave to British Airways. But above all, the ICO seeks to enforce compliance with the laws. They provide recommendations and guidance on how organisations can fix problems with data protection.

Evidence To Support A Data Breach Claim

If you are eligible to make a claim for data breach compensation, collecting sufficient evidence could help support your case.

Some examples of evidence that could help support your personal data breach claim include:

• Confirmation that your personal data was breached. For example, the organisation responsible may have sent you an email or letter stating that your personal information was involved in a data breach.
• Any correspondence with the organisation responsible regarding the breach.
• If you reported the breach to the ICO and they decided to investigate, their findings could be used as evidence in your claim.
• Proof that you suffered psychological harm due to the breach. For example, this could be a copy of your medical records stating that you were diagnosed with anxiety after the breach occurred.
• Proof that you suffered financial losses due to the breach. A copy of your bank statements could be used as evidence for this.

Contact our advisors today to discuss your potential claim. If they believe you may have a strong case, they could connect you with one of our solicitors, who could help you with gathering evidence.

How Much Compensation Could I Receive For A Personal Data Breach Claim?

If your personal data breach compensation claim succeeds, you could be awarded compensation for your non-material damage and your material damage.

Non-material damage refers to the harm done to your mental health. For example, following a personal data breach, you may experience anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other kinds of mental distress.

When solicitors value this head of data breach compensation, they may refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This document lists psychological injuries alongside guideline settlement amounts, some examples of which you can find below. These figures have been taken from the most recent edition of the JCG, published in April 2022. Please note that these are not guaranteed amounts.

Material damage refers to the financial harm you suffered due to the personal data breach. For example, if your credit card details were leaked, and this resulted in identity theft and fraudulent purchases made in your name, you could claim these losses back under material damage compensation.

Get in touch with our team today to learn more about claiming compensation for a data breach in the UK.

Start Your No Win No Fee Data Breach Compensation Claim Today

We believe that everybody should have equal access to justice, and because of that belief, we offer all of our clients the option of entering into a No Win No Fee agreement when pursuing a claim.

What does this mean? Essentially, if your claim fails, you will not have to pay your solicitor any of the fees they have incurred in pursuing your case. You also won’t be liable to pay any upfront fees nor any costs while the claim is ongoing.

If the claim does succeed, your solicitor will deduct a small percentage of the compensation award to cover their costs. This percentage is capped by law, so you need not worry about losing much of your compensation.

Get In Touch With Us

Our team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days per week to answer any legal queries you may have. And there’s no obligation to proceed with a claim. You can get in touch in the following ways:

• By calling us on 0800 073 8804
• Writing to us with details of your case by clicking here.
• Or sending us a message via our live chat function, which can be found bottom right.