Borough Of Poole Council Data Breach Claims
In this guide, we will look at how a Borough of Poole Council data breach could potentially occur. We’ll also examine the steps you could take if a data breach were to cause you harm.
In 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect in the EU. The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) ratified this into UK law. Since leaving the EU the UK has now updated the DPA and also introduced the UK GDPR, This is a regime that determines the way personal data is protected.
Borough Of Poole Council data breach claims guide.
When collecting and processing personal data, councils and local authorities must follow the rules of the UK GDPR. They can be fined by the Office of the Information Commissioner (ICO) if they fail to do so. The ICO is a non-departmental public body that answers directly to the Government of the United Kingdom.
We can provide you with free legal advice about your case if you contact our team of advisers. Our team of advisers are available 24/7 to assist you. If your claim is valid, you could be appointed one of our solicitors to work on your claim.
Get in touch using any of the methods below:
- Contact an adviser by calling 0800 073 8804
- We’ll respond to your claim as soon as possible when you fill out our online claim form
- Email us at info@legalexpert.co.uk
- For an immediate response, chat with one of our advisers through our live chat pop-up box
We provide you with a free, no-obligation consultation that allows you to ask any questions you may have. You can also read on for more information.
Select A Section
- A Guide To Making A Claim Should A Borough Of Poole Council Data Breach Occur
- Are Data Breaches Increasing?
- What Could Be A Borough Of Poole Council Data Breach?
- Does The UK GDPR Apply To Borough Councils?
- How Local Authorities Data Security Could Be Breached
- Breaches In Social Housing Data Protection
- Your Right To Complain Via The ICO
- When Could I Sue A Borough Council?
- How To Check What Damages You May Be Owed?
- How Do you Calculate Compensation For A Borough Of Poole Council Data Breach?
- No Win No Fee Solicitors For Borough Of Poole Council Data Breaches
- How Do I Find A Specialist To Handle My Case?
- How To Contact Us
- Data Security And Data Breach Claim Resources
- Questions People Ask About Data Breaches
A Guide To Making A Claim Should A Borough Of Poole Council Data Breach Occur
Our guide looks at the steps you could take if a local authority data breach has occurred, causing you harm. We also clarify what legislation applies to data protection. Looking at the types of data protected by legislation in the UK you can see the information covered by law.
We examine the regulations that must be adhered to when processing personal information. In addition to this, we provide a selection of examples showing the potential for a data breach. Furthermore, we describe how to report a data breach as well as what you could do if a claim is possible.
In addition, we examine the amount of compensation you could receive and what this could cover. We have provided a table to help you estimate how much you might be entitled to in a successful claim. In addition to this, we’ll cover No Win No Fee agreements, explaining the benefits that these agreements can provide when you seek legal representation for a data breach compensation claim.
This article provides some general information about how to choose a specialist lawyer and the criteria for making a data breach claim. Our guide concludes with a list of relevant resources and a Q&A section.
Deadline for filing data breach claims
Council data breach claims need to be filed in the correct timeframe. This depends on the circumstances of your claim. The time limit, in general, will be six years for data breach claims.
However, the time limit for making a claim against a public body is reduced to one year. As a local authority is considered a public body, this is usually the time limit that applies to these claims.
You can find out what time limit applies to your claim by speaking with one of our advisers by calling the number shown at the top of the page.
Are Data Breaches Increasing?
Data privacy and security regulations in the UK are enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Additionally, they maintain a list of notifiable data breaches that organisations experience.
Data security incident trends for the first quarter of 2021-22 were released by the ICO. Using these statistics, the graph below illustrates the causes of non-cyber government security data incidents.
In order for you to claim in the event that a Borough of Poole Council data breach were to occur, you would need to show that their failings caused the breach to occur. A data breach could happen in a number of ways; if the council did all they could to protect your data and a breach happened anyway, you would not be able to claim compensation.
What Could Be A Borough Of Poole Council Data Breach?
Data breaches occur when a security incident causes a loss, destruction, disclosure, unauthorised access, or alteration of personal information without a lawful basis.
Personal data is the term used to refer to any data that can be used to identify you. This can either be information that can identify you in isolation or when combined with other information.
Data also must be stored in order for it to be classed as data and therefore protected by the UK GDPR. It doesn’t matter whether the data is stored physically or digitally; it’s still classed as data.
Data breaches can occur for a number of different reasons. For example, a hacker might steal your personal data for their own gain.
On the other hand, a data breach could occur as a result of human error or a mistake on the part of staff members. For example, a council worker might fail to dispose of documents containing personal data properly, putting them in the bin instead of securely shredding them.
Should you have any questions, please contact our advisers. They can provide advice on what to do if a potential Borough of Poole data breach were to occur.
Does The UK GDPR Apply To Borough Councils?
Your local authority must adhere to applicable data protection laws when it collects, holds, or processes personal data. This includes adhering to the seven key principles of the UK GDPR.
According to these principles, organisations should:
- Limit the duration of the storage of your personal information (storage limitation)
- Ensure the confidentiality of your information (integrity and confidentiality)
- Act fairly, following the law, and being transparent (lawfulness, fairness and transparency)
- Ensure that the data stored is only used for the purpose it was collected (purpose limitation)
- Take responsibility for data storage and processing (accountability)
- Keeping all data about you up-to-date and accurate (accuracy)
- Ensure that only necessary data about you is stored (data minimisation)
If you have any questions, why not contact us? We provide a free legal consultation at any time. If you’re wondering what circumstances could cause a potential Borough of Poole Council data breach to occur, please read on.
How Local Authorities Data Security Could Be Breached
A data breach could occur in a number of ways. Both accidental and intentional data breaches are possible. Breaches can happen online, as well as affect data that is stored physically.
Examples of how a data breach could occur include:
- Putting the wrong email address in the recipient line of an email, despite having been given the right one. This means that your personal data is shared with someone who isn’t authorised to view it.
- An employer has physical records of your personal information. These are not disposed of securely, and someone gains access to them.
- A member of staff has your personal data on their work laptop. They take this out of the office and leave it on a park bench. The laptop is not password protected and anyone can gain access to your personal data.
It is evident that personal data was at risk in these examples. To find out if your case qualifies you for data breach compensation call our team today.
Breaches In Social Housing Data Protection
If you live in a council rented property, your council will collect information about you. This is because they are acting as your landlord.
Some of the information that the council might hold on you could include:
- A scan of your passport
- Rend audit information
- Rent statements
This type of information contains lots of identifiable data. If this information were to fall into the wrong hands it could be used in criminal activity. This could not only affect you financially but you may also suffer mentally.
If the information on how much rent you pay is exposed in a security incident, this could be used to create a phishing scam. This is where a hacker poses as a legitimate organisation.
These examples illustrate the effects that a data breach could have. To find out more, talk to one of our advisers today.
Your Right To Complain Via The ICO
If you’re concerned about the way an organisation is using your data, the first thing you can do is contact the organisation about it directly. The ICO have a template that you can use to do this.
In addition, you can inform the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) about your concerns. You should do this within three months of the last meaningful communication that you have with the organisation.
The ICO cannot offer you compensation, which is another key point to note. You would either have to be compensated by the council directly or file a data breach claim for compensation through legal proceedings.
When Could I Sue A Borough Council?
A specialist data breach solicitor can accurately value your claim and assist you with the process in general. In addition to receiving assistance about preparing the required evidence, you would also have someone to negotiate with the other side on your behalf.
You can get more information about how the claims process works by contacting our team of advisers, who may be able to connect you with a data breach solicitor to work on your claim. You can reach out to them directly by calling the number above.
How To Check What Damages You May Be Owed?
You may be compensated for two different types of harm if your data breach claim is successful.
Firstly, you could receive compensation for mental harm, stress, or any other psychiatric harm caused by the data breach. In extreme cases, this could cover Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). You may be compensated if you suffer monetary losses due to the breach, for example, if a data breach led to money being stolen from your bank account.
Non-Material Damages
The Court of Appeal heard Vidal-Hall v Google Inc [2015]. Although the claimant in this instance didn’t suffer any financial loss due to the breach of data, they were awarded non-material damages.
Taking this into account, it means that if you do not lose money as a result of the data breach, you are entitled to claim for psychological distress. Previously, you were not able to do so.
Material Damages
A data breach may result in monetary loss for you. For example, your bank account may be hacked and money stolen from your account because hackers exposed a weakness in the data controller’s cyber security and accessed your banking details.
You can use a bank statement, bill or credit card information to prove material damage. Call us for more information.
How Do you Calculate Compensation For A Borough Of Poole Council Data Breach?
Each case has different circumstances that determine how much compensation will be awarded. The amounts provided below, however, were taken from the Judicial College guidelines.
Legal professionals use these guidelines to determine how much an injury is worth. According to the guidelines, you could receive different amounts of compensation depending on the severity of your injury.
| Injury/harm | Severity | Notes | Potential amount awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychiatric disorder- Reactive (PTSD) | Severe | A claimant presents with extremely severe symptoms that inhibit him or her from working and taking part in normal activities. These symptoms also negatively impact their relationship with others. | £56,180 to £94,470 |
| Psychiatric disorder- Reactive (PTSD) | Moderately severe | In such cases, a claimant exhibits symptoms that make it difficult for him or her to work or participate in normal activities. In addition, these symptoms negatively influence relationships. However, there will be a better prognosis than above. | £21,730 to £56,180 |
| Psychiatric disorder- Reactive (PTSD) | Moderate | There are some moderate symptoms of PTSD, however, the severity of the symptoms is to a lesser extent than indicated above. The claimant should fully recover from the symptoms with proper therapy and treatment. | £7,680 to £21,730 |
| Psychiatric disorder- Reactive (PTSD) | Less severe | The claimant does not exhibit as many symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as above. The claimant is expected to recover completely within two years of the incident | Up to £7,680 |
| Mental harm | Severe | There will be marked problems with the injured person’s ability to cope with relationships, work and life in general. There will be a poor prognosis | £51,460 to £108,620 |
| Mental harm | Moderately severe | There will be significant problems with the injured person’s ability to cope with relationships, work and life in general. There will be a prognosis better than in the category above | £17,900 to £51,460 |
| Mental harm | Moderate | There will be some problems with the injured person’s ability to cope with relationships, work and life in general. There will be a good prognosis and marked improvement with treatment. | £5,500 to £17,900 |
| Mental harm | Less serious | The level of this award will consider things like how long the injured person suffered disability and how badly daily activities were affected | Up to £5,500 |
No Win No Fee Solicitors For Borough Of Poole Council Data Breaches
A No Win No Fee agreement is an agreement between you and your solicitor outlining the conditions they need to meet before you pay them. It means that
- You don’t pay upfront fees or other fees as your claim goes forward
- You pay a No Win No Fee solicitor when you win your claim
- The amount you pay is taken out of your compensation payout
- A lost claim means you do not need to pay your solicitor.
Get in touch to see if our advisers can put you in touch with a specialist council data breach solicitor.
How Do I Find A Specialist To Handle My Case?
In case of a data breach, you won’t have to go far to find a specialist solicitor. Why not call our advisers for a free consultation. They can look at your case and review any evidence you may have. If they think that your case will succeed they can have one of our solicitors review your case for you. If our solicitors agree to work with you it will be on a No Win No Fee basis.
Do you have evidence that supports a valid claim? If so, why not contact us?
How To Contact Us
Using the information below, you can reach out to a claims adviser. They will provide you with free advice on what to do after a data breach. It may be possible to claim under a No Win No Fee agreement.
You can reach out to our advisors 24/7. Moreover, our solicitors provide free legal advice when you need it the most. You can get in touch in the following ways:
- We can be reached at 0800 073 8804
- through our webchat service
- Our online claim form allows you to request a call-back whenever it is convenient for you.
- email us at info@legalexpert.co.uk
Data Security And Data Breach Claim Resources
Links to more Legal Expert guides:
- Claiming for a school data breach
- Claiming for a nursery data breach
- See here for information about the Blackbaud data breach
- Discrimination Data Breach Claims
- Wealth Manager Data Breach Claims
- Children’s Services Data Breach Claims
- Gym Data Breach Claims
- UK GDPR Salary Information Data Breach Claims
Information links to other websites:
Questions People Ask About Data Breaches
Here are some frequently asked questions relating to data breaches in the UK.
Am I eligible to claim damages?
You can claim non-material and material damages. However, you must prove you were harmed in some way by the breach and that the breach was caused by the failings of the organisation.
How do I check what data was affected?
The relevant department can tell you what data was affected by a breach. This could be the data protection officer or another person who is in charge of data security.
What is the Data Protection Act 2018?
The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) enacted the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. This has since been updated since leaving the EU and now runs alongside the UK GDPR. The new legislation provides you with more control over how organisations use your personal information.
Could I claim compensation for distress?
Providing you have grounds to sue for compensation, you can seek damages for the distress a data breach caused you.
Thank you for reading our guide on the steps you could take if a Borough of Poole Council data breach were to occur.
Written by Wood
Edited by Stocks
