Cambridge Constabulary Data Breach – Can I Claim?
This guide explores what you could do after a Cambridge Constabulary data breach. Whether you worked for the police and your personal data was involved in a breach or you were involved in another capacity and found that they had breached your data privacy, this guide could help you.
In this guide, we explain what can constitute a valid data breach claim and what harm could lead to compensation. The harm you may have suffered could be financial, such as if someone steals money for you. Alternatively, it could be emotional damage that you suffer. This could include distress, stress, anxiety and loss of sleep.
A guide exploring what you could do after a Cambridge Constabulary data breach
We explain all you may need to know about claiming compensation for a breach of data protection under the UK GDPR. We answer common questions such as:
- What is considered a data breach?
- What’s the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)?
- How do police officer breaches of the Data Protection Act happen?
- What compensation could I claim for?
- Could I claim under a Conditional Fee Agreement and make a No Win No Fee claim?
Data breach lawyers could help you seek the maximum data breach compensation possible for your claim. To find out if you could have a claim for police data loss, or other police officer breaches of the Data Protection Act, please take a look at the guide below. If you have evidence of a valid claim, you can call our expert team. You can reach us on 0800 073 8804.
Select a Section
- What Is A Cambridge Constabulary Data Breach?
- How Could The Constabulary Have Breached Data Protection Laws?
- Cambridge Constabulary Data Breach Statistics
- What Steps Could I Take Following A Data Breach?
- Calculating Compensation For GDPR Data Breaches
- How To Claim With A No Win No Fee Data Breach Solicitor
- Get Advice On Dealing With A Cambridge Constabulary Data Breach
What Is A Cambridge Constabulary Data Breach?
Whether you have provided personal data to the police because you’re a victim of crime, you work for them or you’re involved with them in another capacity, they have a duty to protect your data. The laws they must adhere to include the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Before we talk about the types of data breach that could happen, and how a police breach of data protection law could lead to compensation, we should explain what is considered a data breach.
As per the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), a personal data breach could occur because of a mistake or deliberately. The ICO is an independent body that enforces data protection legislation in the UK.
A personal data breach is a security incident leading to the loss, destruction, disclosure, alteration of or access to personal information. This could include:
- Unlawful/unauthorised police data loss, destruction or theft involving personal data
- Unauthorised/unlawful loss of availability of personal data
- Unlawful or unauthorised access to, or disclosure/transmission of personal data
Under data protection law, you could claim compensation for a data breach under the UK GDPR if a police data breach harms you financially or emotionally. A data breach solicitor could help you maximise the compensation for a GDPR data breach you receive.
However, it’s important to note that not every data breach leads to compensation. The party that was supposed to protect your personal data (in this case, the police) must have shown positive wrongful conduct that caused the data breach.
For example, they may not have provided online security or they may have given staff who process personal data poor data protection training. This could lead to a data breach.
How Could The Constabulary Have Breached Data Protection Laws?
Now you know what is considered a data breach, let us discuss some ways in which cases of police data protection breaches could occur. While you might presume that the highest concentration of breaches of UK GDPR compliance would be from cyber-based threats, human error could be considered a common cause of police data protection breaches.
Causes of a breach of data protection could include:
- Police data loss resulting from a police notebook containing personal data being left on a train
- The verbal disclosure of your personal data to an unauthorised third party
- A letter containing your personal information being sent to an incorrect address
- The failure to redact personal information when sending data to a third party
- Loss of computer equipment containing personal data
- Improper disposal of personal data
No matter what reason you are considering claiming data breach compensation, we would be happy to assess your claim for free. We could ascertain whether you could be eligible for compensation for a data breach under the UK GDPR. If you have proof of a valid claim, we could then connect you with a data breach lawyer who could take on your claim under a No Win No Fee agreement.
Cambridge Constabulary Data Breach Statistics
If you are wondering whether Cambridge Constabulary data breach has happened before, we do not have a record of there having been one reported.
However, we can inform you that, as per the ICO’s second quarter of 2021/22 statistics, in the justice sector, there were a number of reported breaches. In fact, The ICO reports 40 such breaches in this period. It may surprise you to learn that only 2 of these incidents were cyber-related, which means 38 were not related to cyber incidents.
What Steps Could I Take Following A Data Breach?
When it comes to reporting a data breach to the police, you could advise them of what you believe has happened and ask them to investigate. They should respond to you satisfactorily within 3 months. If they don’t do this, you could escalate your concerns to the ICO. However, you’d need to do so within 3 months of the police’s final response to you.
It may surprise you to know that you would not have had to report a data breach to the ICO to claim compensation. If you have a justifiable and valid claim, a data breach solicitor could help you make a No Win No Fee claim.
Calculating Compensation For GDPR Data Breaches
The amount of compensation for a personal data breach could be based on the damage you’ve suffered. This could include non-material and material damages.
- Material damages payouts could include compensation for money someone steals from you due to a data breach, if you weren’t able to recover it. It could also include any costs for the restoration of a credit file, for example.
- Non-material damages are compensation for mental harm the data breach causes. These damages could include compensation for psychological injuries, including a worsening of PTSD symptoms, anxiety, depression or loss of sleep.
We have created a table to give you a rough guide on potential non-material payout amounts, with figures from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This is a publication that solicitors and courts could use when valuing injuries. It could help them to hone in on compensation values for such data breach claims. You could also use our compensation calculator page.
| Injury type | How Severe | Compensation Bracket Guidelines |
|---|---|---|
| General psychiatric damage | Severe (a) | £51,460 to £108,620 |
| General psychiatric damage | Moderately Severe (b) | £17,900 to £51,460 |
| General psychiatric damage | Moderate (c) | £5,500 to £17,900 |
| General psychiatric damage | Less severe (d) | £1,440 to £5,500 |
| PTSD | Severe (a) | £56,180 to £94,470 |
| PTSD | Moderately Severe (b) | £21,720 to £56,180 |
| PTSD | Moderate (c) | £7,680 to £21,730 |
| PTSD | Less Severe (d) | £3,710 to £7,680 |
If you can’t see your injuries in the compensation table above, why not get in touch? Our advisors can value your claim for free.
How To Claim With A No Win No Fee Data Breach Solicitor
If you’re able to claim for a personal data breach, you might wish to retain the services of a data breach lawyer. If you’ve heard of making a No Win No Fee claim but aren’t sure how to do so, we’d be happy to advise you.
When you start a No Win No Fee claim, you would need to sign a Conditional Fee Agreement, also known as a No Win No Fee agreement. This would give you details of the success fee you would pay your data breach solicitor out of your settlement amount. It is a small percentage of the data breach compensation payout. However, you’d only pay it if your claim brings you compensation.
If your claim loses, you don’t have to pay your solicitor’s fee at all.
Before a lawyer could help you fight for a breach of data protection compensation, they’d need to assess your case. They’d do so to see how strong a case you could have. This could involve checking:
- Whether you’re claiming within the correct time limit. (You’d usually have a 6-year time limit from the date you learned of the breach unless it involved a public body. Then, you could only have a year to claim.)
- If a personal data breach happened, and whether it was due to wrongdoing on the organisation’s part.
- Whether you suffered psychologically and/or financially due to the data breach.
Would you like our expert team to assess your case to see if you could make a claim on a No Win No Fee basis? If so, we’d be happy to help you. Our solicitors have brilliant reviews and we believe we could make a difference when it comes to making a claim.
Get Advice On Dealing With A Cambridge Constabulary Data Breach
Hopefully, we’ve now provided you with sufficient information to know whether you could claim for a data breach. Do you have evidence of a valid claim, or do you have further questions about data breach claims? Either way, you can get in contact with our team in a number of different ways:
- Call 0800 073 8804
- Use the contact form
- Speak to our team via Live Chat
- E-mail info@legalexpert.co.uk
Useful Links Relating To Dealing With A Cambridge Constabulary Data Breach
Actions Taken By The ICO – You can read about the actions that the ICO has taken against organisations here.
Data Breach Compensation – We’ve produced a guide to general data breach claims here.
National Cyber Security Centre – Here, you can find a range of guides relating to cyber security.
Employer Data Breach – You could claim GDPR breach compensation for a breach by your employer. Read here for guidance.
Reporting GDPR Data Breaches – Further advice on reporting breaches can be found here.
Other Useful Compensation Guides
- Post Office Money Data Breach Compensation Claims
- Halifax Data Breach Compensation Claims
- University Of Liverpool Data Breach
- University Of West London Data Breach Compensation Claims
- Well Pharmacy Data Breach Compensation Claims
- University Of Plymouth Data Breach Compensation Claims
- MoneySuperMarket Data Breach Compensation Claims
- Ministry of Defence Data Breach Compensation Claims
- My Personal Data Has Been Lost After a Data Breach, What Are My Rights?
- Gwent Police Data Breach
- I Suffered Stress Due To a Data Breach, Can I Claim?
We hope this guide on what steps you could take following a Cambridge Constabulary data breach has been helpful. Why not contact us if you need anything more?
Written by Jeffries
Edited by Victorine
