Data Breach Compensation Calculator
By Daniel Archer. Last Updated 24th August 2022. Do you need advice on how to use a data breach compensation calculator? Were your personal details leaked in a way that caused you financial or emotional harm by those legally required to protect that information?
This guide explains how you can use the relevant evidence to evaluate what damages you may be owed with a compensation calculator. Please feel free to get in touch if you wish to learn more right now. At Legal Expert, we can connect you with our data breach specialist solicitors to assist you in your calculations.
- Simply call our advisors on 0800 073 8804
- Contact us online and get a callback
- Use our ‘live support’ option for instant help
- And continue to read the sections below for more help
Data breach compensation calculator
Select A Section
- How Does A Data Breach Compensation Calculator Work?
- Types Of Data Breach
- How To Claim Data Breach Compensation
- Types Of Damages You Could Claim For A Data Breach
- Data Breach Compensation Calculator
- Contact Us To Start A Data Breach Claim
How Does A Data Breach Compensation Calculator Work?
There are two main laws that seek to protect the data rights of the individual in the UK. The Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) support your right to have more control over your personal information. An independent agency called the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regulates and enforces these laws with the power to investigate or issue penalties to those who don’t comply.
A personal data breach can happen when personal identifiable information is caught up in a security incident. This can mean that it may have been lost, stolen, destroyed, altered, dislosed or accessed by an unauthorised party. A data breach can be an accidental or deliberate act.
Fundamental to a data breach claim is having evidence to prove that another party handled your data in a way that was contrary to these legal obligations outlined in UK GDPR. Furthermore, there needs to be evidence that this failure directly caused you emotional and/or financial harm as a result.
Types Of Data Breach
Data breaches can happen through phishing scams and ransomware attacks by cybercriminals outside the company, such as in the case of the British Library data breach. However, the biggest cause of a data breach is human error. This may mean emails sent to the wrong address, letters containing sensitive information sent to the wrong postal address or even documents faxed to the wrong recipient.
The people who request and retain our personal data are called data controllers and they may use processors to process that data. There must be a lawful basis given. There are 7 Core Principles set out by data protection laws that must be followed to ensure this data is processed according to the law. To ensure staff are fully aware of these responsibilities and handle data accordingly staff awareness and training is crucial. Not all data is protected by data security laws but in order to claim for personal data misuse the onus will be on you to prove how the data controller was liable for the breach.
Data protected by data security laws include:
- Your name and address
- Email address and mobile phone number
- Date of birth
- Bank details (debit and credit card information)
Furthermore, UK GDPR recognises a ‘special category’ of data that is considered even more sensitive and deserving of careful handling:
- Ethnicity
- Sexual orientation
- Health details
- Religious beliefs
- Political opinions or Trade Union affiliations
- Biometric information (fingerprints)
How To Claim Data Breach Compensation
Data breach victims are those that have had personal information about themselves breached. That said not all victims will be eligible to make a personal data breach claim. It will need to be established that the data controller failed to adhere to the UK GDPR and it directly led to you suffering a damaging data leak. Evidence is key to any compensation claim. So to strengthen your case you could take the following steps:
- Complain directly to the agency involved. Ask whether a data breach has taken place and what information was leaked. This can provide evidence that a personal data breach has taken place.
- If you are not happen with the response from the data controller do not wait no longer than 3 months from the last meaningful discussion on the matter if you want to make a complaint to the ICO.
- Ask the ICO to step in by raising a concern. They do not pay compensation but any findings from their investigation could help your claim.
- Gather documented proof of the damages caused to you
- Consider legal help
A data breach compensation calculator can be found below. However our data breach solicitor’s can evaluate your claim for you now if you call us today.
Types Of Damages You Could Claim For A Data Breach
A data breach compensation calculator can be used to look at one particular part of your claim settlement. If you make a successful data breach claim and are awarded a settlement it will take into account two areas of damage. Materiel damage will compensate for the financial losses incurred because of the data breach. However, non material damage looks at how you have suffered mentally as a consequence of the personal data breach. This is where the data breach compensation calculator will come in.
The stress and anxiety of a data breach and privacy violation can prompt significant psychological suffering for some people. In extreme cases, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur. This may be in addition to stolen money or damaged businesses.
Data Breach Compensation Calculator
Material damages are a good place to start. For example, you may be able to demonstrate how you suffered:
- A loss of earnings due to time taken away from work due to mental illness
- Counselling costs for shock or trauma
- Stolen funds from your bank accounts due to leaked account details
- Damage to credit score due to fraudulent activity on your bank accounts
A legal case called Vidal-Hall v Google set a precedent that emotional suffering and psychological damage in data breach cases were worthy of compensation in their own right. Prior to this case, financial damage needed to be present.
Now, suffering in a data breach can be evaluated in the same way as a personal injury case, using the Judicial College Guidelines. This guide applies a suggested monetary value for severities of psychiatric harm as shown:
| Manner of Psychiatric Harm | Severity and JC Guideline Award Bracket | Supporting Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Psychiatric Damage – General | (A) Severe in Nature – £54,830 to £115,730 | Real coping issues in most areas of life. On-going vulnerability and poor prognosis |
| Psychiatric Damage – General | (B) More Moderately Severe in Nature – £19,070 to £54,830 | Cases that are less severe as the bracket above but still entail significantly disabling mental health issues |
| Psychiatric Damage – General | (C) Moderate in Nature – £5,860 to £19,070 | A better prognosis, particularly by the time of trial |
| Psychiatric Damage – General | (D) Less Severe in Nature – £1,540 to £5,860 | This bracket reflects how long the disable person suffered and to what extreme it impacted normal life |
| PTSD – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | (A) Severe in Nature – £59,860 to £100,670 | Permanent traumatising effects that prevent a return to normal life |
| PTSD – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | (B) Moderately Severe in Nature – £23,150 to £59,860 | A better prognosis than above especially after professional help. Still significant level of future disability |
| PTSD – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | (C) Moderate in Nature – £8,180 to £23,150 | Mostly recovered with only minor persisting issues that are not debilitating |
| PTSD – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | (D) Less Severe in Nature – £3,950 to £8,180 | A more or less complete recovery within a 12 – 24 month period |
How Can A Data Breach Compensation Calculator Help Me?
If you’ve suffered psychologically as the result of a GDPR breach that has affected the security of your personal data, then the value of your settlement can depend on the level of your suffering. A good way you can gain an understanding of how much you could receive is to use our online data breach compensation calculator. The calculator can provide you with an estimate.
However, some data breach claims may involve you being reimbursed for certain financial losses caused by the breach. An online resource such as a calculator may not include all of these material damages.
The best way to value data breach claims is to speak with someone directly. You can do this by getting in touch with our advisors today. Once we know more about your circumstances, we will be able to provide a more accurate estimation. Reach out today and we can take you through the valuation process and give you a bespoke estimate of your potential payout.
Contact Us To Start A Data Breach Claim
In a solicitor offers their service on a No Win No Fee basis it may be that there are:
- No upfront fees
- No fees to retain their services
- A maximum 25% deduction from the settlement becomes due for a successful outcome in terms of a success fee.
- No success fee if the case fails.
Learn more about a No Win No Fee data breach compensation claim by speaking to our advisors now. You can:
- Ring our advisors on 0800 073 8804
- Contact us online and get a callback
- Use our ‘live support’ option below
Data Breach Compensation Calculator Award Guides
At Legal Expert, we can offer advice on other data breach issues as well as how to use a data breach compensation calculator:
- How to make a data breach claim if your ethnicity was exposed
- How to make a claim for a DVLA data breach
- Advice on making a compensation claim against your employer for a personal data breach
- Help on stolen medical records data breach claims
- It was reported in June that software provider Zellis had experienced a significant cyber attack in which the personal data of employees of Boots, DHL, the BBC and British Airways were all exposed. You can learn more about the Zellis data breach here.
- More information on why your data matters from the ICO
- The Police Service for Northern Ireland (PSNI) had a data breach recently which resulted in the exposure of a massive amount of data. Find out what happened here and what those affected can do and how our solicitors can help
- Tips for staying safe online
- And lastly, help for older people to stay safe using the internet
Guide By Waters
Edited By Melissa.
