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Derbyshire Dales District Council Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide – How Much Compensation Can I Claim? – Amounts For Derbyshire Dales District Council Data Breach

County And District Council Data Breach Claims

In this guide, we explore what you could do if a potential Derbyshire Dales District Council data breach has affected you.

Councils are responsible for governing a specific region, such as a county or a city. To operate, local councils have to collect personal data from staff and residents, such as public housing tenants. Therefore, local councils must abide by data protection legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Derbyshire Dales District Council data breach

This guide will offer you advice about what to do if a council has caused a personal data breach. What’s more, we will explain what circumstances make someone able to claim compensation.

If you have evidence of a valid claim for a local authority data breach, contact Legal Expert for your free consultation. If we can see that you have legitimate grounds to make a personal data breach claim, we could connect you with our solicitors to start working on your claim.

Please get in touch with us today to begin your data breach claim:

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A Guide To Derbyshire Dales District Council Data Breach Claims

Derbyshire Dales District Council is the governing body for Matlock, Bakewell, Ashbourne and Wirksworth. What’s more, Derbyshire Dales District Council’s boundaries cover much of the Peak District National Park.

Because Derbyshire Dales District Council collects and processes personal information, they have a legal obligation to protect the personal data they collect from the public. Councils in the UK are obliged to follow the General Data Protection Regulation, which regulates how organisations can use personal data. The General Data Protection Regulation is EU law but the Data Protection Act 2018 enacts the GDPR into the laws of the UK.

Data Protection Definitions

A data subject is someone whose personal information is processed or collected. The data controller is the organisation that decides why and how personal data will be collected and processed. They may use a data processor (often an organisation) to help them process data.

What Should Derbyshire District Council Do To Comply With The GDPR?

Firstly, councils should take appropriate measures to protect personal data. They may have processes and policies to protect the data. For example, a council could have a strong network security system to protect against cyberattacks. It is also important to train their employees in appropriate personal data protection.

In addition, if a data protection breach occurs due to the council’s failures, the council could be held liable for financial or psychiatric damage caused. As a result, the victims of the data breach could claim compensation.

Can I Claim Compensation For A Local Council Data Breach?

If a local authority has breached your personal data privacy, causing you mental suffering or financial loss, you may be eligible to claim compensation. Legal Expert could connect you with our data breach solicitors to handle your claim. What’s more, our solicitors offer their services on a No Win No Fee basis.

However, please be aware of the time limits for making a personal data breach claim. So, the claims time limit is one year if the data breach involves a public body such as a council. But the claims time limit is six years when it comes to private companies. And note that time limits vary depending on who the defendant is and the nature of the breach. So it’s advisable to begin your case as soon as you can to stay within the ever-changing limitation period.

If you have any questions about this guide exploring what you could do following a Derbyshire Dales District Council data breach, contact Legal Expert today.

Data Breach Statistics

The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021 is a report published by the UK Government in March 2021. The report gives a good indication of how common data breaches are within businesses and charities in the UK.

Here are some key data breach statistics from the survey:

  • 39% of businesses surveyed had experienced a data breach or cyberattack in the 12 months before March 2021.
  • Similarly, 26% of charities surveyed had experienced a data breach or cyberattack in the 12 months.
  • Fewer businesses deployed security monitoring tools to safeguard their personal data compared to the previous year. This may be because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • What’s more, 27% of businesses and 23% of charities that had experienced data breaches or cyberattacks said they occurred at least once a week.
  • The organisations reported that phishing was the more common form of a cyberattack they experienced.

What Are Derbyshire District Council Data Breach Claims?

A data breach is when a breach in security leads to the unauthorised or unlawful access, destruction, alteration, disclosure or loss of personal data. For example, a data exposure incident might happen because a council accidentally published confidential files online.

If a local council data breach occurs, the data breach victims could have a right to claim compensation. However, they would have to prove that the data breach was caused by the council’s failings and that they suffered financial loss or psychological harm due to the data breach.

What security incidents could count as a data breach?

  • The council loses personal data records.
  • Or the council accidentally alters or encrypts personal data.
  • A data leak or data exposure incident happens without a lawful reason.
  • Or individuals get unlawful access to data records.

Why do data breaches happen?

A data breach can happen due to human error. For example, a receptionist may leave private documents containing personal information on a public-facing desk at a council’s offices. This mishap could lead to personal information being shared without permission or a lawful reason.  Although this data breach may have been unintentional, it could still cause direct harm to the data subject whose privacy was violated.

However, a local council data breach can also happen because of ill intent. Unfortunately, many organisations are the victim of cyberattacks. Criminals may carry out cyber attacks on local authorities with the intent to steal data. Consequently, the criminals may hold the stolen data to ransom or use it to commit other crimes. Therefore, councils should have strong cybersecurity systems to attempt to prevent cybercriminals from gaining unlawful access to personal information.

Not every data breach will result in a successful compensation claim. The local authority’s failings would need to have resulted in the data breach. For example, they may have failed to properly train employees on data protection or failed to put security systems in place.

If the failings led to a personal data breach that caused you to suffer psychologically or financially, you may be eligible to claim compensation. Why not call Legal Expert today for your free legal consultation?

Do District Councils Have To Follow The Data Protection Act?

All governing bodies in the UK, including local councils, have to follow the Data Protection Act 2018 if they hold or process personal data. The Data Protection Act 2018 enacts the General Data Protection Regulation into the laws of the UK. We will look at how councils should uphold the 7 key principles of the GDPR in more detail below.

The 7 Key Principles Of The GDPR

  • Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency: Councils should follow all relevant data protection legislation when they process personal data. In addition, they should explain their reasons for collecting personal data to the data subject.
  • Purpose limitation: They can only collect the personal data they require for the purposes of processing.
  • Data minimisation: They should collect the minimum amount of data necessary to carry out the processing.
  • Accuracy: They should keep the personal information up to date, and the data they store should be accurate.
  • Storage limitation: The council should delete personal data that they no longer need.
  • Integrity and confidentiality (security): They should train their staff to manage personal data securely. Similarly, the council should have a strong network security system to protect the data they hold.
  • Accountability: Finally, they should be accountable, such as by keeping records of their activities to prove that they comply with the GDPR.

What Are The Different Types Of Data Breaches?

Let’s look at some examples of council data breaches and how they can happen:

  • A council email data breach could take place. For example, the council could send out a mass email. However, the council could put the recipient’s email addresses in the Cc bar rather than the Bcc bar. Therefore the council could be sharing the email addresses without permission or a lawful reason.
  • The data controller could lose personal data. For instance, a council employee could lose their work laptop. If the laptop contains accessible personal information and is not password protected, unauthorised persons could access personal data.
  • Similarly, an employee could accidentally encrypt or alter personal data records.
  • A council employee could abuse their position and access personal files without legitimate reason to do so.
  • If the council supplied information regarding those who are under social services to unauthorised individuals, this would be a council data breach.
  • The council sends a letter containing personal information to a public housing tenant but uses the wrong address of an unauthorised recipient. As a result, the council would share the tenant’s personal data without permission.
  • A council publishes information on community safety. However, the council fails to redact information that can identify residents who have complained about their neighbours.
  • The council has a poor IT security system. Consequently, the council is the target of a cyberattack such as a hacking attack or a malware attack.
  • The council identifies people who have objected to planning permission applications without permission or unlawfully.

This guide on what could happen after a potential Derbyshire Dales District Council data breach aims to help you. But, if you have any more questions, why not reach out?

Social Housing Records And Statement Data Breaches

Councils often provide social housing to those in need of it. Therefore, councils should protect personal data that belongs to public (social) housing tenants. Unfortunately, a data protection breach could occur if the council misuses data belonging to its tenants.

How can a local council housing data breach occur?

A council can expose tenancy documents if they upload them to a shared computer network, which unauthorised persons can access. Likewise, scans of tenancy audit documents can be exposed in the same way. Similarly, a council could fail to redact personal information about a tenant in an information pack they send out to a landlord.

A social housing data breach could wrongfully expose the following types of personal data:

  • Names
  • Addresses
  • Email address
  • Mobile phone or landline number
  • Dates of birth
  • Passport data
  • Rent statement information
  • Information about one’s personal characteristics, such as sex, disability status or race

Has a data breach over rent statements affected you financially or psychologically? Then Legal Expert could connect you with a data breach lawyer to handle your compensation claim. Contact Legal Expert today to learn more.

Should I Notify The ICO Of My Breach?

You may wish to notify the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if your personal data privacy is breached. The ICO is an authority that enforces data protection laws in the UK.

If you believe that a council has breached your personal data privacy, you should raise your concerns with the council. They may have reported the breach to the ICO themselves. Moreover, the council may be able to resolve the matter internally.

However, what happens if they fail to resolve your complaint? You could report your personal information concerns to the ICO. You should do this before three months have passed since your last meaningful communications with them. The ICO’s decisions can be affected if they receive late complaints.

The ICO may investigate, but they can’t offer you compensation. However, if you suffer financial loss or mental harm due to the breach, we could help you. Why not get in touch?

How Does The Data Breach Claims Process Work?

We will now look at how the data breach claims process works in more depth. Under what circumstances can you claim compensation for a council data protection breach? The data breach would need to have occurred because of the council’s failings. You could claim compensation if your data privacy was breached and you subsequently experienced emotional distress. You could also claim compensation if you lost money because of the data breach.

To see if you could begin your claim, contact Legal Expert today. We could connect you with an experienced data breach solicitor to work on your claim. Your solicitor would value your claim. After that, the solicitor would approach the council to negotiate a settlement for you.

What Am I Eligible To Claim?

What damages can you be paid if your data breach claim is successful? You can receive up to two heads of claim:

  • You can receive material damages, which is compensation for any financial losses suffered due to the data breach.
  • And you can receive non-material damages, which is compensation for any emotional distress or psychiatric damage suffered because your personal data privacy was breached.

In some cases, a data breach victim may develop psychological injuries. For example, the person may suffer from stress, anxiety or depression. A personal data breach claim can include compensation for these injuries under non-material damages.

Calculating Payouts For Derbyshire Dales District Council Data Breaches

The case of Vidal-Hall and others v Google Inc [2015] changed the way data breach claims are valued. The Court of Appeal ruled that claimants can receive damages for emotional distress or psychological harm caused by the data breach. Therefore victims of a data breach can receive compensation, even if the person did not lose money.

Before this case, you could only claim compensation for psychological harm if you also suffered financially. Plus, this case also allowed psychiatric damage caused by a data breach to be valued as it would be for personal injury claims.

You can use the table below to estimate how much compensation you could receive for non-material damages. We have based the compensation amounts on guidelines from the Judicial College. These guidelines are used by solicitors to help them when valuing injuries. However, if you claim compensation and use the services of a solicitor, they will assess your claim in-depth before valuing it.

Edit
Injury Caused Damages Notes
PTSD – Severe £56,180 to £94,470 This category will include settlements for people suffering from permanent forms of PTSD. Such injuries could affect all aspects of the persons life such as their personal relationships, ability to work or to carry on with education.
PTSD – Moderately Severe £21,730 to £56,180 This category deals with injuries which are not as severe as above, though claimants could be affected in the same way. The claimant should be able to make a better recovery if provided with professional care and treatment.
PTSD – Moderate £7,680 to £21,730 Those falling into this category should have made a good degree of recovery from their injury.
PTSD- Less Severe Up to £7,680 In this category the victim should have fully recovered in under 2 years with only minor symptoms lasting beyond this.
Severe – Psychiatric Damage Generally £51,460 to £108,620 Damages awarded to claimants will account for how long the person is disabled and what the impact has been on this person.
Moderately Severe – Psychiatric Damage Generally £17,900 to £51,460 Claimants will be affected by the same factors as below, but the outlook will be better than those in the category below.
Moderate – Psychiatric Damage Generally £5,500 to £17,900 Claimants could have made somewhat of an improvement in their ability to continue in working, education and other parts of life in a similar way to before the injury.
Severe – Psychiatric Damage Generally Up to £5,500 Claimants will have issues with working, continuing in education or with their personal life. Their overall prognosis will be poor.

Please note, the compensation table above does not include material damages you could claim. What’s more, the amount of compensation you receive may vary depending on your personal circumstances. Please call Legal Expert to get your free estimate, with no obligation to proceed with our services.

No Win No Fee Derbyshire Dales District Council Data Breach Claims

You may wish to claim compensation if you have experienced a breach of your personal data privacy. Making a No Win No Fee claim is the preferred option for many claimants.

How do No WIn No Fee Claims work?

  • Firstly, the claimant signs a Conditional Fee Agreement (another term for a No Win No Fee agreement).
  • Secondly, the solicitor will start working on the claimant’s case. The solicitor will not charge an upfront or hourly fee.
  • After that, the claimant will pay a success fee if the solicitor wins their claim. The success fee is a small percentage of the compensation. And it’s capped by law.
  • If the claim is not successful, the claimant won’t have to pay their success fee, nor any solicitor fees.
  • And most importantly, the majority of the compensation payout will go directly to the claimant.

Many claimants prefer to make a No Win No Fee claim if they use the services of a solicitor. After all, with no upfront solicitor’s fee to pay, it is a more affordable way to fund the solicitor for many.

What’s more, the claimant isn’t taking a gamble with their personal finances. This is because the solicitor will not charge the claimant a success fee unless they win. Contact Legal Expert today to see if your claim can be funded as a No Win No Fee agreement.

Who Could Help Me Claim Compensation?

Legal Expert could connect you with a skilled data breach solicitor to handle your claim. There are many benefits to choosing Legal Expert to help you handle your personal data breach claim. These include:

  1. Our solicitors are experienced with data breach claims.
  2. They are trusted. In fact, you can read our solicitor reviews to see how happy our previous clients were with the service they received.
  3. And, they will assess your claim before they start working on it. This is to ensure an accurate calculation of compensation so they can try to negotiate for the right amount.

Do you need to use the services of a data breach lawyer in Derbyshire to handle your claim?

Actually, a lawyer could work on your claim from anywhere in the country. In fact, most of your communications could be handled by phone, video conference or email. Legal Expert can ensure that the solicitor who works on your claim has the right expertise and experience.

Speak To An Expert

The first step in the data breach claims process is to contact Legal Expert and speak to an advisor. To get in touch:

  • Call our claims helpline on this number: 0800 073 8804
  • Or use our online claims form to get in contact with us.
  • Alternatively, ask us a question right now using the Live Support widget on your screen.

What To Read Next

We hopeOur  this guide to what you could do after a Derbyshire Dales District Council data breach has been helpful. You may wish to continue your reading on the subject by having a look at these guides.

University Of Wales Data Breach Compensation Claims – a guide for people whose data was breached by a university.

Keurboom Communications Data Breach Compensation – a guide for people whose data was breached by Keurboom Communications.

Three Data Breach Compensation Claims – a communications provider data breach claims guide.

An ICO guide to protecting yourself from identity theft.

An ICO guide on the right to access your personal data from a public body.

Your rights as a data subject – a UK government guide.

Our Other Useful Guides

Personal Data Breach FAQs

Let’s answer some common questions about claiming compensation for a data breach.

How does a data breach impact people?

A data breach victim may suffer emotional distress. What’s more, fraudsters may target the data breach victim for fraud, identity theft or blackmail, using their personal data. Therefore, they could suffer financial loss.

What could cause your data privacy to be breached?

An organisation that holds your personal data may breach your privacy if an employee makes an accidental error. However, the organisation may breach your personal data if they are the target of a cyberattack because they failed to provide security measures.

How do I check if to see if fraudsters have stolen my private data?

If you believe that an organisation has breached your personal data privacy, contact them immediately. They should be able to confirm if your personal data has been stolen.

What information laws protect my data?

The General Data Protection Regulation protects your data privacy. In the UK, the Data Protection Act 2018 enacts the GDPR into our laws.

Thank you for reading our guide exploring what you could do following a Derbyshire Dales District Council data breach.

Written by Chelache

Edited by Victorine

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    • Patrick Mallon

      Patrick is a Grade A solicitor having qualified in 2005. He's an an expert in accident at work and public liability claims and is currently our head of the EL/PL department. Get in touch today for free to see how we can help you.

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