Kent Police Data Breach – Can I Claim?
By Megan Black. Last Updated 12th December 2022. Just because your local police force provides an essential service does not mean that it is exempt from data protection laws. It has to protect your personal data in the same way as any organisation that processes such data does. This guide will look at what you could do following a Kent Police data breach. However, much of it can also apply to any police data breach, regardless of location.
A guide on what you could do after a Kent Police data breach
Please keep in mind the uniqueness of your claim when reading this guide. No two claims are identical. Therefore, you may have questions we can’t answer here. That’s why our advisors are available around the clock, 7 days a week to answer any additional questions you may have if you have evidence of a valid claim. You can contact us on 0800 073 8804. Alternatively, why not use our live chat?
Select a Section
- What Is A Data Breach By Kent Police?
- How Can Police Forces Breach The Data Protection Act?
- Kent Police Cyber Security And Data Breach Statistics
- What Action Could I Take After A Kent Police Data Breach?
- Data Breach Compensation – Payouts For Police Data Breach Claims
- How A No Win No Fee Data Protection Solicitor Could Help You
- Get Advice Following A Police Force Data Protection Breach
What Is Data Breach By Kent Police?
Organisations need to protect your personal information if they handle it. Personal data is anything that can identify you, such as your:
- name
- address
- phone number
- bank account and card information
- religion
When the security of personal data is breached, it can lead to its loss, access, disclosure, destruction or alteration. This is known as a personal data breach. It can be accidental or deliberate.
If you suffer harm or financial loss because of a data breach, then in certain circumstances, you may be able to claim compensation. You’d need to show that the organisation that held or processed your personal data failed to protect it due to wrongful conduct. This then led to a data breach in which your personal information was compromised.
Here are a few definitions under the UK GDPR that might be helpful:
- A data subject: The person whose personal information is provided.
- Data controller: The organisation that decides how and why your personal information will be used.
- Data processor: An organisation that data controllers may use to process personal data for them.
- Special category data: This is personal data that needs to have extra protection because it is sensitive. It includes personal data revealing your trade union membership, genetic data, religious or philosophical beliefs, political opinions, racial or ethnic origin and biometric data (where used for identification purposes). It also includes data about your sexual orientation, sex life and health.
Laws That Apply
There are several pieces of legislation that relate to data privacy and security in the UK. However, two significant ones are the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
In the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is responsible for policing and enforcing data protection laws.
How Can Police Forces Breach The Data Protection Act?
A breach of the data protection act doesn’t necessarily mean a data breach. For example, an organisation might not update personal data, but because it isn’t unlawfully lost, changed, disclosed, accessed or destroyed.
Data breaches can happen for many reasons such as human error or lax cybersecurity. Some examples of potential data breaches include:
- Your personal data is emailed or posted by mistake to a person who does not have the authorisation to access it.
- A document was shared on a public platform that contained your personal data, without it being redacted.
- Your email address is shared without a lawful reason because of a failure to use the BCC field.
- Devices containing personal data are lost or stolen.
Kent Police Cyber Security And Data Breach Statistics
The ICO gathers information about data protection breaches in the UK. Data security incident trends are made available to the public. In the 3rd quarter of 2021/22, in the justice sector, there were 5 reports of loss/theft of paperwork or data left in an insecure location. There were also 5 non-cyber security incidents of unauthorised access.
Our Own Research
Kent Police recently responded to a freedom of information (FOI) request we sent. Some of the findings are below.
- The number of data breaches committed by Kent Police between 2019 up to the date of this request. Between 1 January 2019 and 15 November 2021, there were a total of 1,356 data breaches.
- The number of cyberattacks. There were no cyberattacks that resulted in a breach between 1st January 2019 and 15th November 2021.
- What types of information were exposed in the breaches? The types of personal data exposed in the breaches included: names, dates of birth, telephone number, email addresses and physical addresses. In regards to special category data, it involved: race or ethnicity, religion, criminal offence data, relationship status, physical or mental health, religion and photographs. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list.
- Has Kent Police been subjected to any civil legal action in relation to any of these breaches? The number of civil legal actions taken between 1 January 2019 and 10 November 2021 was 17 overall. 5 of these were settled.
What Action Could I Take After A Kent Police Data Breach?
Following a data breach by Kent Police, the steps you might take depend on different factors.
When an organisation realises that your personal information is involved in a data breach that affected your rights and freedoms, they should contact you about it. However, you might find out about it before they do. If so, you should contact them and raise your concerns.
If the matter isn’t satisfied satisfactorily, you could contact the ICO within 3 months of the organisation’s final response on the matter.
However, it’s important to note that the ICO can’t compensate you for suffering due to a data breach. You may need to make a claim to seek compensation.
If you have evidence of a valid claim, give our advisors a call and explain your situation. They could help you further.
Data Breach Compensation – Payouts For Police Data Breach Claims
When making a claim for a personal data breach, compensation may be awarded to you for your material and non-material damage.
Material damage refers to any of the financial losses you have suffered due to a personal data breach. For example, if your banking information were to be compromised in a data breach, this could lead to money being stolen from your bank account. However, you will need to prove these financial losses in order to claim compensation, such as invoices and bank statements.
Non-material damage refers to the psychiatric injuries you may have suffered due to your personal data being compromised. For example, you may suffer from anxiety and stress due to a data breach.
To help you understand how much you could receive in compensation for non-material damage, we have created the following table. We have used the amounts stated in the 16th edition of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) when creating this table. The JCG is used by legal professionals when they are valuing claims.
Following a successful claim for a personal data breach, the compensation amount you could receive may differ from those listed. This is because how much you receive will depend on the specific factors affecting your claim. Only use this table as a rough guide.
| Type of Harm | Severity | Notes | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychological harm | Severe | The prognosis is very poor, and the person will have problems with various aspects of social and working life. | £54,830 to £115,730 |
| Psychological harm | Moderately severe | The prognosis will be better but the person will still suffer with significant problems. | £19,070 to £54,830 |
| Psychological harm | Moderate | There's a marked improvement by the time of the trial with a good prognosis. | £5,860 to £19,070 |
| Psychological harm | Less severe | Factors such as the length of the period of disability and how sleep was affected can affect the compensation. | £1,540 to £5,860 |
| Reactive psychiatric disorder | Severe | Permanent effects will prevent the person from functioning the same as pre-trauma. | £59,860 to £100,670 |
| Reactive psychiatric disorder | Moderately severe | A better prognosis and the person may able to slightly recover with help from a professional. | £23,150 to £59,860 |
| Reactive psychiatric disorder | Moderate | The person will have largely recovered, with any persisting symptoms not being grossly disabling. | £8,180 to £23,150 |
| Reactive psychiatric disorder | Less severe | A practically full recovery is made withing 2 years. | £3,950 to £8,180 |
Contact our advisors if you have any questions on what your data breach compensation could include. They could help inform you of what steps you could take should your personal data be compromised by the police, and when a data breach claim could be made.
How A No Win No Fee Data Protection Solicitor Could Help You
Do you have evidence of a valid claim after a data breach by Kent Police? If you do, we may be able to connect you with a solicitor. Our data breach solicitors offer their services under No Win No Fee agreements.
Essentially:
- You don’t need to pay an upfront solicitor’s fee
- You don’t need to pay an ongoing fee to them either
- You’d pay the solicitor’s fee only in the event that the claim wins. This fee is capped by law and you’ll be made aware of it so there aren’t any surprises.
If you have evidence to justify a claim, please contact our claims experts using the information below.
- Telephone: 0800 073 8804
- Use our live chat
- Email: info@legalexpert.co.uk
- Or use our web contact form.
Get Advice Following A Police Force Data Protection Breach
Here are some links to other claims guides you might find to be useful.
- How To Report A Data Breach
- Claiming For A Data Breach By Your Employer
- Medical Record Data Breach Claims
- 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
And here are some external links, with more information you might like to read through.
For more information if you have proof of a valid claim after a data breach by Kent Police, why not get in touch?
Written by Wheeler
Edited by Victorine
