Last Updated 2nd June 2025. Have you suffered a financial data breach that involved information on your wages or salary? Are you looking to make a wage data breach claim and are unsure whether you are eligible to receive compensation? This guide has been designed to help you understand the process of claiming compensation and what you can expect from the whole process.
This guide will walk you through the roles of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as well as how a No Win No Fee agreement could be beneficial to you.
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Select A Section
- What Is A Wage Data Breach?
- Who Could You Make A Salary Data Breach Claim Against?
- How To Report A Wage Data Breach
- How Does The Claims Process Work?
- Wage Data Breach Compensation Calculator
- How Our Solicitors Can Help You Claim Compensation
- Learn More About No Win No Fee Data Breach Claims
What Is A Wage Data Breach?
A personal data breach is when a security incident means personal information is lost, stolen, leaked, exposed, destroyed, altered or accessed without authorisation and no lawful basis.
Only personal and sensitive data is protected by data-protection laws. Personal data refers to your name, address DOB, email address, and telephone number – all data that can be used to identify you or in conjunction with other information to identify you such as national insurance number, bank details, and car registration.
A data breach can be either caused by human error or cyber or non-cyber means. Personal data breaches can to financial loss or an impact on your physical and/or psychological health. For example, your employer could send an email to the wrong recipient with personal details contained within it such as financial information about your salary and wages.
Additionally, it is important to note that there are time limits for making a data breach claim. You have 6 years to begin proceedings, or 1 year if it involves a human rights issue.
For more information on the time limits and if you believe that you have been a victim of a data breach, don’t hesitate to contact our advisors, they are happy to help. They can offer advice and guidance on your claim.
Who Could You Make A Salary Data Breach Claim Against?
Organisations such as banks, loan companies, mortgage providers and other official financial organisations as well as your employer may collect personal details about you and your financial situation.
Under the Data Protection Act, 2018, and the UK GDPR all personal and sensitive information must be kept safe when being processed by a data controller. A data controller is any organisation that processors personal data. To be eligible to make a personal data breach claim you first must establish whether the data that was breached was protected under data protection laws. You must go further to determine liability i.e. the data controller or processor must be at fault for the breach in order to be able to claim. Lastly, you must have suffered mentally and/or financially to be eligible for data breach compensation.
If you are contacted about a data breach, the organisation that made contact with you would need to inform you of the information that has been breached. This contact, either email or letter, can be a form of evidence that goes on to strengthen your claim.
How To Report A Wage Data Breach
When a personal data breach has occurred, there is a process you could follow to make a formal complaint:
- Approach the organisation responsible for the breach and ask for an explanation.
- If there is no response or the response is inadequate, you could make a complaint to the ICO. It is important to not wait longer than 3 months since contact with the data controller to complain to the ICO. The ICO cannot award compensation but it can investigate the data breach. The report they may create could be used as evidence in your claim.
If you need any additional information on what to do in reporting a data breach, the ICO has a helpful guide on the process. Moreover, our advisors are available to offer free advice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
How Does The Claims Process Work?
When you begin the claims process, there are several steps in the process. If a personal data breach has occurred that affects your rights and freedoms, then you would be contacted by the company or organisation that had been affected.
The data controller should tell you about the information that has been breached and how the breach occurred. Again you can make a complaint to the organisation you think is responsible for the breach. You can escalate the complaint when you are not happy with the response. As we have said above you can even ask the ICO to investigate the breach.
If you discover that you have been impacted by a personal data breach then there are some ways to secure your information and collect evidence for the claims process.
- Change your password – It is a good idea to update your passwords or use different passwords across all the accounts you use.
- Monitor your bank account and credit reports for any suspicious activity – If you believe that your data has been breached then you could be at risk of falling victim to theft or identity fraud.
- Reporting the breach – You could file a complaint with the ICO.
- Seeking out legal advice -solicitors offer advice and guidance on the claims process and can advise on what evidence you would need to collect so that you could claim for any damages you have stuffed.
Wage Data Breach Compensation Calculator
If your personal data breach claim is successful you can be awarded up to two types of data breach compensation. The way that compensation for a data breach is calculated is made up of the following two different types of damages: material damages and non-material damages. These damages are calculated based on the severity of your losses and how you were affected by the breach.
Material Damages
Material damages are the damages that involve any financial losses you may have suffered as a result of a data breach. You would have to assess what has been lost so far and any future impact the breach may have on your financial information.
Non-Material Damages
Non-Material damages, on the other hand, cover the psychological damages that you may have suffered as a result of a data breach.
Psychological damages that could come under non-material damages:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- PTSD.
In order to claim compensation for non-material damages, you may need to be medically assessed. This is to help to prove that you have suffered from a psychological issue, assessing the severity of the issue and the recovery process.
In 2015, the Court of Appeal heard the case of Vidal-Hall and others v Google Inc (2015). The ruling was that you no longer need to have suffered material damages to claim for non-material damages. You can apply for non-material damages by itself. For instant, this means that you don’t have to have suffered any financial losses in order to make a claim.
The Judicial College provides guideline compensation brackets for common physical and psychological injuries. Examples from the JCG of the types of mental anguish you could suffer are listed below. However, the top figure was not taken from the JCG.
| Psychological Injury | Compensation |
|---|---|
| Multiple Severe Injuries and Significant Financial Losses | Up to £250,000 plus |
| Severe Psychiatric Damage | £66,920 to £141,240 |
| Moderately Severe Psychiatric Damage | £23,270 to £66,920 |
| Moderate Psychiatric Damage | £7,150 to £23,270 |
| Less Severe Psychiatric Damage | £1,880 to £7,150 |
| Severe PTSD | £73,050 to £122,850 |
| Moderately Severe PTSD | £28,250 to £73,050 |
| Moderate PTSD | £9,980 to £28,250 |
| Less Severe PTSD | £4,820 to £9,980 |
For any more information on how you could be compensated for a data breach, don’t hesitate to contact our advisors.
How Our Solicitors Can Help You Claim Compensation
If you have sustained psychological injuries due to a wage data breach, our professional solicitors may help you claim the compensation you deserve for your suffering.
At Legal Expert, we have a team of solicitors who specialise in data breach claims. They have undergone extensive training to become experts in this field of law and possess decades of combined experience in helping individuals claim compensation.
Our solicitors can help you start a wage data breach claim by:
- Supporting you through each stage of the claims process
- Explaining legal terminology associated with your claim
- Helping you obtain evidence to support your claim
- Explaining how salary data breach compensation is calculated
- Helping you apply for interim payments
- Helping you claim compensation from anywhere in the country
- Setting you up with specialist appointments, such as counselling
- Negotiating compensation settlements with third parties on your behalf
At Legal Expert, we value customer service and want to help you claim the compensation you are entitled to for your suffering.
We also recognise that starting a data breach claim can be overwhelming, especially if you are not familiar with the claims process. However, our solicitors are here to support you every step of the way.
If you have any questions regarding how our solicitors can support you throughout the claim process, please get in touch with our friendly advisors.
Learn More About No Win No Fee Data Breach Claims
No Win No Fee agreements are an arrangement between you and your solicitor. If you aren’t successful, you wouldn’t have to pay a success fee to your solicitor. However, if you are successful, a success fee, which is capped by law, is deducted from your compensation. Your solicitor will discuss this with you in order to avoid any surprises.
If you have any further questions about wage data breaches, or wondering if you are eligible to make a compensation claim. Our advisors can offer advice on the claims process and would be happy to speak to you. To contact us:
- By telephone, on 0800 073 8804
- Via our live chat feature
- On our website
Find Out More About Salary And Wage Data Breach Claims.
Here are some additional resources for you to look at that could help you understand how data breaches can happen and what to look out for.
There is also a guide on how to make a complaint, with the ICO.
We have guides on credit card data breaches and compensation claims.
Also, we have articles on what you can do if your data has been breached.
We have guides and articles on data breaches that involves lost or stolen devices.
If you require any further advice about a wage data breach claim, please do not hesitate to contact us for free advice and guidance.
Page By Welsh
Edited By Melissa.
