Wirral Council Data Breach – Compensation Claims Guide
In this guide, we are going to look at the concept of a Wirral Council data breach. Generally, every organisation in the UK that stores or processes personal data has to comply with the rules and regulations related to data security and privacy. Those organisations that store and process data are known as data controllers. The focus of this guide is to examine the criteria for data breach compensation claims, and what damages could be awarded.
Wirral Council data breach claims guide
Due to the unique nature of claims, we might not be able to answer all of your questions in this guide. Your claim is going to be based on at least partially unique circumstances. Therefore, to better serve you, our claims line is open 24 hours a day, every day of the week. If you do have questions this guide has not answered, you can call 0800 073 8804 and speak to an expert claims advisor. They can get you the answers that you need, and also explain the other ways in which we can help you.
Select A Section:
- A Guide To Dealing With A Wirral Council Data Breach
- Rates Of Cyber Attacks And Data Breaches
- What Could Be A Wirral Council Data Breach?
- Does The UK GDPR Apply To Local Government Bodies?
- How Data Privacy Could Be Breached By A Council
- Tenant Statement Data Breaches
- Making Notifications To The ICO
- What Do I Need To Do Following A Data Breach?
- How You Could Be Compensated
- How To Calculate Compensation For A Wirral Council Data Breach
- No Win No Fee Solicitors For A Wirral Council Data Breach
- Find The Right Data Breach Solicitor
- Talk To An Expert
- Council Data Breach Resources
- FAQs On Council Data Protection Breaches
A Guide To Dealing With A Wirral Council Data Breach
If a Wirral Council data protection breach occurred would you know the steps that you may need to take if your data was exposed? We start this guide off with a graph, that shows the information security incidents in local government. Should a Wirral Council data breach occur then this guide should be able to provide you with the information you need.
Throughout this guide, we offer potential examples of data breaches. Included is an explanation of what data should be protected, and the laws that are in place to enforce this.
Next, we look at the responsibility of a council to comply with regulatory requirements to keep your data safe. We support this with a number of examples of the ways that data could be breached if data privacy laws are not followed.
You will then learn about what to do if you have become the victim of a data breach. This will include making initial contact with a data controller to find out if there has been a breach of personal information. Also, you will learn about how to report a data breach to the ICO. Lastly, the process of starting a claim is outlined.
Financial information comes next. In the form of an example compensation table, and a discussion of the reasons to seek damages. Additionally, we have outlined the structure of a No Win No Fee agreement, as well as explaining some of the benefits of this arrangement.
The closing sections of this guide give some advice on how to start a claim. Additionally, you will find useful information such as relevant links and a question and answers section.
Time Limits To Claim
You are going to need to start your claim for a data breach within a set deadline. However, the length of this deadline is going to be based on the circumstances of your case.
Generally speaking, a data breach claim must be filed within 6-years. However, there is another deadline for data breach claims against public bodies. In short, claims must be started within 1 year.
Furthermore, there are other factors that can alter this deadline. Therefore, the best advice would be to reach out to our claims team and explain your claim to them. They can then tell you which claims deadline will apply.
Rates Of Cyber Attacks And Data Breaches
There is a governing body responsible for data security and privacy regulations in the UK. This is known as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). One of the responsibilities of the ICO is to collect and correlate information related to UK data breaches. Much of this information is made available to the public. We used some of this data to make the graph below. It contains statistics from the first financial quarter 2021/22 and the figures relate to non-cyber security data breaches.
Non-Cyber Data Incidents
What Could Be A Wirral Council Data Breach?
Generally, councils have to comply with rules and regulations that pertain to data security. Data breaches happen when there is a security incident that means personal information may have been exposed, lost, stolen, altered or disclosed to those who have no authority. This can be done accidentally or through deliberate actions.
Data breaches can happen through hacking as a result of cybercriminals trying to infiltrate computer systems. Accidental data breaches can also happen through human error and not be related to any cybercrime.
To prevent a Wirral Council data breach it is vital that the council take all the necessary steps to protect your personal information. If a data breach occurs this may mean personal data could be exposed. This could cause the data subject, those whose data has been processed, financial loss as well as mental suffering.
Data That Is Protected
Not all of the data that your local authority holds about you is supposed to be protected. Only specific kinds of data that could potentially be exploited in some way. Laws in the UK define this as two categories of data. These are personal data and special data. We have explained each of these below.
- Special data – this is all of the information that tells things about you, but may not be identifying. This might include your political views and genome data, your religious beliefs, and trade union affiliations, etc.
- Personal data – this is all unique, identifying data. Examples would include your name, address and telephone number, date of birth, financial account data (cards/bank accounts), etc.
Laws In The UK
The UK now follows local legislation related to data privacy and security. Including the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), and all of the regulations making up UK GDPR. Before Brexit, the UK followed the European Union (EU) version of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
Does The UK GDPR Apply To Local Government Bodies?
In short, yes. The intention is that complying with these rules and regulations will minimise the chance of a Wirral Council data breach. UK GDPR guidance includes following the seven core concepts;
- Special and personal data must always be safeguarded.
- Errors in your data must be corrected.
- Data-based activities are transparent, lawful and fair.
- Be responsible for the data processing.
- Data must be limited to what is needed.
- Your data should only be stored for as long as it is needed.
- Purpose limitation.
How Data Privacy Could Be Breached By A Council
If a Wirral Council data breach occurred would you know how to spot one? From simple human error to malicious cyberattacks data breaches can come in all different forms.
Below, we outline some of the kinds of situations that could be seen as data breaches.
- Your personal details or sensitive information are sent to an email recipient that is not authorised to have it. This could be classified as an email data breach.
- An old external hard drive or USB memory stick is thrown away, but the data was not wiped from it first.
- A cybercriminal is successfully able to gain access to your data after exploiting a vulnerability in network security.
- Fax containing a data subject’s personal information is sent to the wrong recipient.
- The wrong postal address where personal information is sent may also be seen as a data breach.
Data breaches do not automatically mean those who are affected can begin a claim for compensation. To be eligible to claim compensation for a data breach the onus is on the claimant to prove that the necessary steps were not taken to protect their personal data.
Tenant Statement Data Breaches
People who live in public housing, provide a large volume of data to the council or housing association. Information that could be stored here is; name, address, email address, bank account details, medical conditions and identification documents.
Ways this information has the possibility to be leaked are;
- Tenant statements or tenancy documents are left in public areas by mistake.
- Digital documents such as scans of tenancy audit documents are left open on a computer monitor where anyone can read them.
- Old files or records containing your data are left in unlocked cabinets that can be accessed by anyone.
To have your case assessed for free call our data breach claims team. They can provide answers to any questions you may have and provide information on the steps you could take next.
Making Notifications To The ICO
If you believe that there might have been a Wirral Council data breach, you can take certain actions. Firstly, you can contact the council directly. You can then ask whether a data breach has occurred and whether your data has been affected.
Secondly, if there has been a data breach you could report it to the ICO. There is a page on the ICO website that explains how to send a notification to them. Something to keep in mind though, is that the ICO doesn’t generally follow up on reports about data breaches when the last meaningful response from the data controller was more than 3 months ago.
What Do I Need To Do Following A Data Breach?
You may want to have a data breach solicitor help you pursue a compensation claim. But you may be unsure how to go about this. Just like hiring a personal injury solicitor for an injury claim, you could hire a data breach solicitor if your personal information has been leaked through the fault of the data controller.
Talk to one of our claim advisors to learn whether you have a viable claim or not. They can then help you to get your claim underway.
How You Could Be Compensated
A successful claim for a data breach, will leave you with two possible sources of damages overall. Firstly, monetary losses could be claimed through material damages and secondly, psychological harm such as stress and trauma could be accessed through non-material damages.
There was a case heard at the Court of Appeal in 2015. This case was Vidal-Hall and others v Google Inc. The claimants had suffered no monetary loss. However, they were successfully able to claim compensation for trauma, stress and psychological harm. Because this case set a precedent, you could now potentially do the same.
You could be able to claim compensation for both psychological harm and financial loss. If you would like to learn about the types of damages that might be appropriate in your own case, call and speak to our claims team.
How To Calculate Compensation For A Wirral Council Data Breach
We can’t give you an average compensation amount you might receive if your data breach claim is a success. In short, compensation is driven by the unique circumstances of the claim, and no two are identical. You might like to give our compensation calculator a try though. It could be able to roughly estimate the value of the non-material damages aspect of your claim. Failing this, we have created the table below based on the guidelines produced by the Judicial College for valuing injuries.
| Level of Damage | Mental Problem | Likely Level of Damages | Additional Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderately severe | Psychiatric harm | £17,900 – £51,460 | A general classification of moderately severe psychological harm. The damage may have been caused by a highly traumatic event. The mental condition would severely compromise your quality of life. You would probably continue to experience some mental illness even after therapy. |
| Less severe | Psychiatric harm | Up to £5,500 | This classification covers less severe psychological harm. The cause is most likely shocking or traumatic events. Due to the psychological problems, you could suffer a mildly reduced quality of life. In time, you should, however, recover almost completely. |
| Severe | Psychiatric harm | £51,460 – £108,620 | This classification covers severe psychological harm. This may have been caused by multiple highly traumatic events. Psychological issues would almost certainly severely compromise your quality of life. Mental health issues would almost certainly persist even after therapy. |
No Win No Fee Solicitors For A Wirral Council Data Breach
You have likely heard the term No Win No Fee used before in relation to personal injury claims. However, you may not be aware that the same type of fee arrangement can be applied to a data breach claim. Therefore, if you do have a valid claim for a data breach, we can likely arrange a No Win No Fee solicitor to process it for you.
This would mean that you don’t pay any lawyer fees until you win your claim. You won’t have to hand over an upfront fee, and you won’t be asked to pay during the lifecycle of the claim. Furthermore, if the claim fails, your lawyer will not ask to be paid any fee at all.
However, if your lawyer wins the claim for you, they will expect to receive a success fee. The level of this fee is limited by law. It can be taken out of any settlement the lawyer receives for you. They will then give you the remainder.
Find The Right Data Breach Solicitor
Finding the right legal firm to help you to make a data breach claim will give many benefits. Data breach solicitors will have experience in data breach claims so may be best placed to ensure that the claim is filed correctly and in full. Please remember once a claim is settled you cannot go back and ask for more. For that reason, it is always advised that claimants use a solicitor specialising in data breach claims.
Our team of claims solicitors understand the data breach claims process fully. They have been helping claimants get the compensation they are entitled two for over thirty years. We are sure that our lawyers can help you by processing your data breach claim for you. Call our claims team today to get started.
Talk To An Expert
Thank you for reading our article on the processes that could be followed should a Wirral Council data breach arise.
Please use the information below to get in touch with our claims team. One of our expert advisors will walk you through the claims process, and get your claim started. Furthermore, you likely won’t have to pay anything until your claim has been resolved successfully. Our lines are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Therefore, feel free to contact us at the time that suits you best.
Telephone: 0800 073 8804
Use our webchat or fill in a contact request.
Council Data Breach Resources
Here are some links to other websites. Each of them has information you might find to be useful
How To Find Out What Data Is Kept About You
The Data Breach Reporting Process Explained
Below are some links to a few of the other data breach claim guides we have already published. You might like to look them over.
A Guide To Making A Data Breach Claim Against Your Employer
Bank Data Breach Claims Explained
School Data Breach Claims: A Guide
FAQs On Council Data Protection Breaches
You may have additional questions about data breach claims. We have answered some common ones below. However, If you still have questions after reading these, please reach out to our claims team for more help.
What evidence do I need to make a claim?
You would need to provide evidence that a council was liable for the data breach.
What is the average payout for a data protection breach?
It is impossible to give an average payout. Each claim has its own unique scenario that leads to it. Also, the reasons to claim damages are unique. You can call and ask our claims team for some help in getting your claim valued though.
Do employees have the right to claim compensation after a data breach?
Yes, if your employer has exposed your data to unlawful use or access. For some advice on how to do this, call and talk to one of our claim advisors today.
Can I sue my employer for breach of data protection?
For some free legal advice about how to do this, please call and talk to one of our advisors.
Thank you for reading our article on the processes that could be followed should a Wirral Council data breach arise.
Guide By Wheeler
Edited By Melissa.
