Calderdale Data Breach Solicitors – Expert Claims Support
This guide will explain how data breach solicitors for Calderdale could help you claim compensation. Experiencing a data breach can hurt your mental health and overall well-being, especially if the data breach exposed sensitive personal information. What’s more, criminals may use your breached data to target you for identity theft or fraud, leading to financial losses.
If you have suffered due to a data breach, you may be eligible to claim compensation under the GDPR. Trust Legal Expert to help you claim. Our advisors are free to call, and we can provide you with free legal advice about making a data breach claim. What’s more, we can connect you with a skilled data breach claim solicitor to work on your claim.
To see if you can begin your claim for a data breach in Calderdale, please call us today on 0800 073 8804. Or you can claim online via our website.
Select A Section
- A Guide On Data Breach Solicitors Helping People In Calderdale
- What Is A Data Breach?
- How Do Data Leakages And Breaches Happen?
- Are Data Breaches Becoming More Common?
- What Are The Steps In Claiming Compensation For A Data Breach?
- How Do You Calculate Breach Of Data Protection Payouts
- How Could Claiming On A No Win No Fee Basis Help You?
- Speak To Expert Data Breach Solicitors For Calderdale
- Extra Reference Material
A Guide On Data Breach Solicitors Helping People In Calderdale
We have created this guide to help residents of Calderdale claim data breach compensation. Whatever type of organisation has failed in protecting your personal data, we can help. This guide will explain how to work with a data breach solicitor covering Calderdale to claim compensation.
It’s important to note that you don’t have to use the services of solicitors specifically in Calderdale to claim. Our solicitors can work for you from anywhere in the country.
We will also explain the steps in claiming compensation for a data breach. And we will help you estimate how much compensation you can get for a personal data breach.
A question that may be on your mind is, “Can I get compensation for a data breach?” If a data breach has caused you financial losses, emotional distress or psychological injuries, you may be eligible to claim compensation.
However, the data breach needs to have been caused by the positive wrongful conduct of the organisation you entrusted your personal data with. For example, if an organisation, such as an employer, didn’t use appropriate cybersecurity and your personal data was, therefore, accessed in a cyberattack, they could be seen as liable.
To see if you can begin your data breach claim, don’t hesitate to contact Legal Expert today. We will be happy to speak to you in-depth about your experience.
Data Breach Claim Time Limits
Under the Limitation Act 1980, there is a six-year time limit to claim compensation for a data breach against a non-public body. However, if you’re claiming against a public body, the data breach time limit is one year. Therefore, please call our helpline, and an advisor can determine whether or not you still have time to claim.
What Is A Data Breach?
First of all, let’s answer the question, “What is a data breach?” A data breach is a security incident that leads to the unlawful or accidental loss of, destruction of, alteration of, disclosure of or access to personal information. Many data breaches are accidental. However, unfortunately, persons with bad intentions may also cause data breaches deliberately.
What can happen when a data breach takes place? A data breach can involve the following mishaps:
- An organisation loses personal data
- Criminals steal personal data
- An organisation encrypts or alters personal data without a lawful reason
- Unauthorised persons gain access to the data
What Data Protection Legislation Applies In The UK?
The UK General Data Protection Regulation protects the data privacy rights of individuals. It sits alongside an amended version of the Data Protection Act 2018. The UK GDPR requires organisations to take steps to protect the personal data they collect. For example, organisations can provide staff training and have security processes to protect the data.
Moreover, organisations should also have adequate security systems to protect the personal data they collect.
Can You Claim Compensation For A Data Breach?
Yes, you could claim compensation if an organisation breaches your data privacy. What’s more, you can claim compensation from an organisation that was the target of a cyber attack if the organisation did not take adequate steps to safeguard your personal data.
Sometimes if you wish to claim compensation, your solicitor will have to investigate to see if the organisation was at fault.
How Do Data Leakages And Breaches Happen?
Our data breach solicitors cover Calderdale and handle all types of data breach claims. Let’s look at how data breaches can happen in more detail:
- A social services data breach can happen if social workers wrongfully disclose the name of a shelter where an abused person is staying without a lawful reason. Therefore, the wrongful disclosure of personal information could endanger a vulnerable person.
- A receptionist at a company can leave a confidential file containing personal information open on a public-facing desk. As a result, unauthorised persons could access personal data contained in the file.
- A university data breach can happen if the institution is targeted in a cyber attack. Criminals could use malware to steal personal data belonging to students. As a result, criminals may target the students for identity theft and fraud.
- A medical records data breach can occur if a GP surgery accidentally destroys medical data. Subsequently, the GP surgery would lose important information about the patient’s medical history.
- A school data breach could happen if a school accidentally publishes information about their pupils online without redacting the personal information. By doing so, the school could endanger the children’s security and privacy.
These are just some of the ways that a data breach can happen. If you wish to claim data breach compensation, please contact Legal Expert today to learn more.
Are Data Breaches Becoming More Common?
We hear about data breaches more frequently now, compared to recent decades. So, we may wonder, “Are data breaches becoming more common?”
The General Data Protection Regulation requires organisations to report data breaches. So, we are more likely to hear about data breaches than before.
What Happens If A Breach Of Data Protection Takes Place?
The organisation that caused or was affected by the data breach should report it to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO releases data security incident trends quarterly. Here are the overall trends for the year 2020/21:
- Organisations reported 9,483 data breach incidents to the ICO during this period.
- 6,786 were non-cyber security breaches, and 2,697 were cyber security breaches.
- The top sectors that reported data breaches were healthcare, education and childcare, followed by retail and manufacturing.
The ICO not only records data breaches but also enforces data protection laws. It can fine organisations that aren’t following them.
What Are The Steps In Claiming Compensation For A Data Breach?
If you have suffered due to a data breach, why not get in touch with Legal Expert? We could appoint a data breach solicitor covering Calderdale to handle your compensation claim.
Let’s look at the general steps in claiming compensation for a data breach.
Firstly, what happens if an organisation realises that they have breached your data privacy? The organisation should send you a notification within 72 hours if your rights and freedoms are at risk.
The notification may inform you of steps you need to take to protect your security, such as changing online passwords. It’s a good idea to keep this notification. You may use the notification as evidence to support your claim later.
Secondly, if you discover a data breach yourself, raise your concerns with the party you entrusted your personal data with. If necessary, please ask for your complaint to be escalated.
Hopefully, the organisation can resolve the problem. However, if you do not receive a satisfactory response, you could raise your personal data concerns with the ICO. You would need to do this within 3 months of the last response from the organisation. The Information Commissioner’s Office may investigate the data breach.
How Do You Calculate Breach Of Data Protection Payouts
As we have mentioned, experiencing a data breach can harm your overall well-being. A data breach is very traumatic to some people, especially if sensitive information is breached. Therefore, you may experience stress after a data breach or psychiatric injuries, including PTSD, anxiety or depression.
On the other hand, data breach victims can find that criminals use their personal data to target them for identity theft or fraud. Therefore, you may have also lost assets and money because of the data breach.
In the event of a successful claim, you may receive up to two heads of claim:
- The first is material damages, which will compensate you for any financial losses incurred due to the data breach.
- And the second is non-material damages, which will compensate you for any emotional distress or psychiatric injuries suffered due to the breach.
How Much Compensation Can You Get For A Breach Of GDPR?
You can use the table below to estimate how much compensation you could receive for non-material damages. However, the table does not include material damages. That’s because material damages vary so much between claimants.
The breach of data protection payouts in the compensation table below is based on the Judicial College Guidelines. This is a publication that solicitors use to help value injuries.
| Degree Of Injury | Type Of Harm Caused | Possible Compensation | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less severe | Psychiatric Damage | Up to £5,500 | Compensation for less severe forms of injury looks at how long the symptoms lasted for and how much these impacted on the persons everyday life. |
| Moderate | Psychiatric Damage | £5,500 – £17,900 | Victims should have already shown a significant level of improvement. |
| Moderately severe | Psychiatric Damage | £17,900 – £51,460 | This person could find factors such as education, work or life in general hard to cope with. They may have a poorer prognosis but it is better than the categories below. |
| Severe | Psychiatric Damage | £51,460 – £108,620 | With a poor prognosis, the victim will find it harder to cope with aspects of life such as relationships and work as well as others. |
| Severe | Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | £56,180 – £94,470 | This person may have experienced difficulties in all aspects of their life and some effects may be permanent. They may not be able to function as they did before the trauma. |
| Moderately Severe | Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | £21,730 – £56,180 | If they have access to professional help the person may have a better chance at recovering. |
| Moderate | Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | £7,680 – £21,730 | There should not be any symptoms which are grossly disabling and they should largely have recovered. |
| Less Severe | Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | Up to £7,680 | Recovery in 1 to 2 years. |
If you’re unsure as to how your claim will be valued, why not get in touch? An advisor can estimate how much compensation you could be eligible to claim.
How Could Claiming On A No Win No Fee Basis Help You?
Legal Expert can offer you the services of data breach solicitors covering Calderdale, who work on a No Win No Fee basis.
No Win No Fee agreements involve a solicitor working on your claim without charging you a solicitor’s fee upfront. Instead, you would fund your solicitor by paying a success fee if they win your compensation claim.
In the circumstance that your solicitor does not win your claim, you will not have to pay a success fee. You will sign a Conditional Fee Agreement (also known as a No Win No Fee agreement) to formalise the data breach claim, which aims to protect both parties.
What Are The Key Benefits Of Making A No Win No Fee Claim?
- Firstly, No Win No Fee claims are a more affordable way of funding the services of a solicitor. That’s because you will not have to pay a solicitor’s fee upfront. Instead, your solicitor will take their fee from the compensation payout received. (This is the success fee we mentioned earlier.)
- Secondly, they reduce the financial risk involved in funding the services of a solicitor. That’s because the solicitor will not charge a success fee unless the data breach claim is successful. They also won’t charge any upfront or ongoing solicitor fees.
- And thirdly, because the success fee is capped by law, you should keep the majority of your breach of data protection payout.
You can read our guide to making a No Win No Fee claim to find out more.
Speak To Expert Data Breach Solicitors For Calderdale
If your personal data has been compromised in a data breach, we can provide you with experienced data breach solicitors covering Calderdale to handle your claim. Our data breach solicitors offer No Win No Fee claims options. Moreover, they will value your claim properly in advance so you can receive the right amount of data breach compensation.
To see if you can begin a data breach claim, please contact us today.
- Contact us via our website.
- Call our advisors on 0800 073 8804 for free legal advice.
- Or use our Live Support widget to chat with an advisor and ask them any questions you may have.
Extra Reference Materials
We hope you have found this guide to finding data breach solicitors for Calderdale helpful. You may also want to read these guides to making a data breach claim as well.
Hotel Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide – Help and support regarding claiming compensation for a hotel data breach.
Mortgage Company Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide – Information about how to claim compensation if a mortgage company has breached your data privacy.
Dentist Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide – A guide about claiming compensation for a dentist data breach.
A guide to human rights, which can be violated by a data breach.
An ICO guide to personal data breaches.
Your data protection rights. A guide from the UK government.
Thank you for reading our guide to working with data breach solicitors covering Calderdale.
Written by Checlache
Edited by Victorine
