Wakefield Data Breach Solicitors – Expert Claims Support
You may be looking into data breach solicitors for Wakefield claims to see if you could receive compensation for a GDPR data breach. A breach of your data protection can greatly impact your quality of life as it can lead to sensitive personal information being exposed or the data stolen.
Data breach solicitors for Wakefield
This guide will explain the different types of data breaches and provide examples to give you a better understanding of when you could receive data breach compensation.
Our advisors are available 24/7, offer free legal advice and can inform you of your eligibility to claim in just a few minutes. They can also put you through to a specialised data breach solicitor whose expertise could be applied to your case. Contact us today to see if you can claim using the details below.
- Call us now using 0800 073 8804
- Contact us online through our website
- Please email us with your query at info@legalexpert.co.uk
- Write to us with the Live Chat window that’s now on your screen
Read on to learn more about how data protection breach solicitors could help you.
Select a Section
- An Overview Of Data Breach Solicitors For Wakefield
- What Are Breaches Of The Data Protection Act?
- What Could Cause A Data Breach?
- How Commonly Do Data Breaches Occur?
- Do I Need An Expert Solicitor To Pursue A Data Breach Claim?
- Examples Of Data Breach Compensation Amounts
- Why Use Data Breach Solicitors Covering Wakefield Who Offer No Win No Fee Services?
- Reach Out To Data Breach Solicitors For Wakefield
- What Else Do You Need To Know About Data Breach Solicitors For Wakefield?
An Overview Of Data Breach Solicitors For Wakefield
Data breach solicitors for Wakefield specialise in claims regarding breaches in personal data. Successful claims like this relate to data controllers or processors not working within regulations set by the UK GDPR. GDPR data breach solicitors can help compile evidence on your behalf to build your case.
We understand if you have questions like, “can I get compensation for a data breach?” This guide will provide you with more information about GDPR compliance so you understand if you could receive data breach compensation.
Importantly, solicitors can accrue evidence like medical reports, witness statements and financial records to paint a fuller picture of the incident and how it has negatively impacted you. To learn more about data breach solicitors for Wakefield claims, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Our advisors are available 24/7 and can tell you if you’re eligible to claim in just one phone call.
What Are Breaches Of The Data Protection Act?
EU GDPR is defined by the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Before the UK left the EU it incorporated the GDPR and enacted it into UK law through the Data Protection Act 2018 DPA. Since leaving the EU, the UK has altered the Data Protection Act 2018. This now runs alongside the UK’s own take on the GDPR. This clarifies the responsibilities of data controllers to protect data subjects’ personal information. Within the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regulates this.
A personal data breach is a breach of security that can result in the alteration, loss, unauthorised disclosure of, access to or accidental or unlawful destruction of your personal data. This can range from your name and address to your bank details. This doesn’t need to just be deliberate. Your data can also be breached by accident.
Important things to consider before you claim
There are two important things to consider regarding personal data breaches that can dictate your ability to claim. Firstly, you need to have suffered some form of loss from the data breach. This means that you need to have either suffered material damage (financial damage) or non-material damage (damage to your mental health. This could be depression, anxiety, etc.)
Secondly, just because you’ve suffered losses from a data breach doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be able to claim. This is because, to receive compensation for a data breach under the GDPR, the data controller or processor handling your data will need to be liable for not appropriately securing it.
For example, suppose the data controller has up-to-date cyber security and gets hacked, resulting in your data being stolen. In that case, you may not be able to claim because, by having up-to-date security, the controller has done everything they realistically can to prevent this. Therefore, they need to have made some form of positive wrongful conduct that goes against the regulations for you to receive compensation for the data protection breach.
What Could Cause A Data Breach?
There are different types of data breaches you could suffer from. The UK GDPR regulations cover both physical data and digital data. As such, you may have suffered a breach of data protection from the data controller:
- Emailing your personal data to the wrong person
- Failing to redact information
- Losing paperwork or it being stolen
- Failing to use BCC in emails
- Disposing of paperwork or hardware incorrectly
- Faxing or wrong postage address
Therefore, you may be looking for data breach solicitors for Wakefield for any of the above reasons. Again, it’s important to stress that, to be able to claim, you need to have suffered some form of material or non-material loss due to the data protection breach.
To learn more about whether you can claim data breach compensation, please contact our advisors at a time that works for you. They can answer questions like, “what can I do if my data has been breached?” They can also put you through to data breach solicitors for Wakefield claims.
How Commonly Do Data Breaches Occur?
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport performed the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021 that analysed cyber security standards across some businesses and charities within the UK. As you can see above, the percentage of businesses that took part in the survey which performed any of the above cybersecurity precautions was 52%.
Of these businesses, only 35% used specific tools designed for security monitoring, and only 15% carried out a cyber security vulnerability audit. As a business, if your cybersecurity isn’t up-to-date, you may be more vulnerable to cyber attacks resulting in customers’ personal information being stolen.
This is why you may be looking into data breach solicitors for Wakefield. If you’ve suffered a loss from a data protection breach due to the data controller potentially not having up-to-date systems, you may be able to receive compensation.
Do I Need An Expert Solicitor To Pursue A Data Breach Claim?
There are steps you can take if you’ve discovered that your data has been breached. If a data breach has negatively impacted you, you could perform the below actions.
- If your rights and freedoms are at risk then the data controller should inform you if a breach has occurred. Keep all correspondence as evidence.
- If you discover the breach yourself, you can complain to the data controller, asking them to confirm what information has been breached.
- Then, if you aren’t happy with the response provided by the data controller, you could complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can only do this within three months of the final response date that you’ve received from the data controller. You would contact the ICO to ask them to investigate the breach.
- Finally, another thing to consider is whether you could receive data breach compensation. You can seek legal advice if you want to potentially claim compensation. Furthermore, you don’t need to have complained through the ICO to do this.
Examples Of Data Breach Compensation Amounts
As previously mentioned, there are two potential heads of claim you could receive compensation for if your data breach claim is successful.
- Material damages relate to the financial losses you’ve suffered due to the data breach.
- Non-material damages, meanwhile, relate to the psychological harm caused by this breach. For example, you could suffer anxiety, depression, distress or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Data breach claim solicitors will request evidence for the types of damages you’re claiming for. Evidence for material damages includes receipts, invoices and bank statements. Evidence for non-material damages includes medical reports, doctor’s notes and an independent medical assessment of the injuries you’ve suffered.
Guidelines from The Judicial College could help give you a better understanding of the compensation you could receive for non-material damages. They analyse previous payouts, relating the amount paid to the extent of the injury. Therefore, by doing this, they’ve created reliable compensation brackets. Please see below relevant injuries and their respective compensation brackets. The Judicial College provides these figures.
| Type of Injury | Amount of Compensation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | £5,500 to £17,900 | This bracket is for injuries that lead to the injured person having issues coping with things like work and interpersonal relationships. However, a marked improvement has been accomplished by trial. As such, their prognosis is good. |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | £1,440 to £5,500 | The amount awarded within this bracket will depend on the extent that daily activities and sleep are affected as well as the length of time these issues have troubled the injured person. |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | £7,680 to £21,730 | In this bracket, the injured person will have largely recovered from the psychological issues caused by the incident. Therefore, any continuing effects will not be of a grossly disabling nature. |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | £3,710 to £7,680 | To receive compensation in this bracket, the injured person will have virtually made a full recovery within a year or two. After that point, only minor symptoms persist that wouldn’t greatly affect the person’s life. |
Why Use Data Breach Solicitors Covering Wakefield Who Offer No Win No Fee Services?
You may want to know more about how a No Win No Fee agreement works. Our No Win No Fee data breach solicitors for Wakefield could offer to take on your case if it is valid. No Win No Fee solicitors could represent you on the condition that they get paid at the end of a successful claim. Generally, if they don’t win your case, you don’t have to pay them any legal fees. This is why it’s called a No Win No Fee agreement.
This can also be referred to as a Conditional Fee Agreement. Another benefit of funding a solicitor through this method includes not paying legal fees at any point during the claims process. The amount that the solicitor will take from your compensation is small and legally capped – simply used to cover the legal fees of your case.
Due to the risk and reward involved in the solicitor agreeing to a No Win No Fee claim, they start by assessing the likelihood of you successfully receiving compensation. Therefore, they look at:
- Whether a breach has occurred
- Whether it was the fault of the data processor or controller
- You’ve suffered financial and/or psychological harm due to the breach.
Furthermore, The Limitation Act 1980 also clarifies that you need to claim within a particular timeframe. For data breach claims, you need to begin claim proceedings within six years. However, the timeframe is only one year if your human rights were affected as part of the breach or your claim is against a public body.
Reach Out To Data Breach Solicitors For Wakefield
Our advisors offer free legal advice 24/7 and can even tell you in just a few minutes if you’re able to claim. They can also put you through to data breach solicitors for Wakefield, who can work for you on a No Win No Fee basis. Contact us today using the details below.
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- Call us now using 0800 073 8804
- Contact us online through our website
- Please email us with your query at info@legalexpert.co.uk
- Write to us with the Live Chat window that’s now on your screen.
What Else Do You Need To Know About Data Breach Solicitors For Wakefield?
To learn more about data breach claims, please use the below links.
Want to know how to report a breach? If so, visit the ICO website.
To know more about raising a concern with an organisation about a breach of data, please read this guide.
If you’re suffering from psychological trauma, you may want to find an NHS psychological therapies service that could help you. Visit their website to learn more.
If a Public Health Wales data breach occurred you could visit this page on our website.
Should a hotel breach of data happen this guide might be useful.
Or if you suspect a Travelodge data breach then this guide could help you.
Contact us using the details above to learn more about how data breach solicitors for Wakefield could help you receive compensation.
Guide By Durdy
Edited By Melissa.
