Data Breach Solicitors Westminster – Expert Claims Support
A personal data breach can impact your life physically, mentally, and financially in various ways. Our data breach solicitors for Westminster are professional and experienced in handling data breach compensation claims.
A guide to data breach solicitors for Westminster
The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) sits alongside an updated version of the Data Protection Act 2018. It outlines the responsibilities that organisations have when processing your personal data and how they can protect it.
If you have proof of your personal data being involved in a breach, you can contact our team of advisers today. They’d be happy to discuss your potential claim with you. They can also then assess how much compensation you could be entitled to. If you have a promising claim, an adviser can connect you to one of our data breach solicitors from Westminster to discuss No Win No Fee agreements with you.
You can get in touch with our excellent team of advisers by:
- Calling 0800 073 8004 to have a chat.
- Requesting a call back to then receive a response at your earliest convenience.
- Using our live pop-up chatbox to then get an immediate response.
Select a Section
- What Claims Could Be Handled By Data Breach Solicitors For Westminster?
- What Do I Need To Know About Data Breaches?
- Top Causes Of Data Protection Breache
- How Often Did These Happen?
- What Should I Do Once I’m Informed Of A Breach?
- Is There An Average Amount Of Compensation Awarded?
- Could Data Breach Solicitors For Westminster Offer Me A No Win No Fee Agreement?
- Get In Contact With Data Breach Solicitors For Westminster
- Where To Learn More About How Data Breach Solicitors For Westminster Could Help You
What Claims Could Be Handled By Data Breach Solicitors For Westminster?
In this guide, we aim to help you understand whether you have a potentially valid claim. To help, we’ve added some crucial definitions below.
- Personal data/information: Information that can identify a person; for example, a person’s name, phone number or bank details.
- Data subject: The person that the personal data belongs to.
- Data controller: An organisation that chooses why and how they process data; for example, a bank, council or employer.
- Data processor: An agency or organisation that is separate from the data controller but processes personal information for them.
It’s important to note that you don’t need to use the services of a personal data breach solicitor near you to claim. Our data breach solicitors can work for you from anywhere in the country. Therefore, you don’t have to be restricted to the services of lawyers based in Westminster if you can’t find one suited to you.
For free legal advice about the claims process or your potential case, why not call our advisers? They’re available 24/7 and you won’t be under any obligation to proceed with our services. They can also answer any of your questions about working with our data breach solicitors for Westminster.
What Do I Need To Know About Data Breaches?
According to the UK GDPR, these 5 words define what a data breach is in regards to personal data: loss, alteration, access, destruction, and disclosure. If a security breach led to your personal data being affected in any of those 5 ways, you may have experienced a personal data breach.
Data breaches can be deliberate or accidental. What’s more, they can occur online or involve personal data held physically (such as paper records).
In order to make a data breach claim, positive wrongful conduct must have occurred in relation to the data processor or controller. This essentially means that the organisation that you entrusted your personal data to failed to protect it where it should’ve been able to. For example, it may have neglected to ensure there was online security, meaning that a cyberattacker was able to easily access your personal data.
Furthermore, you must have suffered material (financial) damage or non-material (psychological) damage in order to make a claim. You could experience and claim for both or either.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) enforces data protection legislation in the UK. It’s an independent body and can level hefty fines for a data breach. Furthermore, it can issue fines even if a data breach causes you no harm. The ICO is unable to compensate you, but they can investigate how and why the data breach occurred. You could then use this evidence in your claim.
You can contact our expert team of advisers today to receive legal advice for free. They’re available around the clock to chat about your case and forward you to one of our data breach lawyers for Westminster if you have proof of a data breach.
Top Causes Of Data Protection Breaches
The ICO records data security incident trends across different sectors. In the first two quarters of 2021/22, there were 4,983 data breach incidents reported. The majority of these were non-cyber-related so weren’t caused by cyberattackers.
Many data breaches aren’t online, but some are. Below are some examples of the causes of data breaches.
- Failure to redact: Personal data should be removed from published materials where there isn’t a lawful reason (such as consent) for it to be shared.
- Failure to use blind carbon copy (BCC): This occurs when someone sends an email out to multiple people and doesn’t use the BCC field to hide the email addresses of other recipients. This can be problematic when the email can be considered sensitive (such as an email from a healthcare clinic).
- Data posted or faxed to the wrong person: If a letter containing personal data is sent to the wrong postage address, an unauthorised recipient could access it. If the company that sent out the letter was aware of your change of address but sent it out incorrectly anyway, they could be seen as responsible.
- Losing personal data: An example is an employee leaving documents containing personal information on a train. Someone could then open the bag and access the documents without a lawful reason.
- Sending an email to the wrong recipient: It’s important for those handling personal data to ensure they’re sending emails to the correct recipients. If they don’t, they could send an email containing personal information the someone without a lawful basis.
How Often Did These Happen?
The chart below shows statistics the ICO collected in regards to data breaches for the 2nd quarter of 2021/22. It shows a sample of the kinds of data incidents that the ICO records.
The 5 incidents we’ve included in the chart below are the same as those mentioned in the section above. As you can see, sending an email to an incorrect recipient occurred more often than the other 4 kinds of incidents.
data security incident trends statistics graph
What Should I Do Once I’m Informed Of A Breach?
There are some steps you can take after finding out your personal information has been involved in a data breach. If you found out about the data breach yourself, it’s important to alert the data processor or controller and they should advise you of what data has possibly been breached.
If the organisation fails to reply satisfactorily, you have the option to report the data breach incident to the ICO. However, you should report the breach to the ICO no more than 3 months after your last meaningful response from the organisation.
Whether or not you’re in communication with the ICO, you could seek legal advice from data breach solicitors for Westminster and begin a data breach claim.
If your claim is legitimate, our advisers can connect you to one of our experienced data breach solicitors. They can then discuss No Win No Fee agreements with you and potentially begin working on your data breach claim.
Is There An Average Amount Of Compensation Awarded?
The figures presented in the compensation table below are from the Judicial College Guidelines, which is a publication that illustrates the ranges of awards given for previous claims. These figures are to be used as an example and could vary.
We’ve used the below compensation table as an example of non-material damages. Non-aterial damages compensate you for the mental harm the data breach caused you. It could be that a pre-existing condition was worsened because of the breach, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Alternatively, you may have found that you suffered a new illness, such as anxiety or stress, due to the data breach.
| Injury: | Severity: | Notes: | Compensation: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | Severe | Struggle to maintain social and work life. Effects are permanent. | £56,180 to £94,470 |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | Moderate | The prognosis is positive but there are still symptoms. | £7,680 to £21,730 |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | Severe | Symptoms are severe and it’s unlikely you will recover. You are unable to live your life the same way you did before the trauma. | £51,460 to £108,620 |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | Moderately Severe | The prognosis has more optimism than the above. | £17,900 to £51,460 |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | Moderate | Prognosis is good though there’s been an improvement. | £5,500 to £17,900 |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | Less Severe | Factors taken into account will include how long sleep was affected and how much everyday activities were impacted. | £1,440 to £5,500 |
Data breach compensation awards can consist of material damages or non-material damages (or both). The figures above are based on the non-material damages that could be awarded for different injuries. The compensation awarded is based on factors such as how severe the injury is and the length of treatment.
Material damages compensate for the financial impact the data breach has had on you. For example, a credit card data breach or bank data breach could mean you’ve had your money stolen and you aren’t able to recover the loss through the bank.
To discuss making a data breach claim with one of our data breach solicitors for Westminster, you can contact our team of advisers today. They’d be happy to discuss your options with you and then answer any questions you may have.
Could Data Breach Solicitors For Westminster Offer Me A No Win No Fee Agreement?
Our data breach solicitors for Westminster would be happy to have a chat with you about No Win No Fee agreements. There’s a variety of financial benefits to this type of agreement, as there’s little to lose. A No Win No Fee agreement is a contract between you and your data breach solicitor.
If your claim is unsuccessful, you won’t have to pay your solicitor’s fee at all. They’d deduct a legally capped small percentage of your compensation if your claim succeeds.
No Win No Fee agreements, sometimes referred to as Conditional Fee Agreements, have other benefits in regards to funding the services of a solicitor. For example, you don’t have to pay any ongoing or upfront solicitor fees.
Why not contact our advisers to discuss your options? They can offer legal advice for free and calculate the amount of compensation you may be owed. What’s more, they’re available 24/7 for your ease.
If you have proof of a data breach and a promising claim, an adviser can connect you to one of our experienced data breach solicitors for Westminster. They can then explore working with you on a No Win No Fee basis. Our data breach lawyers are passionate about seeking the maximum amount of compensation for claimants.
Get In Contact With Data Breach Solicitors For Westminster
The clock’s ticking, so why wait to have a chat with one of our expert advisers? They’re available 24 hours a day to answer your questions and discuss your possible next steps. If you have a valid claim, they can connect you to one of our experienced data breach solicitors for Westminster.
Our solicitors are empathetic and can support you through the claims process, ensuring you’re in good hands.
The time limit to make a data breach claim against a non-public body is generally 6 years. Alternatively, data breach claims against a public body, such as the police or local council, generally have a 1-year time limit.
If you’re under 18, the time limits begin on your 18th birthday. However, someone you trust can become a litigation friend. This then allows them to make the claim on your behalf. If you lack the mental capacity to make a claim, the time limit begins when you start recovery. Alternatively, someone can act as a litigation friend. They’ll then be able to make the claim for you sooner than this.
You can reach our team of advisers via:
- Telephone on 0800 073 8804.
- Our online claims form so you can receive a call back whenever you’re ready.
- Our instant pop-up live chat box so you can chat with an adviser immediately.
Where To Learn More About How Data Breach Solicitors For Westminster Could Help You
Post Office Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide – If you’d like information about a post office data breach, our guide can help.
Bank Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide – Our article offers guidance about how to handle a bank data breach.
BT Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide – If you have evidence of suffering due to a BT data breach, read this guide.
Action We’ve Taken – This link shows you what action the ICO has taken so far.
For Organisations – This ICO page includes useful information for data processors and controllers.
Your Data Matters – You can find important information and guidance about your data rights here.
Thank you for reading our article about working with data breach solicitors for Westminster.
Written by Naylor
Edited by Victorine
