Can I Claim Compensation For A Debt And Arrears Data Breach?

This guide aims to go through what you need to know about claiming compensation for a debt and arrears data breach. It explains the roles of those who may be responsible for protecting your personal data.

A guide on claiming after a debt and arrears data breach

Additionally, the guide delineates the data protection and privacy laws, which support a debt and arrears data breach compensation claim.

Furthermore, you may be able to estimate how much your data breach claim is worth. Example compensation payout for various injuries is in the table below. This guide also delves into the different aspects that may feed a debt and arrears data breach calculator, helping you make closer estimates.

The guide has also explained how a No Win No Fee agreement could be beneficial to you. You can get free legal advice if you call our advisors. They can also connect you to our panel of data breach solicitors to claim on your behalf. Ways to reach us:

Call free on the number at the top of the page
Fill out our make a claim form
Chat with us using the chat feature at the bottom of the page.

Choose A Section

Guidance On Claiming Compensation After A Data Breach Involving Debt And Arrears
What Is A Debt And Arrears Data Breach?
Examples Of Data Breaches Involving Debt And Arrears
How Much Could I Get For A Debt And Arrears Data Breach?
Benefits Of No Win No Fee Agreements
Further Information About Debt And Arrears Data Breaches

Guidance On Claiming Compensation After A Data Breach Involving Debt And Arrears

If you have suffered because a personal data breach caused you to suffer mental harm or financial loss, you might be able to claim.

You may have a valid debt and arrears data breach claim if you can determine that your personal information was involved in the data breach, and that it was caused by the wrongful conduct of the organisation that was supposed to protect your personal information.

Examples of personal data protected under privacy laws are:

Full name
Home address
Phone number
Date of Birth
Bank Account
Email address

Other personal data that requires special care and privacy is classified by the ICO as special category data. The damages and impact can be higher if the data breach involves personal data in this category. Examples of special category personal data are:

biometric data
political opinions
sexual life and sexual orientation
religious or philosophical beliefs
racial or ethnic origin
genetic data
trade union membership

Personal data breaches can be worrisome because personal data can be used to identify you either on its own or with added information. Data controllers are organisations that decide why and how personal data will be processed. Data processors are separate from controllers and are sometimes used to process personal information on the controller’s behalf.

What Makes A Data Breach Claim Valid?

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 outline what makes data breach compensation claims valid.

To claim compensation, you need to show proof that you have been harmed either financially or psychologically because of your personal data breach.

You may want to know how long a data breach claim can take. It may depend on many factors including if the defendant accepts liability, and how long it takes to medically assess your injuries. Do not hesitate to claim so that you can do so within the 6 years generally allowed for data breach cases.

What Is A Debt And Arrears Data Breach?

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is an independent body that enforces data protection laws. It helps us understand that a debt and arrears data breach may occur when a security breach causes personal information to be:

lost;
destroyed;
disclosed;
changed; or
accessed.

This may happen because of someone’s deliberate actions or accidentally. If a data controller or data processor’s wrongful conduct causes the data breach, you could claim.

Data Protection Laws

These are the laws that govern how to handle and protect personal data. A claim against a data controller or a data processor is backed by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

The UK GDPR sets out 7 principles for data controllers to follow such as:

Integrity and confidentiality (security)
Accuracy
Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
Accountability
Data minimisation
Storage limitation
Purpose limitation

Examples Of Data Breaches Involving Debt And Arrears

Data breaches can happen intentionally or unintentionally. Intentional data breaches that occur digitally and involve a 3rd party with malicious intent are referred to as cyberattacks. It follows that non-cyber data breaches do not involve malicious intent from a 3rd party.

Some causes of non-cyber incidents are:

Incorrect disposal of paperwork or hardware
Data posted or faxed to the wrong person
A failure to use BCC in emails
A failure to redact information
Data being emailed to the wrong person
Verbal disclosures

What Do Data Breach Statistics Tell Us?

The ICO governs data protection laws and also tracks data security trends. The figures are based on Q4 of 2021/22 reports of personal data breaches received by the ICO. The majority of the reported data breaches were non-cyber incidents without 3rd party malicious intent.

There have been 1,696 non-cyber incidents
71 incidents of verbal disclosure of personal data.
9 incidents of incorrect disposal of paperwork.
2 incidents of incorrect disposal of hardware
50 hardware/software misconfigurations
79 incidents of failure to use bcc in emails
109 incidents of failure to redact

How Much Could I Get For A Debt And Arrears Data Breach?

Each data breach case and the resulting injuries are unique. Consequently, there is no figure for an average data breach payout that can fit all claims. The data breach payout you could receive would depend on the severity of your injuries and the impact the injuries have on your quality of life.

Solicitors also use the potential compensation amounts listed in the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to assist them in determining how much a data breach claim could be worth. In the compensation table below, we’ve included figures from the 16th edition of the JCG, published in April 2022.

Injury	Severity	Notes	Amounts
Psychiatric Damage	(a) Severe	Inability to cope or maintain normal relationships.	£54,830 to £115,730
	(b) Moderately Severe	Lesser problems with ability to cope or maintain normal relationships.	£19,070 to £54,830
	(c) Moderate	Marked improvement in ability to cope and in maintaining normal relationships.	£5,860 to £19,070
	(d) Less Severe	The compensation can be valued by considering the length of the time of disability and how much sleep and everyday activities were affected.	£1,540 to £5,860
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)	(a) Severe	Permanent effects that prevent work.	£59,860 to £100,670
	(b) Moderately Severe	Recovery with professional help.	£23,150 to £59,860
	(c) Moderate	Almost completely recovered from effects.	£8,180 to £23,150
	(d) Less Severe	A practically full recovery.	£3,950 to £8,180

Debt and arrears data breach calculator

Your debt and arrears data breach compensation amount can comprise material damages and non-material damages. As we explain below, you can claim compensation for only non-material damages without sustaining a financial loss.

What Is Material Damage?

Material damages compensate for financial losses you incur due to the data breach. It doesn’t cover only immediate financial losses but also any impact on your future financial standing. For example, your credit rating may be affected because of the data breach.

What Is Non-Material Damage?

Non-material damage is psychological harm you’ve endured because of the data breach. Examples of the psychological harm that a data breach may cause or worsen are:

Distress
Anxiety
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

In the case of Vidal-Hall and others v Google Inc [2015] – Court of Appeal, the judge set a standard which allows a claim for psychological damage without any financial loss.

Therefore, if you make a successful claim, you could seek compensation for psychological harm as well as financial loss, or either type of damage.

Benefits Of No Win No Fee Agreements

Using legal advice may help make it easier to make a claim. Our panel of personal injury solicitors are able to represent you under a No Win No Fee agreement after you sign a conditional fee agreement. This is a cost-effective agreement which means that you do not pay upfront solicitor fees before starting your claim. You also will not pay any ongoing solicitor fees as your debt and arrears data breach compensation claim progresses. Additionally, if your claim is not successful, you won’t pay the solicitor’s fee at all.

A small percentage of your data breach payout will be taken to settle the solicitor’s fee if your claim is successful. This percentage is capped by law so that you retain the majority of your compensation.

Ask About Making A Debt And Arrears Data Breach Claim

If you have more questions about how to pursue a No Win No Fee claim, you can call our advisors and receive free legal advice. They can also connect you to our panel of data breach solicitors who have years of experience claiming data breach compensation in the UK. Ways you can reach us:

Call us free on the number at the top right of the page.
Fill out our make a claim form
Chat with us in real-time using the chat feature on this page.

Further Information About Debt And Arrears Data Breaches

Our other guides that can help you

Other helpful external resources

Report a data breach

Personal data breaches

Making a Data Breach Complaint to the Government

If you need any help with claiming after a debt and arrears data breach, why not get in touch?

Writer Mary March

Publisher Ruth Voss

Debt And Arrears Data Breach Claims