Estimating Compensation For A Wage Data Breach Claim

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Estimating Compensation For A Wage Data Breach Claim

If you have a valid wage data breach claim, you might be wondering how much data breach compensation you could be owed. In this guide, you’ll find out how compensation is valued.

A guide to claiming after a wage data breach

We’ll also cover examples of a salary data breach and why you might benefit from using a No Win No Fee lawyer. Whether you have suffered harm or loss because of minimum wage breaches, or due to a payroll data breach, by the end of this article, we hope you’ll feel confident enough to get the compensation you deserve.

Read on to find out how we could help you. Alternatively, you might be ready to make a claim. To get in touch you can use our live chat function to speak to an advisor, or call the number above.

Choose A Section

Guidance On Claiming Compensation After A Data Breach Involving Wages
What Is A Wage Data Breach?
Examples Of A Salary Data Breach
How Much Could I Get For A Wage Data Breach?
Benefits Of Using No Win No Fee Lawyers
Further Information About A Wage Data Breach

Guidance On Claiming Compensation After A Data Breach Involving Wages

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) is key data protection legislation that sits alongside the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and sets out the core principles that organisations should follow when handling personal data.

Under UK GDPR, organisations should:

Make sure personal data is used fairly, lawfully and transparently
Use personal data for specific purposes
Only keep personal data that is necessary
Personal information should be updated as and when required
Get rid of any unwanted personal data safely
Personal data must be safely processed and stored

In order to claim compensation for a salary data breach, an organisation will have breached data protection law and committed some form of wrongful conduct. If their actions caused a data breach in which you suffered financial loss or psychological harm, you could have grounds for a valid claim. Get in touch to find out more.

What Is A Wage Data Breach?

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ensures that organisations adhere to data protection law in the UK. They may investigate a salary data breach, or issue fines to organisations that are found to have neglected UK GDPR.

A personal data breach occurs when a security incident leads to the loss, disclosure, destruction, change of or access to personal data. Personal data, or personal information, is information that can be used to identify you, such as your name or address.

If a data controller or data processor has committed some form of wrongful conduct, causing a data breach in which you suffer, you might be able to claim. A data controller is an organisation that decides how and why your personal data is used. However, a data processor is typically an external party that processes data on the controller’s behalf. A data controller doesn’t always use their services, however. They’ll often process data themselves.

Our advisors work around the clock to support you. They can offer a free consultation with no obligation. Furthermore, if you have a valid claim, they may connect you to our panel of solicitors.

Examples Of A Salary Data Breach

When seeking compensation for a salary data breach, it would be helpful for us to highlight some scenarios in which you could claim. For example:

Your wage slip is emailed to the incorrect, unauthorised recipient because your employer failed to check if they had the right email address for you
Paperwork containing your personal data is stolen because your employer failed to keep your documents stored securely
Your employer verbally discusses your wages with you, but not in a private and secure setting, meaning unauthorised persons could hear your salary information

Data Breach Statistics

The latest data security trends published by the ICO reveal there have been 2,172 data breach incidents recorded in Q4 of 2021/22. The health sector reported the most incidents, followed by education and childcare, then retail and manufacturing.

The five most common incident types were as follows:

Data emailed to incorrect recipient (381)
Other non-cyber incident (328)
Non-cyber unauthorised access (229)
Phishing (176)
Data posted or faxed to incorrect address (217)

Some of the biggest data breach fines have cost millions of pounds for companies. Back in 2020, the ICO fined British Airways £20m for a data breach that affected over 400,000 customers. Furthermore, the ICO fined Marriott International Inc £18.4m for not keeping customers’ personal data secure.

If your personal data has been involved in a UK wage data breach, our team might be able to help you. Our advisors are available 24/7. Call to find out if you are eligible to claim for a wage data breach. Read on in the next section to find out what the average data breach payout is.

How Much Could I Get For A Wage Data Breach?

You might be wondering, ‘how much is a data breach claim worth?’ A wage data breach payout is split into two heads of damage. The first, non-material damage, takes into consideration any psychological injuries you may have suffered as a result of a salary data breach.

Following the case of Gulati & Ors V MGN Ltd (2015), a judge ruled that it is possible for data breach victims to be compensated for mental harm in the same way that personal injury victims can.

Therefore, we can use the 16th edition of the Judicial College Guidelines, published in April 2022, to create a wage data breach compensation table below. The document is used by solicitors and legal professionals alike to value physical and psychological injuries based on previous court rulings.

Injury	Compensation Range	Notes
Severe Psychiatric Damage Generally	£54,830 to £115,730	You may be unable to cope with aspects of your life, including your ability to work and sleep.
Moderately Psychiatric Damage Generally	£19,070 to £54,830	The extent to which treatment has been successful will have an impact on the compensation you might receive in this bracket.
Moderate Psychiatric Damage Generally	£5,860 to £19,070	Factors that influence the award within this bracket include the impact on your relationships with family and friends.
Less Severe Psychiatric Damage Generally	£1,540 to £5,860	Daily activities may be affected, but to a lesser extent compared to above.
Severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder	£59,860 to £100,670	You may be unable to work at all and all aspects of your life are badly affected.
Moderately Severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder	£23,150 to £59,860	While significant disability is likely for the foreseeable future, professional help may improve the prognosis.
Moderate Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder	£8,180 to £23,150	Any continuing effects are not likely to be too grossly disabling.
Less Severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder	£3,950 to £8,180	A virtually full recovery is expected to be made within a year or two and only minor symptoms continue.

Material Damage Meaning

The second head of damage you may claim for is material damage and that accounts for financial losses that you have incurred because of a salary data breach.

Financial harm may include a loss of earnings if you needed to take time off work. Furthermore, you may also claim for future financial harm that may occur because of a wage data breach.

Subsequently, we would recommend that you keep hold of wage slips, receipts or bank statements that prove your financial losses.

Additionally, we would advise that you seek legal advice. Our panel of solicitors are experts and could arrange a private medical assessment for you. Speak to an advisor to find out if you are eligible to use our services.

Benefits Of Using No Win No Fee Lawyers

We understand that a salary data breach might leave you out of pocket, particularly if it had an impact on your wages. However, a No Win No Fee lawyer could offer you a feasible way to fund legal representation following a wage data breach.

Here’s how a No Win No Fee lawyer could benefit you:

No upfront lawyer fee
No ongoing lawyer fee
No lawyer fee if your claim is unsuccessful
You’ll pay a legally-capped success fee to the lawyer from your compensation if you do win

We want the best for you, which is why our panel of solicitors may process your claim on a No Win No Fee basis. They might be able to get you the wage data breach compensation you could be owed.

Ask About Making A Wage Data Breach Claim

If you would like to see if you are eligible to claim No Win No Fee data breach compensation, you should speak to our team. An advisor can offer you a free consultation with no obligation to use our services afterwards. However, given you have a valid claim and do want to work with us, we will do our best to guarantee you wage data breach compensation.

To get in touch with our team, you could:

Speak to an advisor instantly using our live chat function
Give us a call on the number listed at the top of this page
Alternatively, you could use our make a claim form

Further Information About A Wage Data Breach

We hope that you have enjoyed our guide and feel confident enough to make a wage data breach claim. Before you go, let us share some additional resources with you that might come in handy.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) – If you have to take sick leave because of a psychological injury, but didn’t receive wages, you could be entitled to up to 28 weeks of SSP.

Make a complaint – Raise any concerns about how an organisation has handled your data with the ICO.

When to call 999 – Here’s what to do if an incident triggers a mental health emergency.

Other Data Breach Claim Guides

That concludes our guide on estimating compensation for a wage data breach claim. Please don’t hesitate if you have any additional questions.

Writer Lewis Jaques

Publisher Ruth Voss