How Long Does A Data Breach Claim Take?

If you’ve been harmed by a personal data breach caused by the failings of an entity that was processing your data. If so, you may be wondering “how long does a data breach claim take?”. We may be able to help.

How long does a data breach claim take? A guide

This article will explain the time limit that applies to making a data breach claim as well as how the process of making a claim works. We’ll also look at some examples of how data breaches can happen, as well as how your data and rights are protected under the regime that protects personal data in the UK; namely, the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and an updated version of the Data Protection Act 2018.

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How Long Does A Data Breach Claim Take?
What Is The Definition Of A Data Breach?
How Do Data Breaches Occur?
Payouts For Data Breach Claims
What Does A No Win No Fee Lawyer Do?
Further Information – How Long Does A Data Breach Claim Take?

There is no one answer to the question “how long does a data breach claim take?”. The length of time it takes before a claim is resolved can depend on a range of different factors.

You do need to start a data breach claim within the appropriate time limit. This is usually one year for claims against public bodies, and six years for all other organisations.

Any organisation that processes your personal data has a responsibility to protect it. This is the same whether it’s a data controller (someone who decides how and why personal data is processed) or a data processor (someone who processes data on behalf of a controller).

Call our advisors today for more information and free advice on your claim. They may also be able to give you a rough answer to the question “how long does a data breach claim take?” once they have more details about your case. If they believe your claim would be successful, then they can put you in touch with our panel of data breach solicitors.

What Is The Definition Of A Data Breach?

A data breach is when personal data, sensitive data or criminal information has been released or altered without the consent of the data subject. All personal data is protected under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Under these pieces of legislation, you could make a claim for a data breach.

A breach of personal data happens when a security incident causes its availability, confidentiality or accessibility to be compromised.

You can only claim for a breach of personal data, not data overall. Personal data is defined as any data that can be used to identify a living individual and that is stored, either digitally or physically.

Furthermore, you cannot claim just because a breach happened. It must have been caused by the failings of the data controller or processor handling your data. For instance, you’d be unlikely to have a valid claim if a hacker accessed your personal data from their systems despite them having the most up-to-date security systems available.

How Do Data Breaches Occur?

Data breaches can occur in a number of different ways. A personal data breach can affect data that is stored digitally or physically. They can also be classed as cyber or non-cyber breaches. In this section, we will focus on data breaches caused by human error

The ways in which human error can cause a data breach are:

Data being emailed, posted or faxed to the wrong person where the recipient doesn’t have the authorisation to see the information
A failure to redact personal data
A failure to use BCC in emails, which could expose your email address to everyone else on the mailing list
Loss or theft of paperwork containing personal data
Verbal disclosure, but only where this personal data is also stored digitally or physically
Incorrect disposal of paperwork or hardware. For example, an organisation might require that paperwork containing personal data is shredded before being disposed of. If this was mistakenly thrown in a general waste bin instead, then this would be a breach.

For further guidance on what could form the grounds of a claim, as well as an answer to the question of how long a data breach claim can take

Data Breach Statistics For 2022

According to the ICO’s data security incident trends, in the latest financial quarter, there were a total of 2402 data security incidents reported to the ICO. The most common of these was data being emailed to the incorrect recipient, with a total of 419 recorded incidents. In the last financial quarter, the health sector was the most impacted by data breaches with 467 incidents reported.

Payouts For Data Breach Claims

When calculating data breach compensation, there are many different variables that influence the total amount. You can be compensated for material damage (the impact on your finances) and/or non-material damages (the part of your claim that relates to the psychological impact).

Before 2015, you could only claim non-material damages if you also claimed for material damages. The Vidal-Hall and others v Google (2015) case meant that this changed, as the Court ruled that claimants can be compensated for non-material damages even if they didn’t experience financial harm.

The Judicial College produces guidelines that can be used to help value the head of your claim that relates to non-material damages. The compensation brackets are based on other previously settled cases; however, they are just guidelines and are not guarantees of how much you could receive.

We have included some excerpts from these guidelines below:

Type of Mental Health	Compensation Bracket	Description
Severe Mental Health Issues	£54,830 to £115,730	The injured party will be suffering from problems with the ability to cope with day to day life. Prognosis will be very poor.
Anxiety Disorder: Moderately Severe	£23,150 to £59,860	Symptoms will cause significant disability for the future but there will be a better prognosis than in more serious cases
Less Severe: Mental Health Issues	£1,540 to £5,860	Award in this bracket is reliant on the length of time the disability has been going on and the extent to which it has affected daily activities
Anxiety Disorder: Moderate	£8,180 to £23,150	Largely recovered, with some lingering PTSD-like symptoms that do not disable the injured person to a great degree
Moderately Severe Mental Health Issues	£19,070 to £54,830	More optimistic prognosis than in more serious cases but still significant problems; majority of awards will fall in the middle of this bracket.
Anxiety Disorder: Less Severe	£3,950 to £8,180	A virtual full recovery will have been made within a couple of years
Moderate Mental Health Issues	£5,860 to £19,070	Good prognosis and improvement of symptoms despite problems in a range of areas of life.
Anxiety Disorder: Severe	£59,860 to £100,670	The injured person will have no employment prospects and will be unable to function the way they did before the trauma

A data breach can have an impact on your finances. For instance, if your bank details are exposed, then this could mean that your money is stolen. Even if your bank details are not impacted, your identity could be stolen which could affect your credit score. This could be included as part of your claim.

For an answer to the question “how long does a data breach claim take” as well as more free legal advice, why not speak with an advisor today? If you have a valid claim, we could provide you with a solicitor.

What Does A No Win No Fee Lawyer Do?

A Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), is a form of No Win No Fee arrangement, these arrangements are used to help claimants seek out legal representation, without the added worry of paying the legal fees.

Being a conditional agreement, it means that if your claim has a successful outcome, then you would have to pay a success fee. This success fee is used to pay for the services of a solicitor. If your claim is unsuccessful, then you do not have to pay the success fee.

Ask Us – How Long Does A Data Breach Claim Take?

If you are wondering if you are eligible to make a claim for a data breach, you can get in touch with us. Our advisors can help you with free guidance and advice. This service is available 24/7.

Here is how you could get in touch with us:

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Further Information – How Long Does A Data Breach Claim Take?

Throughout our website, we have curated a large range of articles and guides to help you through the claims process.

We have also collected some external resources for you to have a read through, they might help understand further.

Below, you can find links to some of our other claims guides:

Additionally, if your require any additional information on how long does a data breach claim take, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Writer Lizzie Winchester

Publisher Fern Stanhope

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