Could I Claim Compensation For A Children In Care Data Breach?

Have you, or someone you know, suffered due to children in care data breaches? This article will help explore what constitutes a children in care breach and show some examples too. We will also explain what compensation you may be eligible to receive as well as the criteria needed for a No Win No Fee arrangement.

Children in care can be especially vulnerable, and data breaches can endanger them. They may have escaped from a bad living situation and need the protection a care service can offer. A data breach can impact the physical safety and mental well-being of the child, knowing that their personal information is compromised. 

If you believe that a children in care data breach has compromised a child’s or your personal information, and you have a claim, speak to an advisor now for free and relevant advice. They are available 24/7 to answer questions about data breach claims. They may find your claim valid and connect you with our expert panel of No Win No Fee solicitors. Contact us today by:

• Using our live chat feature
• Calling the number at the top of the page
• Fill out our claim contact form

Choose A Section

1. Guidance On Claiming Compensation For A Children In Care Data Breach
2. What Is A Children In Care Data Breach?
3. Examples Of Data Breaches Involving Children In Care
4. How Much Could I Get For A Children In Care Data Breach?
5. Criteria To Make A No Win No Fee Agreement
6. Further Information About Children In Care Data Breaches

Guidance On Claiming Compensation For A Children In Care Data Breach

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) is a piece of legislation that outlines, in conjunction with the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), data protection regulations.

Personal data is information that can identify you. For example, your name is personal information.

The UK GDPR defines a data breach as a security incident where personal data is accessed, disclosed, destroyed, lost or changed accidentally or without a lawful basis. There are two possible entities that are responsible for keeping your data safe, which include:

• Data controller – The entity that determines the purpose of processing the data.
• Data processor – An entity that might be outsourced by the controller to process the subject’s data on behalf of the controller, and in accordance with the controller’s purpose for the data. 

For a child to claim for a data breach, they must have a litigation friend acting on their behalf. The Limitation Act 1980 states that a child cannot claim for themselves in certain cases; for example:

• If under 18, a litigation friend can be appointed to represent the child’s best interests and claim on their behalf until their 18th birthday.
• A litigation friend can also be appointed if the claimant lacks the mental capacity to claim for themselves, or until mental capability is regained. 

Generally, those who are 18 or over have 3 years to claim.

What Is A Children In Care Data Breach?

The UK GDPR and DPA work alongside each other to ensure the security of your personal data. When the entity processing the data fails to safeguard your personal data exposing your information to those without lawful bases, you could claim. 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) states that a controller or processor must have lawful reasons to process personal data. Some examples of lawful bases include:

• Consent
• Contract fulfilment
• Legal obligation
• Vital interest
• Public task 
• Legitimate interest

It is important to remember that each lawful basis is equally as important as the other meaning that consent does not supersede the basis of a contract or vital interest. Contact our advisors for more information on what a children in care data breach is or read on for provided examples.  

Examples Of Data Breaches Involving Children In Care

Data breaches can be cyber or non-cyber security incidents. A children in care data breach can include sensitive data relating to confidential home addresses for children escaping from abusive situations.  

Personal information can fall under the ICO’s list of special category data, which can include racial or ethnic origin and genetic data.

Some examples of children in care data breaches can include:

• Phishing – The impersonation of legitimate sources, mostly through emails, to obtain personal information.
• Unauthorised access – Individuals are granted access to the personal information they shouldn’t have. 
• Ransomware – A type of malware installed on a computer that encrypts information unless a ransom is paid; however, it does not guarantee that the information stolen will not be processed even if the ransom is paid. 

Data Breach Figures For 2022

As previously mentioned the most common types of children in care data breaches include phishing, unauthorised access and ransomware. The below chart shows the other types of breach incidents in social care as reported in the ICO’s data security trends: 

How Much Could I Get For A Children In Care Data Breach?

In successful children in care data breach claims, there are two common types of possible compensation known as material and non-material damages.

The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) is a publication that outlines the potential payout brackets for non-material damages, which covers the mental harm and suffering inflicted due to the data breach. The amount awarded can differ depending on the level of severity of your mental health diagnosis. The following table below shows possible compensation amounts listed in the 16th edition of the JCG:

Injury	Compensation	Notes
Severe general mental health damage (a)	£54,830 to £115,730	The injured person has marked problems with prognosis, future vulnerability, impact on relationships and the ability to cope with work, life, employment and/or education.
Severe anxiety disorder (a)	£59,860 to £100,670	The injured person will be permanently affected preventing working at all or to a pre-trauma, plus all aspects of life will be detrimentally impacted.
Moderately severe general mental health damage (b)	£19,070 to £54,830	Significant problems with the same factors as above, however, the injured person will have a slightly better prognosis.
Moderately severe anxiety disorder (b)	£23,150 to £59,860	Professional help may aid recovery, however, PTSD may cause significant disabilities in the future.
Moderate general mental health damage (c)	£5,860 to £19,070	Where the injured person may have some problems with the same above factors, there will also be a considerable improvement and the prognosis is better.
Moderate anxiety disorder (c)	£8,180 to £23,150	Where there has been a large recovery and persisting effects will not be majorly disabling.
Less severe general mental health damage (d)	£1,540 to £5,860	The prognosis has majorly improved and the awarded amount depends on how much daily activity and sleep are affected.
Less severe anxiety disorder (d)	£3,950 to £8,180	Within one to two years the injured person will have a nearly full virtual recovery and minor symptoms will continue for longer.

Explaining Material Damage

Additionally, you may receive compensation for material damages such as compromised personal banking information. Financial information is particularly sensitive as with unlawful access, a third party can withdraw your money, impersonate your identity and apply for loans. 

Contact our advisors today for more information on what compensation you may be eligible to claim as part of your children in car data breach case. 

Criteria To Make A No Win No Fee Agreement

If you would like to pursue a claim with the help of a solicitor, you may want to take a No Win No Fee arrangement. Our advisors can determine whether your claim has grounds and can connect you with our panel of expert No Win No Fee lawyers. 

No Win No Fee is a common term that refers to specific legal arrangements. For example, our panel of solicitors operate under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) which has many advantages when making a data breach claim. Hiring a CFA lawyer costs nothing upfront and you pay none of their legal fees if your claim fails.

If your claim succeeds, a success fee, which is a legally-capped percentage, is taken from your compensation. This is only after the compensation has come through, however. You’ll also get to discuss the percentage with a solicitor from our panel before claiming. 

Ask About Making A Children In Care Data Breach Claim

If your claim could help with legal guidance from our panel of CFA lawyers, get in touch today by:

• Using our live chat feature
• Calling the number at the top of the page
• Fill out our claim contact form

Further Information About Making A Children In Care Data Breach Claim

We have many other guides that you may find helpful:

How To Claim GDPR Compensation For Distress

Claim Medical Data Breach Compensation

How To Find Data Breach Claim Solicitors

Please see the other useful external links provided as well:

ICO – Make a complaint

Mind – Mental health

ICO – Your data matters

Contact our advisors for more information on a children in care data breach today.

Writer Jack Elliott

Publisher Ruth Voss

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.

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.

To begin your claim, or for more information from our team of advisors, you can:

• Contact us through our website today
• Send us a message via our live chat which is in the corner of the screen
• Fill out our online form

Choose A Section

1. How Long Does A Data Breach Claim Take?
2. What Is The Definition Of A Data Breach?
3. How Do Data Breaches Occur?
4. Payouts For Data Breach Claims
5. What Does A No Win No Fee Lawyer Do?
6. Further Information – How Long Does A Data Breach Claim Take?

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:

• You can also contact us through our website
• Or, use the pop-up chat box in the corner

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.

• Reporting a breach
• What To Do After a Data Breach
• Data Protection Complaints

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

• How Much Is a Data Breach Claim Worth?
• How To Claim GDPR Compensation For Distress
• How To Find Data Breach Claim Solicitors
• An Overview Of Data Breach Compensation Claims

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

How Much Is a Data Breach Claim Worth?

This guide aims to help you understand how much a data breach claim could be worth. Firstly, you will need to learn what a data breach is. We explain this, alongside examples. 

If you would like to claim compensation, you will need to prove your data has been breached due to a failure on the part of the data controller or data processor. We also explain who the data controller and data processor are.  

Then we explore the legislation in place designed to help keep your personal data secure. In addition, we look at what data an organisation might hold in both digital and paper form. We also examine the statistics of data breaches. 

Take a look at the damages you could claim compensation for with this guide. We provide examples of both material and non-material damages. You do not need to claim material damages to claim under the non-material head.

Finally, we explore how No Win No Fee solicitors take data breach claims for compensation. 

Call us today at the number on the top of the page to discuss your potential claim. 

Choose A Section

1. How Much Is A Data Breach Claim Worth?
2. What Are Data Breaches?
3. How Do Data Breaches Happen?
4. Average Payouts For Data Breach Claims
5. What Does A No Win No Fee Solicitor Do?
6. Further Information – How Much Is A Data Breach Claim Worth?

How Much Is A Data Breach Claim Worth?

If your personal data has been breached, you might ask ‘how much is a data breach claim worth?’ The UK has laws in place to protect personal information that is processed by organisations. Your personal data that is collected must be kept secure by the data controller or data processor as we discuss in this guide. 

Organisations that decide why and how they need to process our personal information are generally data controllers. These could include anybody from a healthcare provider to a shopping website. Data processors are parties that data controllers sometimes use to process personal data on their behalf. 

Personal data is information that can identify you, whether along with other data or directly. Data collected could be medical records, banking details, home addresses, email addresses, and screen names amongst other identifiers. 

If your data was breached due to a failure on the part of those responsible for protecting your personal information, you might be able to claim compensation. You will need to supply evidence that your personal data was breached, however. This could include an email from the data controller informing you of a data breach. 

You also need to show that you suffered as a result of the data breach. This could involve financial loss or mental harm.

Contact our advisors to discuss the evidence you could submit in a data breach claim. 

What Are Data Breaches?

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) defines a data breach as breaches of security that lead to the accidental or unlawful disclosure of, access to or alteration of, loss of, destruction of personal data. This means that if your personal data held by an organisation is lost, stolen, altered or destroyed, a breach could have occurred. This could be information that is held digitally or physically.

You might enter your personal information, such as your name and address on a website. The data controller or processor may hold onto this information. If you don’t opt into marketing, for example, this could be considered a data breach if you then start receiving marketing emails. 

An organisation, such as a doctor’s surgery, may hold a paper file on you that contains your health information along with your name, phone number and address. Through mishandling, the file could be left in an unlocked filing cabinet resulting in it being stolen. This is considered a data breach. 

Data Protection Laws

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 are examples of data protection legislation. These regulations set out how companies can handle your personal data. If the inability to abide by data security laws, for example, on behalf of the data controller or processor results in a data breach, you might be able to claim compensation. 

You do not need to suffer material damage, such as a loss of credit rating, in order to claim compensation. Due to the Vidal-Hall and others v Google ruling, you could claim for non-material damages, such as psychological harm as a result of a data breach. You may wonder ‘how much is a data breach claim worth?’ We will discuss both heads of the claim in more detail later on. 

Contact our advisors for free legal advice if you’ve experienced a data breach. 

How Do Data Breaches Happen?

Human error, such as from skills or decision-based error, can lead to data breaches. Small mistakes that occur when the person knows the correction action can be skill-based errors. Tiredness, for example, could result in a data breach. Decision-based errors occur when the controller does not have the necessary knowledge required to make the correct decision. Inadequate training could lead to a decision-based error. 

Cybercrime, such as hacking, could also lead to a data breach. Human error, such as not updating cybersecurity, could lead to cybercrime data breaches. 

Data breaches could occur due to: 

• Emailing or faxing the wrong person, including not using BCC in emails
• Personal information posted to the wrong address
• Failure to redact information
• Lost or stolen devices
• Failure to shred paperwork or theft of paperwork

Contact our advisors to find out if you have a potential data breach compensation claim. 

What Are The Latest Data Breach Statistics?

The ICO collects information about data security trends. The third quarter 2021/22 recorded 2404 data breaches covering both non-cyber and cybersecurity issues. 

Non-cyber security incidents led to:

• 16 personal data alterations
• 419 wrong email recipients
• 30 wrong data subjects shown the wrong client portal
• 181 instances of the wrong person receiving personal data posted or faxed
• 101 failures to redact information
• 83 failures to use the BCC when emailing multiple recipients
• 2 incorrect hardware disposals
• 13 incorrect paperwork disposals
• 44 devices lost or stolen
• 131 times paperwork was lost or stolen
• 84 verbal disclosures
• 262 times unauthorised access occurred

Average Payouts For Data Breach Claims

If you are reading this guide, you probably want to know how much is a data breach claim worth. The exact figure is difficult to determine without properly taking into account evidence; however, we can supply information to help you estimate. 

Data breach compensation claims have two potential heads. The first is non-material damages. The second is material damages. We discuss each in more detail below. 

Non-material Damages

To compensate for psychological harm, you could claim non-material damages. An independent medical assessment might be required to claim this compensation. This provides a more accurate view of your mental injuries. 

Solicitors refer to a document titled the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help assess how much your psychological harm might be worth. Injuries are listed next to their potential compensation brackets in the JCG. We’ve included examples of potential payouts for general psychological damages, which could include anxiety and depression in the compensation table below. 

Injury	Potential compensation	Notes
Less severe psychological injury	Up to £5,860	A period of disability which impacts sleep and daily activities.
Less severe anxiety disorder	£3,950 to £8,180	Minor symptoms beyond 1-2 years but mainly recovered.
Moderate psychological injury	£5,860 to £19,070	A marked improvement following an inability to cope with life and personal relationships with a good prognosis.
Moderate anxiety disorder	£8,180 to £23,150	Continuing to impact life but it is not grossly disabling.
Moderately severe psychological injury	£19,070 to £54,830	Significant difficulties coping with personal relationships and life but with a positive prognosis.
Moderately severe anxiety disorder	£23,150 to £59,860	Significant disability for the foreseeable future but some recovery with professional help.
Severe psychological injury	£54,830 to £115,730	Inability to cope with life and personal relationships with a very poor prognosis.
Severe anxiety disorder	£59,860 to £100,670	Permanent symptoms which prevent functioning at pre-trauma level

What To Include In A Data Breach Claim

If you experience a loss of finances caused by the data breach, you could claim material damages. Your bank account details being used by someone else to make online purchases, for example, is something you could claim material damages for if you didn’t recover the loss. You could also claim for future losses. This could include an inability to get a mortgage in the future due to bad credit being built up in your name as a result of the data breach. 

Our advisors can estimate what damages you could claim. 

 What Does A No Win No Fee Solicitor Do?

You might find claiming compensation simpler with a No Win No Fee solicitor. Traditionally, using a solicitor has been expensive. You might think you do not have the financial resources to hire a lawyer following a data breach. However, a No Win No Fee arrangement can make a solicitor’s services more affordable. This can also be called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). 

Instead of an upfront solicitor’s fee under a No Win No Fee arrangement, you pay a success fee. This is only payable if your claim is successful and will be taken from your award. It is also legally capped. 

Ask Us – How Much Is A Data Breach Claim Worth?

Our advisors are standing by with free legal advice. If you find yourself wondering ‘how much is a data breach claim worth?’, you can contact them for an estimate of your damages. They are available 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. Eligible claims could be passed onto our panel of personal injury lawyers. 

• Call us at the number at the top of the page to start your claim today. 
• You can also contact us to make a claim

Further Information – How Much Is A Data Breach Claim Worth?

You might find the following links useful: 

• Mental Health Services from the NHS
• How to Make a Data Protection Complaint Guide from the Government
• Report a Data Breach to the ICO

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

• How Long Does A Data Breach Claim Take?
• How To Claim GDPR Compensation For Distress
• How To Find Data Breach Claim Solicitors
• An Overview Of Data Breach Compensation Claims

Publisher Ruth Voss

Writer Danielle Baker