This guide will explain how you might be able to claim data breach costs. These costs could potentially be recovered in a successful compensation claim.
Data breach costs claims guide
This guide will explain what types of incurred costs you may be able to claim if your personal data has been compromised.
It will also describe the eligibility criteria your case must meet to make a claim and the evidence that could help you claim, along with describing the benefits of using No Win No Fee solicitors.
If you would like to receive free legal advice from a member of our team, contact our advisors today.
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Select A Section
- A Guide To Data Breach Costs
- What Incurred Data Breach Costs Could You Claim For?
- Can You Also Claim For Non-Material Damage?
- Eligibility Criteria For Making A Data Breach Claim
- Evidence That Could Help You Receive A Data Breach Payout
- Why Use Our Panel Of No Win No Fee Data Breach Solicitors To Claim?
- Learn More About Claiming For Incurred Data Breach Costs
A Guide To Data Breach Costs
The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) run alongside each other to protect UK residents’ personal data. These legislations are enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is an independent UK based organisation.
The legal definition of a data breach is found in Article 4 of the UK GDPR, which states it is a breach of security leading to the unlawful or accidental destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data.
Personal data is classed as any information that could be used to identify you either when processed by itself or in combination with other personal information. This could include your name, email address, phone number, and postal address. There is also personal data known as special category data, which is more sensitive than other kinds of personal data. Because of this, it needs extra protection.
Read on to learn about the kinds of costs that a data breach can incur, and how you could potentially make a claim. Or, get in touch with our advisors to start your data breach costs compensation claim.
What Incurred Data Breach Costs Could You Claim For?
You can claim data breach costs for material damage. Material damage relates to financial losses stemming from the breach, which includes money stolen from bank accounts and damage to credit scores.
Material damage is not the only kind of damage you may be able to claim after a data breach. You can also claim compensation for non-material damage, which will be covered in the next section.
Please contact us for free if you want to know more about incurred costs from a data breach.
Can You Also Claim For Non-Material Damage?
Non-material damage relates to the psychological harm caused by the breach, such as distress, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. If a personal data breach harms your mental health, you could receive non-material damage compensation.
In this table, you can find some figures presented in the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The guidelines set out compensation brackets that coincide with different types of psychiatric injury based on their severity. Data breach solicitors can use these figures to help them when calculating non-material damage payouts when claiming for a data breach.
| Type of Harm | Severity | Description | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychological Harm | Severe | The injured person will find it very difficult to cope with life, education, or work. | £54,830 to £115,730 |
| Psychological Harm | Moderately Severe | Similar issues to the above category, but with a better prognosis.. | £19,070 to £54,830 |
| Psychological Harm | Moderate | Symptoms present a recognisable improvement by trial, with a positive outlook for the future. | £5,860 to £19,070 |
| Psychological Harm | Less Severe | The person who has suffered psychological harm may be suffering less severely but they could be suffering over a longer period. | £1,540 to £5,860 |
| Anxiety Disorder | Severe | These cases involve permanent effects which prevent the injured person from working at all, or at least from functioning at anything compared to what they could do pre-trauma. | £59,860 to £100,670 |
| Anxiety Disorder | Moderately Severe | This category is distinct from above because of the better prognosis which will indicate some recovery with professional help. | £23,150 to £59,860 |
| Anxiety Disorder | Moderate | This category is for injured people who have largely recovered from their PTSD symptoms. The continuing effects from their PTSD will not be too disabling. | £8,180 to £23,150 |
| Anxiety Disorder | Less Severe | Only minor effects remain following an almost complete recovery. | £3,950 to £8,180 |
Please note that these figures are guidelines and not guarantees of what you could receive. To find out if you can claim compensation for a personal data breach, get in touch with our advisors today.
Eligibility Criteria For Making A Data Breach Claim
Article 82 of the UK GDPR what makes a claim eligible for data breach compensation:
- The breach has to be caused by the organisation’s failings
- It must affect your personal data
- You must experience harm, as explained in the sections above
With this in mind, some examples of what types of personal data breach you could claim for can include:
- A bank data breach that occurs when an employee sends your bank statement to the wrong postal address
- An HR department data breach in which information from your disciplinary records is verbally disclosed over the phone to an unauthorised party
- A website data breach that occurs when your personal details are stolen by cybercriminals as a result of the website not having adequate cybersecurity systems in place
To find out if you could be eligible to claim for data breach costs, contact our team today.
Evidence That Could Help You Receive A Data Breach Payout
Gathering evidence can be helpful in terms of strengthening your claim for data breach costs. Some examples of evidence that could be useful include:
- Evidence of psychological harm: This could include medical records, notes or letters from a GP or psychologist, or an independent medical assessment.
- Evidence of financial harm: This can include bank statements, credit reports, bills, and invoices that show unusual activity on your account.
- Correspondence with the ICO: For example, the results of an investigation by the ICO, or the outcome of a complaint made to the ICO.
- Proof of the breach: This could include a letter or email of notification from the organisation responsible, as well as further correspondence regarding the breach.
You could gather this evidence by yourself, but you could also collect it with the help of a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel. To find out how a solicitor from our panel could help you claim for data breach costs, read on or get in touch.
Why Use Our Panel Of No Win No Fee Data Breach Solicitors To Claim?
A No Win No Fee agreement is an arrangement between you and your solicitor. This helps you access legal counsel and provides you with certain benefits. For example, under an agreement known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), your solicitor will not charge you a fee to start work on your claim. Similarly, they will not ask for any ongoing fees in regards to their services.
If your claim succeeds, your solicitor will receive a success fee. This is taken from your compensation as a percentage, though this amount has a legislative cap. If your claim fails, your solicitor won’t require a fee for their services.
Get in touch with our team today to learn how to find data breach solicitors, using our panel of No Win No Fee solicitors for your data protection breach claim.
- Contact us online for more information.
- Call an advisor on 020 8050 3051.
- Use the live chat feature for instant help.
Learn More About Claiming For Incurred Data Breach Costs
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Thank you for reading our guide on claiming compensation for data breach costs.
Writer Saif Solace
Publisher Cat Harley