While attending university, you may have had to provide the university with some of your personal data to be able to enrol and access their services. The university has a legal responsibility to take all necessary steps and precautions to protect your personal data. A failure to do so could lead to your personal data being compromised and you may be able to make a university data breach compensation claim.
We’ll explain when you may be able to make a data breach claim against a university and offer an idea of how a breach at an educational facility might happen. In addition to this, we explain how you could complain directly to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) who are the independent watchdog for the public’s data rights in the UK.
Evidence for building a data breach claim is detailed as well as the time limits that apply. We examine the types of compensation that could be awarded if the claim is a success. To conclude, we lay out the advantages of appointing a No Win No Fee solicitor throughout the whole process.
Our friendly advisors can offer information and a free evaluation of your claim. Simply:
- Call on 020 8050 3051
- Contact us to start a claim online.
- Start a conversation via our live chat function below.
Jump To A Section of Our Guide
- Can I Claim University Data Breach Compensation?
- How Could A University Data Breach Happen?
- Recent News Stories About University Data Breaches
- Can I Make A Complaint To The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)?
- What Do I Need To Claim University Data Breach Compensation?
- How Long Do I Have To Claim For A University Data Breach?
- Data Breach Compensation – How Much Could I Receive?
- Contact Us For Free To See If You Can Make A University Data Breach Claim
- More Useful Resources About Claiming Data Breach Compensation
Can I Claim University Data Breach Compensation?
The ICO defines personal data as information about you that, on its own (or with other information), could reveal your identity to others.
Two main pieces of legislation, called the the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), lay out the data responsibilities for all organisations and companies to abide by. They determine the responsibilities of those who collect and retain the data (called data controllers) and those who work with it on their behalf (called data processors). A university may perform both roles or outsource the processing part, but both groups are equally liable for the protection of data.
Personal data ranges from general information we might share regularly, like name, address, bank details and email, to much more sensitive data about health, political views, sexuality and biometric data (called special category data).
Typically, a data breach can arise from any security incident that impacts the accessibility, integrity and confidentiality of your personal data. So, to move forward with an eligible claim for data breach against a university, you have to show the following:
- The university was responsible for safeguarding your personal data.
- The university failed to comply with data protection laws.
- You suffered harm as a consequence of this data breach. This may be psychological or financial harm.
If you feel you can demonstrate these three points, speak to our advisors about the next step in your data breach compensation claim.
How Could A University Data Breach Happen?
Now we know what personal data is and what constitutes a data breach, we share some examples of how a university data breach may occur:
- The staff in the IT department of the university failed to install correct firewalls or other defences and this enabled the database of student’s details to be hacked.
- Faculty staff sent a group email containing personal data to the wrong students, meaning that they now had access to other students’ personal data.
- Student loan, fee details or medical data about a student was sent to the wrong address by university admin staff, despite them holding the correct address.
- Paperwork was lost or stolen because it was left on the reception desk of a university and not locked away in a cabinet.
The circumstances of your university data breach claim may differ. If your personal information was compromised in a university data breach, contact our team today for a free eligibility check of your case.
Recent News Stories About University Data Breaches
The University of Manchester suffered a ransomware attack where the data of 1.1 million NHS patients may have been compromised. The University held information of major trauma patients across the country and those who had received treatment after terrorists attacks for research purposes.
The first three letters of patients’ postcodes and NHS numbers are some of the information said to have been compromised. The University warned health officials that they did not know how many patients were impacted or whether their names had also been hacked.
Source: www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-patient-data-attack-b2364202.html
To see whether you may be eligible to make a university data breach compensation claim, you can contact our advisors.
Can I Make A Complaint To The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)?
Before making a complaint to the ICO, you should speak to the university about the data breach and request an explanation. Ask for details about what personal data of yours was involved. You can then change passwords, alert your bank and take steps to mitigate the damage yourself as much as possible.
Perhaps the university contacted you by email or post to alert you to the breach. All organisations are legally obliged to report serious data breaches (i.e. those that might impact the freedoms and rights of the individuals) to the ICO no later than 72 hours of discovery.
If you feel that the university has not responded to your complaint in a satisfactory way, you are entitled to raise a concern with the ICO yourself. Wait a period that doesn’t exceed 3 months since the last significant contact with the university regarding the data breach to do this.
The ICO may choose to investigate the issue. Their findings could be used as evidence in your claim and they may also present the university with a fine. However, they cannot award compensation to you.
Regardless of whether you have reported a data breach to the ICO, you could still make a compensation claim if your case meets the relevant claiming criteria. Contact our advisors today to assess the eligibility of your potential university data breach compensation claim.
What Do I Need To Claim University Data Breach Compensation?
After contacting the university or involving the ICO, there are other actions that you can take to help support your data breach compensation claim. The evidence you collect needs to show that actions or inactions of the university directly led to you suffering financial harm, emotional distress or both. Therefore, the following can help:
- Medical and psychiatrist reports showing a diagnosed mental illness.
- All correspondence between you and the university about the data breach.
- Evidence of any financial losses you have suffered, such as payslips to show a loss of earnings or invoices for therapy appointments.
One of the solicitors on our panel could help you with gathering this evidence. Contact our advisors today to see if you could work with one of them.
How Long Do I Have To Claim For A University Data Breach?
In addition to meeting the eligibility requirements to make a university data breach compensation claim, you will also need to ensure that you begin your claim within the time limit.
For data breach claims, this is 6 years. However, you don’t need to have concluded you claim within this time frame.
To see whether you still have enough time to begin your personal data breach claim, you can contact our advisors.
Data Breach Compensation – How Much Could I Receive?
Two categories of harm can be acknowledged if your university data breach compensation claim wins. You might receive compensation for your non-material and material damage. Non-material damage is the term used to describe the psychological harm caused by the university data breach.
Following a data breach of your personal data, you may suffer with stress, anxiety, depression or even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Those who calculate compensation for claimants non-material may refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This document gives guideline compensation brackets for various types of psychiatric injuries.
In the chart below we provide some examples from the JCG. Also, we include a top-line figure that does not come from the JCG:
Compensation Suggestions
| Type of Harm | How Severe? | Compensation Guidelines | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Severe Psychiatric Harm With Financial Losses | Severe | Up to £500,000 plus | Compensation for suffering severe psychiatric harm and financial losses such as lost wages. |
| General Psychiatric Injury | (a) Severe | £66,920 up to £141,240 | Cases where an acute and permanent level of mental health injury negatively impacts all area of the person's life. |
| (b) Moderately Severe | £23,270 up to £66,920 | Still indivcative of similar problems noted in the bracket above, but a more optimistic prognosis seems likely for the future. | |
| (c) Moderate | £7,150 up to £23,270 | Despite suffering a variety of issues, there will have been improvements. | |
| (d) Lesser Severity | £1,880 up to £7,150 | Award level here is guided by the length of injury and how daily activities are affected. | |
| PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | (a) Severe | £73,050 up to £122,850 | Cases of a severe and permanent trauma reaction which stop the person from coping with any aspect of life as they did prior to the event. |
| (b) Moderately Severe | £28,250 up to £73,050 | This bracket differs from the one above based on the positive effects of professional therapy. | |
| (c) Moderate | £9,980 up to £28,250 | Here, the person's injuries have largely abated and remaining symptoms are not significantly disabling. | |
| (d) Lesser Severity | £4,820 up to £9,980 | In the space of 1 - 2 years an almost full recovery is experienced and symptoms remaining beyond this timeframe are minor. |
Can I Claim For Material Damage After A Data Breach?
Material damage is the term that refers to the financial harm suffered due to the personal data breach.
For example, you may have had to pay for therapy for any psychological harm you have suffered due to the data breach. You will need to provide evidence of these losses.
To see whether you could be eligible to claim compensation for your material and non-material damage following a personal injury claim.
Contact Us For Free To See If You Can Make A University Data Breach Claim
You don’t have to face the prospect of launching a claim on your own. Why not find out if you qualify for help from a data breach solicitor instead?
The solicitors on our panel provide their clients with a wealth of expert services when claiming data breach compensation. For example, they:
- Help you collect supporting evidence.
- Handle the correspondence between the university and you, as well as any court filings.
- Accurately calculate the amount of potential compensation.
- Explain complex legal terminology.
- Represent your claim in a professional and organised way at all times.
Furthermore, they can offer these excellent benefits through a form of No Win No Fee contract. Typically, they offer a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) because it has numerous advantages for the claimant, such as:
- No upfront service fees.
- Nothing to pay as the claim moves ahead.
- No payment required for completed services should the claim not succeed.
- Only a small percentage is deducted from the compensation awarded to you if the claim succeeds. This is called a success fee, and the law limits what percentage that can be taken.
To see if one of the solicitors on our panel could help you, contact our advisors:
- Call on 020 8050 3051
- Contact us online.
- Start a conversation via our live chat function below.
More Useful Resources About Claiming Data Breach Compensation
Read some more of our data breach claims guides:
- This guide examines human resources (HR) data breach claims.
- Here, we explore claiming compensation as a student who was subject to a data breach.
- Also, you can read about social media data breach claims in this guide.
Some helpful external resources:
- The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) offers tips on staying safe online.
- You can read more from GOV.UK about data protection.
- The mental health charity Mind provides further resources on coping with mental health issues.
In conclusion, thank you for reading our guide on claiming university data breach compensation.
