How Can I Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach?
If you are a care worker and your employer has breached your personal data, you may be able to claim for a care worker data breach. Your employer has a responsibility to protect your personal data. If they fail to fulfil this responsibility, your personal data could be compromised leading to financial damage and/or psychological harm.
The first section of this guide explores what data protection laws are in place to protect your personal data and when you might be eligible to begin a data breach claim. We then look at a few examples of how a care worker data breach could happen.
Furthermore, we explain what you should do after you have become aware that your personal data has been compromised. We also explain how compensation is valued for successful data breach claims.
We discuss in the penultimate section of this guide how claiming compensation with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel could benefit you.
Our team are available to discuss your potential compensation claim 24/7. If you get in touch with them, you can have your questions answered and find out whether you are able to connect with our panel of specialist solicitors. So, to speak with our team, you can:
- Call 020 3870 4868.
- Ask about your claim online by sending off your details.
- Use our live chat box.
Jump To A Section:
- When Could You Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach?
- How Could A Care Worker Data Breach Happen?
- What You Should Do After A Data Breach
- What Could Be Claimed For Care Worker Data Breaches?
- How To Make A No Win No Fee Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach
- Discover More About Making A Claim For A Data Breach
When Could You Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach?
The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) are the two pieces of law that outline how data controllers and processors are liable for ensuring that personal data is safely processed, stored, and handled.
Data controllers are organisations responsible for deciding how and why personal data should be processed. They can also process this data themselves or assign this role to an external third party called a data processor. Data processors are responsible for actually processing personal data.
Wrongful conduct is when data processors or controllers do not adhere to their responsibilities outlined in the UK GDPR and DPA. Some instances of wrongful conduct can result in a personal data breach. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) defines a personal data breach as a security incident that affects the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of personal information. The ICO is an independent UK body that upholds information rights.
Article 82 of the UK GDPR establishes the criteria that need to be met and proven for a personal data breach claim to be eligible:
- A data processor or controller did not adhere to data protection law.
- Your personal data was compromised in a breach because of this.
- You have suffered financial and/or psychological harm due to the breach.
Time Limits For Data Breach Claims
Additionally, to claim for a care worker data breach, you must begin legal proceedings within the time limit. This is generally 6 years or 1 year if you are making a claim against a public body.
Get in touch with us to confirm whether you are within the data breach compensation claims limitation period and whether you are entitled to claim compensation.
How Could A Care Worker Data Breach Happen?
Personal data is information that can directly identify you. Your full name, your email address, and your debit and credit card details are all examples of personal data. Special category data is personal data that needs more protection because the information is sensitive. Data concerning your sexual orientation, your racial or ethnic origin, and your health are all examples of special category data.
These are also all examples of the types of personal information that employers of care workers could have access to and what could be exposed in a care worker data breach.
Here are some ways a data breach affecting a care worker could occur:
- Misdelivery of data. This could involve personal information being sent to the wrong email address or wrong postal address, such as payslips containing salary information and a National Insurance number. As a result, the person affected could suffer financial damage.
- Ransomware attacks and phishing scams from having poor cyber security systems, no firewalls, and weak passwords in place. This could mean sensitive data is accessed causing the affected person stress and anxiety.
- Stolen paperwork or lost devices because of poor physical security. For example, not having locks on filing cabinets that hold documents with personal data and other sensitive information.
Please don’t hesitate to speak with our advisors today about your specific case. They can determine whether you’re eligible to claim for a care worker data breach.
What You Should Do After A Data Breach
After a breach of your personal data has occurred, it is important to start collecting evidence. Evidence can greatly support your case if you are looking to claim for a care worker data breach.
Here are some types of evidence you can collect to prove how data protection laws have not been adhered to, which of your personal information was exposed in a breach, and what damage you suffered as a result:
- Letters and emails from the organisation that details the breach. If your rights and freedoms have been put at risk following a data breach, the organisation must inform you without undue delay about the breach in a notice letter. They must also let the ICO know within 72 hours of them knowing that a data breach has happened. As well as the letter of notification, you can keep all other correspondence that follows this, such as emails with the organisation.
- ICO’s investigation findings. If you have contacted the organisation and their response has been inadequate or they have failed to respond, you can report the data breach to the ICO. While they do not have to investigate, they may choose to. Any findings from an investigation can be kept as evidence. Please note, the ICO cannot award compensation.
- Medical reports. If the data breach has caused you to suffer psychological harm, you can request copies of your medical records if you have been to the doctors about your emotional impacts. You can also keep a diary and record your symptoms following the breach.
- Financial records. Bank statements, payslips, or anything similar that can show what financial damage you have suffered due to the data breach.
If you are connected with our panel of specialist data protection solicitors, they can help you gather evidence as part of their services. By getting in touch, our advisors can tell you more about they way a solicitor can assist you and may connect you to one should you have an eligible care worker data breach claim.
What Could Be Claimed For Care Worker Data Breaches?
If your care worker data breach claim is successful, you could be awarded compensation for both non-material and material damage. To be awarded data breach compensation, you don’t need to have experienced both types of damage.
Non-material damage is the emotional harm you have suffered because of a personal data breach. For instance, if a mental health condition has become worse following the breach, such as depression, anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or stress.
Your medical evidence can be used along with the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help determine the value of your non-material damage. Within the JCG are varied guideline compensation figures for different types of psychological injuries and illnesses.
Guideline Compensation Table
Our table contains the different psychological injuries that can be found in the JCG with their corresponding guideline compensation brackets. However, no set amount of compensation will be guaranteed for your specific case because all claims are individual. Also, please note the top line is not from the JCG.
| Injury | Severity | Guideline Compensation Brackets | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very serious mental health harm and substantial material damage | Very severe | Up to £150,000+ | An award for suffering very severe damage to mental health and for any significant monetary expenses, such as lost earnings. |
| Psychiatric damage | Severe (a) | £54,830 to £115,730 | Multiple aspects of the person's life, such as relationships with others and coping with work, will have marked problems. Also, the prognosis will be very poor. |
| Moderately severe (b) | £19,070 to £54,830 | Multiple aspects of the person's life will have significant problems. But, the prognosis will be more optomistic. | |
| Moderate (c) | £5,860 to £19,070 | A substantial improvement to the problems associated with multiple aspects of the person's life. There will be a good prognosis. | |
| Less severe (d) | £1,540 to £5,860 | The length of disability and the effect on daily activities and sleep will be considered. | |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | Severe (a) | £59,860 to £100,670 | There will be permanent effects to every aspect of the person's life that prevents them from functioning or working at anything similar to the pre-trauma level. |
| Moderately severe (b) | £23,150 to £59,860 | Because of some recovery from professional help, there will be a better prognosis despite the fact that, for the foreseeable future, the effects will likely cause significant disability. | |
| Moderate (c) | £8,180 to £23,150 | A large recovery and the continuing effects won't be grossly disabling. | |
| Less severe (d) | £3,950 to £8,180 | Only minor symptoms will last longer than 1-2 years. A virtually full recovery is seen. |
Calculating Compensation For Material Damage
Material damage is the financial damage you have suffered because of a personal data breach. For instance, you might incur missing wages after being unable to go to work while dealing with the emotional impact of the breach.
As mentioned earlier, evidence in the form of bank statements and wage slips, for example, can help prove monetary losses.
Contact our advisors to find out more about how much compensation could be awarded for a successful claim for a care worker data breach.
How To Make A No Win No Fee Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach
You may be able to claim compensation on a No Win No Fee basis if your care worker data breach claim is eligible. Our advisors could connect you with a specialist solicitor from our panel, who could then offer you a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
Being offered a CFA is greatly beneficial since you will not have to pay any solicitor fees at the start of your data breach claim. Additionally, there will be no ongoing fees and you will not have to pay for the solicitor’s work if your data breach claim is unsuccessful.
Alternatively, if you are successful, your solicitor can take a success fee out of your compensation. Success fees are a percentage. The maximum percentage that can be deducted is legally capped. So, the claimant always receives the majority of their award.
Contact Us
You may be able to make a care worker data breach claim if you speak to our advisors today. If they find your claim to be eligible, a solicitor from our panel can work with you under No Win No Fee terms. Our panel of solicitors can give you free legal advice and support you throughout the claims process.
- Call 020 3870 4868.
- Claim online by sending off your details.
- Use our live chat box.
Discover More About Making A Claim For A Data Breach
Below are some of our other data breach claims guides:
- Advice on how to make a social services data breach compensation claim.
- Learn how to make a foster care data breach compensation claim.
- Read more about human error data breach compensation claims.
Furthermore, here are some pages that you might find helpful:
- Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – Guidance on whether an organisation needs consent in order to process personal information.
- ICO – Information on health data which could help if you are looking to make a medical data breach claim.
- NHS – Where to access information and mental health services near you.
- Gov.UK – Information about data protection and what rights for data subjects there are.
We hope this guide on when you could claim for a care worker data breach has been useful. Please keep in mind that you can talk to our advisors for free should you have any questions at all.
