Government data protection breaches – claiming compensation

Government data protection breaches can lead to incredibly personal and sensitive information being exposed. The government is not above the law and they can be held accountable, and victims of a data breach can be eligible to claim data breach compensation.

Victims can suffer from considerable distress when personal and sensitive information is misused or exposed. The law can entitle victims to receive damages for any distress that they have suffered from, and our job is to fight for the rights of the victims in pursuing justice.

You can speak to the team here now for free, no-obligation advice.

Claiming compensation for government data protection breaches

You can be eligible to pursue compensation if you have been affected by government data protection breaches. The government must also abide by the GDPR, and any breach of it can mean that a victim is entitled – by law – to receive compensation. The government is not above the law and must abide by the law like everyone else. Further, given that the government handles a great deal of personal information and a lot of it is incredibly sensitive, the impact of government data protection breaches can be very serious.

The GDPR can entitle victims of a data breach to pursue compensation for any distress caused by the loss of control of personal information. Control can be lost through the misuse of data or through it being exposed or disclosed without consent. Most people claim for the distress that is caused and, generally speaking, the worse the distress, the more a claim can be worth. Factors such as the nature of the information exposed, and how much, and even to whom, can be considered when we look at data breach compensation amounts and pay-outs.

Contrary to what many people think, you do not have to have suffered any actual financial loss to be able to claim. Most people claim for just the distress alone, but you can include losses and expenses claims if these apply.

Once we review a case, if we think that the prospects of success are good, we can also offer to represent you for a claim on a No Win, No Fee basis.

A recent example and FOI requests

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests have become a powerful tool for people and organisations to look for problems and hold the public sector to account. Many incidents like government data protection breaches have been identified and brought to the media through FOI requests, and a recent one covered in the media last year concerned the Welsh government.

It was reported that FOI data had shown that the Welsh government were said to have broken data laws over 300 times since 2019. Some of the incidents were serious, and some were reportable to the UK’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

This goes to show that government data protection breaches do happen, and the consequences can be serious.

Free, no-obligation advice

Our team is always happy to provide free, no-obligation advice to anyone who has been the victim of a data breach in England and Wales. Due to separate legal jurisdictions in Scotland and Northern Ireland, we are unable to advise on claims arising from breaches in those jurisdictions.

Please do not hesitate to contact the team here now for confidential advice.

For qualifying clients, we are able to offer No Win, No Fee legal representation.

Claiming compensation – GDPR data breach notifications

Second anniversary of the discovery of the Virgin Media data breach