Social Care records data breach

If you have been the victim of a social care records data breach, you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation with us on a No Win, No Fee basis.

One of the most common types of individual legal cases that we represent people for involve councils, and a large volume of them relate to social care information. Social care data can be incredibly personal and sensitive which is why we find that data breach compensation pay-outs for these kinds of incidents can be quite high.

Victims should always know their rights. An apology isn’t always enough, especially when the data that has been exposed or misused is sensitive, which can often be the case when it comes to social care data.

Know your rights for a social care records data breach

If you have been the victim of a social care records data breach, you can be entitled to make a valid claim for compensation with us.

You can be entitled to claim compensation for any distress, suffering and loss of amenity that can be caused by the loss of control of your private information. Distress in cases like this can be severe given the nature of social care data, and it’s important to know that you don’t have to have suffered financial losses to be able to claim.

Over the many years we have been fighting for the rights of data breach victims, thousands of people have asked us for our help. We’re always happy to conduct an initial claims assessment on a free and no-obligation basis, and then we can offer you our No Win, No Fee representation.

Serious cases

Social care records data breach incidents can be serious. We could be talking about an incident where information is leaked or exposed that may involve data such as:

• Domestic matters, which could be particularly sensitive;
• Medical and disabilities information;
• Financial information.

When exposed or misused, the distress that can be caused can be understandably severe. This is why the duties that councils and social care workers have when it comes to the data that they store and process is so important. Leaks, breaches and hacks must be prevented, and staff must understand their roles and responsibilities as well.

A recent example of ‘snooping’

The ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) recently published information about an enforcement decision for a social care records data breach that involved an employee ‘snooping’ on records.

According to the ICO, former Social Services Support Officer Michelle Shipsey, who worked for Dorset County Council, has been prosecuted. She was found to have been inappropriately accessing social care records without any need to do so following an investigation.

She appeared before Poole Magistrates’ Court where she reportedly admitted to an offence and was sentenced to a 6-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs and surcharges of £720.00.

There’s never an excuse for staff to abuse their access rights to personal and sensitive data. This kind of behaviour can cause severe distress for the victims, and we commonly represent people for cases just like this.

The issue of police misusing IT systems

Missoma data breach