Education sector data breaches – compensation advice

Education sector data breaches can be significant and can have a substantial impact on those who are affected, which is why we can represent victims on a No Win, No Fee basis for a legal case.

Your Lawyers, as Leading Privacy Claims experts, will always fight tooth and nail for anyone’s right to pursue compensation when we believe that there is a case to answer. You can speak to our legal team for a chat about your options for pursuing a potential claim here now.

Claiming compensation for education sector data breaches

Any victim of education sector data breaches could be eligible to recover compensation for any distress that has been caused by the loss of control of their personal information. The GDPR can allow people to claim for such distress which can be significant when it comes to education sector data breaches, given the nature of the information they store and process.

As well as the usual personal details, we could be talking about particularly sensitive medical and domestic information that could be used for education support. It is not uncommon for detailed notes and records to be kept in respect of mitigating circumstances and learning support, some of which could be classed as “special category” information in accordance with the GDPR. Special category information usually means that it requires additional protection.

Many of the thousands of people that we represent for data breach privacy claims for compensation involve some form of breach in this sector. For eligible clients, we are prepared to work on a No Win, No Fee basis, and the best place to start is to speak to our legal team for free, no-obligation advice here now.

Recent ICO audit: Rowan Learning Trust (RLT)

There was a recent example of an audit involving the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) that could potentially highlight the importance of avoiding education sector data breaches. According to the ICO publication, Rowan Learning Trust (RLT) requested an audit from the ICO in 2022, with the view to attaining independent assurance in respect of data protection legislation.

Unfortunately, the results of the ICO audit in respect of Rowan Learning Trust do not appear to be good. The ICO looked at four key areas and provided their opinion in respect of an assurance rating. In two of the four areas, the rating was “limited”, and in the other two the rating was “very limited”. This was detailed as follows

• Governance & Accountability – “limited”
• Records Management – “limited”
• Data Sharing – “very limited”
• Requests for Access and Data Portability – “very limited”

“Limited” is defined as: There is a limited level of assurance that processes and procedures are in place and are delivering data protection compliance. The audit has identified considerable scope for improvement in existing arrangements to reduce the risk of noncompliance with data protection legislation.

“Very Limited” is defined as: There is a very limited level of assurance that processes and procedures are in place and are delivering data protection compliance. The audit has identified a substantial risk that the objective of data protection compliance will not be achieved. Immediate action is required to improve the control environment.

Source: ICO.

It would seem that the overall outcome of this audit is that much more work needs to be done by Rowan Learning Trust to make sure that it can comply with vital data protection legislation.

Free, no-obligation legal advice

You can find out today if you are eligible to pursue a compensation claim with us by speaking to our team for a free, no-obligation chat about your options here.

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