Claiming compensation for city council data leaks

You could be entitled to claim compensation for city council data leaks, and our leading team of expert lawyers may be able to represent you for a claim on a No Win, No Fee basis.

The easiest way to find out if you are eligible to pursue a claim is to contact our friendly team for free, no-obligation legal advice here now.

Eligibility to claim for city council data leaks

City council data leaks can result in swathes of very personal and sensitive information being exposed and misused. When we talk about council data breach compensation matters, we often reference that local authorities will store and process an incredible volume of very personal and sensitive information. There will be the usual personal and contact details, but there will likely be financial information for council tax matters also, and perhaps sensitive medical and domestic information for social services requirements.

The public sector has faced a significant number of issues in relation to funding and resourcing over the last few years. Hackers will target what they believe to be easier victims to compromise and, given that councils hold a lot of information that could be valuable, they can be obvious targets.

If you have been the victim of a council data breach, you could be entitled to claim GDPR compensation. If your information has been misused or exposed through no fault of your own, you could be eligible to pursue a case. To succeed with the claim, we normally need to prove that the council has been negligent in the duty of care that they have for you. If there was more that they could – and should – have done to prevent a data breach, you may have a claim.

The GDPR can entitle you to recover compensation for any distress caused by the loss of control of your personal information. The easiest way to have your eligibility assessed is to contact our team for free, no-obligation legal advice here now.

A recent incident: Bristol City Council

We see city council data leaks happening all the time. There was a recent incident involving Bristol City Council which was typical of the common kinds of events we see.

According to media reports, Bristol City Council sent out an email in relation to clean air zone applications. Unfortunately, they used the archaic method of sending a group email without using proper software. We assume Bristol City Council intended to use the “blind carbon copy” (“BCC”) feature, but this is dangerous because it can lead to errors we saw in this case. Instead, recipients were in the “carbon copy” (“CC”) section, which meant that all those who received the email could see each other’s personal information.

This kind of incident has happened so many times before – not just in terms of city council data leaks, but also for a range of public and private sector events. There is no excuse for this kind of incident taking place at all.

Council data breach compensation amounts

When it comes to council data breach compensation amounts, they could be substantial given the nature of the information they hold, as referenced above. When we value a case, we will usually look at the nature of the information affected, how much is involved, the context of the breach, and how you have been personally affected.

It is hard to know from the start how much your claim could be worth, but our average data breach settlement for damages alone is just over £6,000 per claimant. This should give you something of an idea in terms of our averages, and you can read more about data protection breach compensation amounts on our advice page here.

Compensation for NHS records being hacked

Government data breach claims for compensation