Compensation for a council email breach

You may be entitled to claim compensation as a victim of a council email breach, and our Data Leak Lawyers are here to help you.

A number of council email breaches have taken place over the years, and they can often happen by human error or software problems. Whatever the cause, they are often seen as systemic issues that can be easily resolvable, meaning the breaches should never have happened in the first place. For this reason, depending on the data breached, victims can be entitled to claim for data breach compensation.

Can I claim for a council email breach?

You can claim for data breach compensation as a victim of a council email breach. Depending on how the breach occurred may depend on whether we can help you, but the common types where we may be able to help you can include:

• Council email not having the BCC function engaged, exposing other people’s personal data to each other;
• Personal data being sent to the wrong recipient (you can usually claim as the person whose data was sent by accident, whether you’re a resident or an employee of the council);
• Personal data being sent without proper authority;
• Council emails being hacked as a result of a lack of security, leading to personal data exposure.

These are just a few scenarios. If you think you have been the victim of a council email breach, it’s always worth contacting our team for help and assistance.

Both West Sussex County Council and Hastings Borough Council recently committed a data breach by failing to use the BCC function. Ironically, the Hastings breach was an email sent for an op-out option to comply with GDPR rules…

What can I claim for as a victim of a council email breach?

If you have been the victim of a council email breach, you may be able to claim compensation for any distress caused, as well as for any financial losses caused where applicable. The latter can happen where enough personal data is exposed to put a victim at risk of financial fraud from criminals, or where financial data is leaked or hacked.

With councils holding so much personal and sensitive data about us – which can raise from sensitive medical data, to financial information and benefits information – any council data breach can be serious for the victim.

Claiming compensation as a victim of a council email breach

A council email breach can be an easy thing to happen. As a victim, it’s important to know you may be eligible to claim for data breach compensation.

Please contact our team for specialist help and assistance.