Do Data Breach Protection Solicitors Offer No Win No Fee?

By Stephen Hudson. Last Updated 14th October 2024. By using data protection solicitors on a No Win No Fee basis you could receive legal representation without having to pay an upfront fee. In this guide, among many other areas, we are going to be discussing the relevance of having a data breach solicitor pursue your case for you. Since 2018, the way our data can be used has changed with the introduction of new laws and legislation. In this guide, we shall determine which parts of our data should be protected and if they are not what you can do about it.

If your data has been exposed to unlawful access or use, you may be able to make a claim. However, even though your claim might be similar to others, it won’t be entirely the same. The reason for explaining this, is so that you understand why we cannot possibly answer every potential question in one guide. Your claim will be unique in one or more ways. If you do find that this guide leaves you with unanswered questions, please call our claims team on 0800 073 8804. They are available 24/7 and can answer all of your questions. They can also explain how we can organise a solicitor to process your claim for you.

Select a Section:

1. What Is Data Protection And Do Data Protection Solicitors Offer No Win No Fee?
2. How To Prove Liability For A Claim
3. What Are Examples Of Data Protection Breaches?
4. How To React To A Data Protection Breach
5. What Goes Into A Compensation Settlement For A Data Protection Breach?
6. Do Data Protection Solicitors Offer No Win No Fee?
7. Extra Research On Data Protection Solicitors And No Win No Fee Agreements

What Is Data Protection And Do Data Protection Solicitors Offer No Win No Fee?

In this section, we will look at what a data breach or data leak is. This is so that we can later discuss how using the services of data protection solicitors on a No Win No Fee basis works

We can say that in general, a data breach is a security incident related to the unlawful handling of personal data. An incident that has had a measurable impact on the availability, integrity or confidentiality of your data. Basically, whenever your data is disclosed, altered, destroyed or lost, because of a security incident and through unlawful or accidental actions this could be construed as a data breach.

Additionally, if your data is accessed or shared without a lawful basis, this could also be deemed to be a data breach.

In some cases, data protection breach solicitors might be able to help you make a claim for reasons such as those explained above. We urge you to call and talk to a claim advisor if you think you have fallen foul of a data breach.

How A Data Breach Could Effect You

Now we have a general idea of what a data breach is, it’s time to look at how one might have an impact on your life. Below are a few examples;

• If your data is lost or corrupted – a device that has stored files containing data subjects’ personal information is lost and not password protected. Meaning that anyone who discovers this could have access to personal data.
• Your data is shared without a lawful basis – for example, your employer provides a pension firm with information about you, so that they can contact you to try and sell you a pension product.
• An unauthorised party accesses your data – an example would be a hacker that gains access to your credit card information and uses it.
• A company sends a letter to the wrong address  – the letter contains personally identifiable information – even though you had provided them with details of your new address but they failed to update their files.

In each example, if you could prove that the data breach was caused by a liable third party, a claim might be possible. You can call and speak to our claims team for more information about this.

How To Prove Liability For A Claim

For data protection solicitors to offer No Win No Fee terms they will first want to check that your claim is valid. A data subject is someone who supplies their personal data to an organisation (a data controller), who needs it to provide a service. Not all data subjects can make a data breach claim if their personal data is breached. It has to be proven that the data controller failed to do all it could to protect this data in order for liability to be proven.

Furthermore, the onus is on you to prove liability. Here are some general steps for proving liability in a data breach claim.

• Check whether the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has a record of the data breach happening.
• Check reliable news sources to find out if there has been general news about the data breach published.
• Gather evidence such as credit card or bank statements that could potentially prove that a third party has accessed your data.
• If the data breach was witnessed, try to find out the contact details of these witnesses.
• Contact the organisation you think is responsible for breaching your data privacy. If your rights and freedoms are affected by a breach then a data controller has to inform you of the breach.

Your Rights Under UK GDPR

In 2018 the EU introduced the General Data Protection Regulation GDPR which was then enacted into UK law through the Data Protection Act 2018 DPA. However, once the UK left the European Union it no longer had to follow EU Directives. In 2021 the DPA was updated and UK GDPR was introduced.

Under UK GDPR, you are inferred certain basic rights that empower you to control the way your data is being used and stored. Below, is a basic overview of these rights.

• The right to be informed – of any potential issues such as a data breach that has affected your rights and freedoms.
• Your right of access – so that you can find out what data is stored about you.
• The right of rectification – meaning any errors in your data must be put right.
• Your right to be forgotten – you can exercise this right to request to have an organisation delete all of the information they have about you.
• The right to restrict processing – to stop your data from being used in specific ways.
• Your right to data portability – if you request to see the data stored about you, it must be provided in an easily accessible format.
• The right to restrict profiling – and also automated decision making using your data.

What Are Examples Of Data Protection Breaches?

When would data protection solicitors offer No Win No Fee terms? Below are examples of the kinds of issues that a data breach lawyer might be able to help you with.

• An organisation that holds your personal data does not have an up to date cyber security system and a hacker is allowed to exploit its vulnerability and access your data.
• The data controller does not train staff on data awareness and your personal data is accessed by those who do not have authority to see it.
• Your data, medical records, for example, were sent to the wrong person.
• Digital storage devices that contained your data were lost or stolen and were not encrypted.
• A doctor discusses your medical records with family members without your permission.
• A bank mistakenly uploads a database with individual account details onto its website.
• Your employer lets unauthorised people access your personal data, leading to work colleagues finding out about your religious practices for example.
• An email data breach is when an email containing private information is sent to the wrong recipient.

In each of these examples, if liability can be proven, a solicitor could help with a claim. For more information on how to get a claim started, please call and talk to our team.

How To React To A Data Protection Breach

The first thing you can do is to contact the organisation that you believe has suffered a data breach. When a data controller suffers a data breach that affects the rights and freedoms of individuals they must inform the ICO within 72 hours and anyone affected without undue delay. Firstly, ask if a data breach has happened. Secondly, if it has, ask how badly your data has been breached.

The next step, would be to contact the ICO to make a data breach complaint. Additionally, you can also make a complaint if the organisation involved has not upheld your rights under UK GDPR in some way.

How long do you have to report a data breach? In most cases, the ICO will not follow up on a complaint about a data breach if the last meaningful communication you had with the organisation that caused the breach was more than three months ago.

What Goes Into A Compensation Settlement For A Data Protection Breach?

If your data protection claim is successful, you will likely receive damages for a number of different reasons. These make up your overall compensation settlement. Firstly, there are non-material damages. These each covers a type of pain, suffering, or harm you have encountered. Here are some examples of non-material damages.

• Psychological issues, such as anxiety or depression caused by stress or trauma.
• Physical injuries, and the pain they cause.
• The suffering endured during long-term therapy.
• Long-term mental health issues that will negatively impact your life for some time.

Material damages are paid to make up for financial losses. Including predicted losses. You must provide documented proof of these losses. Some examples of material damages are given below.

• Money stolen from bank account
• Credit score affected
• Loss of earnings

Call our team to find out what types of damages might be appropriate to claim based on your own circumstances.

Do Data Protection Solicitors Offer No Win No Fee?

If you have valid grounds to claim for a data breach, then a No Win No Fee solicitor could potentially support your claim. Our advisors could carry out a free review of your potential case, and if they find your case is strong, they could arrange for you to be supported by one of our data protection solicitors on a No Win No Fee basis.

Our solicitors can support data breach claims under what’s called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Making a claim under a CFA usually means the following conditions apply:

• There’s no requirement to pay your solicitor for their services before your data breach claim has begun or while it’s being processed.
• If your data breach claim doesn’t succeed, you still normally won’t need to pay your solicitor for their work.
• If the data breach claim proves successful, then your solicitor will receive a success fee. That means they’ll take a small percentage of your compensation. The success fee is legally capped to ensure you get to keep most of your compensation.

If you have any more questions about data breach solicitors and No Win No Fee claims, please contact our advisors today. To get in touch with our team, you can:

• Call us on 0800 073 8804
• Message us using our 24/7 live chat
• Write to us using our contact form 

  

Extra Research On Data Protection Solicitors And No Win No Fee Agreements

Here are some links to more claims guides that might be of use.

• Claiming For A Social Services Data Breach
• Employer Data Breach Claims Are Explained
• Making A Claim For A School Data Breach

And here are some links to other useful websites.

• The Data Protection Act 2018
• GDPR Information

Thank you for considering our guide ‘Do Data Breach Protection Solicitors Offer No Win No Fee?’.