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Customer Service UK GDPR Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide
In this guide, we will look at who could be eligible to make customer service UK GDPR data breach compensation claims. If a customer support team loses your data, or sends your personal information to the wrong recipient then we look at how this could affect you. We will explain how your personal data is protected by the UK General Data Protection Regulation UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.
Customer Service UK GDPR Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide
Please contact Legal Expert to see if you are eligible to claim compensation. If we can see that you have legitimate grounds to claim, we can appoint our No Win No Fee solicitors to work on your claim.
- Call our claims helpline on 0800 073 8804
- See if you can claim online by contacting us in writing
- Or ask us a question using the web chat widget in the corner of your screen
Select A Section
- What Are Customer Service UK GDPR Data Breach Compensation Claims?
- How Could A Company’s Customer Service Department Breach Your Data?
- What Sensitive Or Personal Information Could Customer Services Hold?
- How Does Data Protection Affect Customer Service?
- Calculating Customer Service Data Breach Compensation Claims
- Can I Use A No Win No Fee Solicitor For Customer Service UK GDPR Data Breach Claims
What Are Customer Service UK GDPR Data Breach Compensation Claims?
A customer services data breach could happen if a customer support department at a company compromises the protection of a customer’s data. Human error can cause a data breach, or a data breach can happen deliberately. For example, if criminals carry out a cyber attack on a business to steal customer data.
Who could be eligible to make customer service UK GDPR data breach compensation claims? Personal data such as your name, email address and postal information is protected by data protection laws such as the UK GDPR. A type of personal data known as special category data such as your ethnic origin, religion and political beliefs are given extra protections.
Data breaches can happen for different reasons, and not all who suffer through a data breach will be eligible to make a personal data breach compensation claim. Below we look at the eligibility criteria for such a claim.
- Firstly, a data controller such as an organisation that needs your personal data for operational purposes failed to take the correct steps in protecting your personal data. For example, they may not have trained their employees to protect the data. Or the company may have had an inadequate cyber security system that did not prevent a cyber attack.
- Secondly, your personal data was included in a breach.
- And thirdly, you experienced emotional distress or psychological injury because of the data breach. Or on the other hand, you may have lost money or assets because of the data breach.
Please get in touch with us to see if you are eligible to make a data breach claim.
How Could A Company’s Customer Service Department Breach Your Data?
A personal data breach is considered a data security incident that compromises the security, confidentiality and integrity of your personal data. But what can actually cause this to happen:
- An employee from an organisation loses physical files containing personal data.
- A company may accidentally publish a customer’s personal information online.
- A customer support representative accidentally alters, encrypts or deletes personal data.
- Or an employee discloses a customer’s data without a lawful basis to do so.
- Likewise, a customer’s data could be shared on a company email without a legal basis.
- On the other hand, a customer service department could accidentally grant an unauthorised person access to the email. For example, a representative could share a password with a colleague from another department.
Unfortunately, cyber-attacks are a growing problem for businesses. According to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022, which surveyed over 1200 businesses illustrated that 39% of UK businesses identified a cyber attack in the last 12 months.
Moreover, 83% of cyber attacks were caused by phishing attempts, and 21% were sophisticated cyber-attacks using malware. Therefore we can see that it is important for businesses to invest in cyber security systems to guard against cyber attacks.
What Sensitive Or Personal Information Could Customer Services Hold?
What personal information could be involved in customer service UK GDPR data breach compensation claims?
A customer support department may collect your personal data to provide you with a service. Personal data is information that identifies a person, such as your first name and surname and date of birth. Sometimes a business may hold your financial information, such as your debit card details or bank account information.
It is vitally important that businesses protect your personal data. In the wrong hands, criminals could use your data to target you for fraud or identity theft. Therefore leading to financial losses. Likewise, if a financial information or credit card data breach takes place, criminals may use the data to make fraudulent purchases or steal from you.
Can Customer Support Departments Breach Your Special Category Data?
The UK GDPR also protects special category data, which is data that is of a sensitive nature. For example, a private healthcare provider will store medical records. Or a counselling service may be privy to personal information about the client’s mental health.
If special category data or other sensitive information is breached, the customer may experience emotional distress. What’s more, if the customer experiences trauma because of the data breach, they may develop psychiatric injuries.
How Does Data Protection Affect Customer Service?
Customer service departments must consider data protection regulations when carrying out their activities.
Companies will often collect our personal data for operational purposes. For example, a customer support team may process your contact details. However, businesses must protect the personal data they collect under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Businesses could do the following to help prevent data breaches from taking place:
- Provide their employees with data awareness training to stop employees from making errors that lead to customer service data breaches.
- Companies should ensure adequate onsite security to prevent workplace devices from being stolen.
- In addition, businesses should make sure they have a robust cyber security system to protect against malware, hacking and cyber-attacks.
If a business fails to comply with the UK GDPR, it could be liable for any data breach that occurs.
Calculating Customer Service Data Breach Compensation Claims
You may wish to know what your customer service data breach claim is worth. You can use the table below to predict how much non-material damage compensation you could potentially claim in a successful personal data breach claim. Non-material damage is compensation for the emotional distress or the mental health damage you experienced. However, the table excludes material damage, which is compensation for your financial losses.
We have used 16th edition guidelines from the Judicial College to create the information in the table. The Judicial College updated the guidelines in 2022. The table should only be used as a guide as every single claim is different.
| Form Of Injury | Severity | Notes | Guidelines On Damages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental Injury | Severe | Injuries which impact this person’s everyday life such as being able to work and maintain relationships. This person has been made vulnerable. | £54,830 – £115,730 |
| Mental Injury | Moderately Severe | This person is impacted by the same factors as the last, but has a slightly improved outcome. | £19,070 – £54,830 |
| Mental Injury | Moderate | Overall, this person has improved and they have a better prognosis. | £5,860 – £19,070 |
| Mental Injury | Less Severe | Amounts change depending on how long the disability lasted and impacted factors such as sleep. | £1,540 – £5,860 |
| Anxiety Disorder Following A Trauma | Severe | These injuries could prevent the person from returning to work or it could prevent them working as they did prior to this trauma. | £59,860 – £100,670 |
| Anxiety Disorder Following A Trauma | Moderately Severe | Some recovery could take place if the person has had professional care. There will still be disabilities in the future. | £23,150 – £59,860 |
| Anxiety Disorder Following A Trauma | Moderate | There has been a substantial degree of recovery. | £8,180 – £23,150 |
| Anxiety Disorder Following A Trauma | Less Severe | There will have been an almost full recovery within 2 years | £3,950 – £8,180 |
If you call Legal Expert, we can estimate how much you could claim.
Can I Use No Win No Fee Solicitors For Customer Service UK GDPR Data Breach Claims
Legal Expert can assess for free customer service UK GDPR data breach compensation claims if you get in touch with our claims team today.
To see if you can claim compensation, please contact us today. We will be happy to provide you with free legal advice and speak to you in depth about your situation. If we can see that you are eligible for data breach compensation, we can provide you with a No Win No Fee solicitor to manage your claim.
What Are The Benefits Of No Win No Fee Claims?
- You won’t have to pay a solicitors fee upfront
- Instead, you will pay a success fee if the solicitor wins your claim.
- And the success fee is charged at a legally capped rate. So you will keep the majority of your compensation.
To see if you can claim compensation for a data breach, please contact us today:
- Call us on 0800 073 8804 to speak to a claims advisor
- Enquire about making a claim online
- Otherwise, use the Live Support widget to ask Legal Expert a question
Data Breach Claims Against Companies
If a business has breached your personal data, the following resources may be helpful.
Mortgage Company Data Breach Claims Guide
Loan Company Data Breach Claims Guide
A Company Has Misused My Personal Data – Can I Sue?
External Resources:
ICO Guide: Data Security Incident Trends
Gov. UK Guide: How To Report A Data Breach
NHS Guide: Stress and Anxiety
Please reach out to us if a customer support department has breached your personal data. There is no obligation to use our services, and we can answer any questions you may have about claiming compensation for a breach of your personal data.
We are grateful that you have read our guide about customer service UK GDPR data breach compensation claims.
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