Have you been a victim of a Coventry City Council data breach? Did it happen because of the council’s failings? And if so, did you suffer damage to your finances or mental health? This article will discuss how you may be able to receive data breach compensation.
You should be able to feel confident that your data is in safe hands with the local council. Data breaches can cause significant stress and worry, which a data breach claim can provide compensation for.
Over the past few years, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has changed the rules regarding how organisations, such as local councils, can use our data. This regulation was introduced into the legal system in the UK by the Data Protection Act 2018.
The GDPR is there to ensure your data is protected and kept confidential, so it can’t be used in ways that you haven’t agreed to. It’s now a legal requirement for organisations to ask for your permission before sharing your personal data with anyone unless there are exceptions that apply.
If you’ve experienced a Coventry Council data breach, our team of advisers can assess whether you may be entitled to compensation.
In order to make a successful claim, it must be shown that the council breached its obligations under data protection law, causing your personal information to be exposed. An example is a company not updating its network security system, resulting in a data leak, or failing to provide necessary training.
You can contact our team of advisers by
- Calling them on 0800 073 8804 to chat about your situation.
- Filling in our online claims form for a response at your earliest convenience.
- Chatting with an adviser via our live chat pop-up box for an instant reply.
Coventry City Council Data Breach
Select A Section
- A Guide To Claims For Coventry City Council Data Breaches
- How Often Do Public Bodies Suffer Data Breaches?
- What Is A Claim For A Coventry City Council Data Breach?
- Are City Councils Exempt From Following The GDPR?
- How Could A City Council Breach Your Data Privacy?
- Tenants Rent Statement Data Breaches
- When Should I Complain To The ICO?
- How Do I Sue My City Council If They Breached My Data Privacy?
- What Damages Could I Sue A Local Council For?
- Coventry City Council Data Breach Claims Compensation Calculator
- No Win No Fee Coventry City Council Data Breach Claims
- How We Could Help You Claim For A Data Breach
- Contact Us And Make A Claim
- Useful Resources
- Frequently Asked Data Security Questions
A Guide To Claims For Coventry City Council Data Breaches
Firstly, this article will provide statistics that reveal how often public bodies suffer data breaches. Next, it will explain what a claim for a Coventry City Council data breach actually is. There will then be a section exploring whether city councils are exempt from following the GDPR.
Moreover, there’ll be a discussion on how a city council could breach your data privacy. Following on from this, the guide will look at some tenant rent statement data breaches. There will also be a section explaining when you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Additionally, the guide will explain how you can sue your city council if they breached your data privacy. There will also be a section looking at what forms of damage you can sue them for.
Furthermore, there will be a section talking about what a No Win No Fee agreement is and how our data breach lawyers work on this basis. There will then be some further resources and guides to ensure you leave this guide with as much information as possible about data breach claims. Finally, there’ll be answers to some frequently asked questions.
Remember, if you have any queries or would like help pursuing compensation, please get in touch.
How Often Do Public Bodies Suffer Data Breaches?
The graph below includes statistics taken from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport to show the number of reported cybersecurity breaches or attacks in the last 12 months.
As you can see, the group with the highest percentage of cybersecurity breaches or attacks in the last 12 months is medium-sized businesses, with 65% suffering a security breach. Next is large businesses, with 64%. Last is high-income charities, with 51%.
The Capita Data Breach
In March 2023, Capita, which administers the pension funds for lots of organisations, including Coventry City Council, suffered a cyber attack in which personal information was exposed. If you’d like to enquire as to whether you could claim compensation for this breach, get in touch.
You can learn more about the Capita data breach here.
What Is A Claim For A Coventry City Council Data Breach?
According to the GDPR, a data breach is when personal data is destroyed, lost, changed, assessed, or disclosed without the owner’s permission. A data leak can happen online or in a physical sense, and it could be deliberate or accidental. Even if a data leak doesn’t directly harm anyone, the ICO could still fine the council.
Most people tend to think of digital data leaks when they think of a data breach. However, physical data can also be exposed. An example of a Coventry City Council data breach could be if letters containing personal information are sent to the wrong address. This means the person receiving the letter has access to someone’s information without their permission.
Another example of a physical data breach is if somebody left important documents in public by accident, for example on a train. This means anyone can pick up the documents, read them and have access to people’s personal data. This is extremely dangerous as it could lead to identity theft.
Are City Councils Exempt From Following The GDPR?
City councils must follow the GDPR the same way other organisations have to. There are, however, circumstances in which a council can share your data without first obtaining your consent.
Consent is a key principle of GDPR. This means organisations must seek approval from you and tell you who they’re sharing your data with, why they want to access your data, and how they wish to use it. The GDPR surrounds our daily lives, whether we notice it or not.
For example, we have to tick a box on websites to give consent to use tracking cookies. Another example is that when giving our personal information to the council to pay our council tax, they request we tick boxes to show how we consent to our data being used.
Once you’ve made the council aware of how you consent to your data being used, they’re unable to use this data in any other way. They can only use it in ways that you’ve given permission for, otherwise, they could be in breach of the GDPR.
That said, there are exceptions to this if the council has a ‘valid reason’ to share your private information. Some examples include:
- If there is a risk to your life, they may share your information with the emergency services
- For tax purposes, they’ll share your information with HMRC
- Your information may also be shared with social services if necessary and relevant
The GDPR aims to protect our data and keep our personal information safe from being shared in ways that we don’t consent to. If you’ve got evidence that shows you’ve suffered a Coventry City Council data breach, you can contact our team of advisers to receive free legal advice.
How Could A City Council Breach Your Data Privacy?
Here are some data breach examples involving a local council:
- Sending a letter including your personal information to the wrong address, despite being given your new address – This means that whoever receives the letter has unlawful access to your exposed data. If, for example, this letter contained sensitive data and was sent to your neighbour, this could cause you to experience distress and anxiety.
- Failure to redact information when sending an information pack to local landowners – This is a privacy violation as you haven’t consented to your information being shared in this way.
- Insufficient IT systems can result in a cyberattack where data is leaked – This could be due to a lack of computer security or a failure to update systems.
- Passport data privacy breach – We often have to provide proof of identity documents to our council, such as a copy of our passport or driving license. To expose this is extremely dangerous as it could result in identity theft. This could allow criminals to travel to different countries under another name.
- Staff data – In the workplace, staff members personal information should be kept confidential and private. If this has happened to you, you could make an employer personal data breach compensation claim.
- Social services data breach – This could involve important social services documents being disclosed to members of the extended, wider family without permission. This could damage families and relationships severely. The same could also apply if the same data gets into the hands of other people too.
- Unauthorised access to patient records – The NHS should ensure patients’ personal data is kept safe and confidential. If you’ve suffered a medical negligence data breach, you may be able to make an NHS data breach compensation claim or a claim following a GP data breach.
Tenants Rent Statement Data Breaches
Here are examples of data and personal information that boroughs, local councils and other local authorities may hold about public housing tenants:
- Tenancy documents – These are personal documents with information about the tenant, such as the date they moved in, the tenant’s names, the address of the property, and whether other people live there.
- Scans of tenancy audit documents for public housing tenants – An audit is when a landlord checks the home to make sure that nothing is broken or damaged.
- Rent statements data breach – These documents include how much the rent is and how much the tenant has paid. A data breach over rent statements could occur if someone left a bag with the documents inside on public transport and someone accessed them, or if a rent statement was sent to the wrong address.
If you’ve suffered data protection breaches relating to your rent statement, you can get in touch with our team of advisers to have a chat about your situation. If you have a valid claim, they can connect you with our data breach solicitors who can begin working on your claim.
When Should I Complain To The ICO?
The ICO investigates reported data breaches to see how it was caused and who’s at fault. Before you report a data breach to the ICO, you have to formally complain to the organisation that’s at fault for the data breach.
If you’re unhappy with the findings of the at-fault party and have done as much as you can regarding the organisation’s complaint procedure, you can then report the data breach to the ICO.
It’s recommended that you wait no longer than three months after your last meaningful response to report it to the ICO. If you leave it too long or the data breach isn’t serious enough, the ICO may refuse to investigate. The ICO cannot offer compensation for your suffering, but they can find out who’s to blame.
You can use evidence from the ICO’s findings to help support your data breach claim. This can then increase your chances of receiving data breach compensation.
You don’t have to report the incident to the ICO if you don’t wish to. However, it’s an option you can choose if you decide you’d like to figure out what caused your data breach. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team of advisers today to discuss your situation.
How Do I Sue My City Council If They Breached My Data Privacy?
If you’d like to launch a claim against your city council for breaching your data, you can have a chat with our advisers by contacting them today. This is where your journey to receiving compensation could start. An adviser will be happy to chat with you to learn more about your situation and assess how strong your potential claim could be.
If your claim is valid, one of our advisers can connect you to our data breach solicitors who could begin working on your claim right away.
A lawyer may suggest you contact the ICO to get more information and add to your evidence. On the other hand, they may feel that your best course of action is to claim directly against Coventry City Council for the data breach.
Please don’t hesitate to contact our team of advisers today to receive 24/7 free legal advice.
What Damages Could I Sue A Local Council For?
The compensation that’s awarded in a data breach claim is segmented into material and non-material damages.
Material damages provide compensation for the financial impact the data breach has had on your life. An example of this is if a criminal steals someone’s bank details, they could steal their money and leave them financially deficient.
Additionally, you could have suffered a long-term financial loss due to the data breach. An example of this is if you found it difficult to be granted credit as a criminal has stolen your personal data and bank details. You may be able to make a credit card data breach compensation claim if you were a victim of this.
On the other hand, non-material damages compensate for the psychological impact the data breach has had on you. An example of this is if you suffered stress and anxiety due to the financial loss you experienced.
You also may suffer long-term psychological issues, such as paranoia that a criminal still has your bank details or another criminal may get access to them. Similarly, you may worry that your neighbours know too much information about you, which could impact your day to day life.
Working with a data breach lawyer can help ensure you include all your damages in one claim. Get in touch to find out more.
Coventry City Council Data Breach Claims Compensation Calculator
We’ve built a compensation table with the latest figures from the Judicial College Guidelines to show how much compensation some psychological injuries could be valued at. This table is for example purposes only so figures may not be exact.
| Injury: | Severity: | Notes: | Compensation: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental Anguish | Severe | The person is scared that death will occur. | £4380 |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | Severe | Unable to trust people due to stress and anxiety. Likelihood of recovery is low. | £51,460 to £108,620 |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | Moderate | Symptoms are similar to the above and recovery is more likely. | £17,900 to £51,460 |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | Less Severe | Symptoms of anxiety and stress that are minor and will recover fully in a short time period. | Up to £5,500 |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | Very Severe Brain Damage | Unable to live the way they did before the trauma occurred. Unable to work and participate in social activities. | £56,180 to £94,470 |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | Moderate | Symptoms are mild and recovery is likely. | £7,680 to £21,730 |
A landmark decision in UK data breach law occurred in the case of Vidal-Hall and others v Google Inc [2015]. The Court of Appeal discussed the issue of compensation in data breach claims and held that a claim could be made for either material or non-material damage.
Prior to this case, claimants had to suffer a financial loss in order to receive compensation for psychological impacts. However, this case has meant that claimants can seek compensation for psychological effects, even if they haven’t suffered financial loss.
This means it’s possible to seek compensation for psychological conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, stress, and mental anguish.
No Win No Fee Coventry City Council Data Breach Claims
Our data breach solicitors work on a No Win No Fee basis. A No Win No Fee agreement is a contractual agreement between you and your lawyer stating that you don’t have to pay their fees if your case fails.
If your claim succeeds, your lawyer will take a small, legally capped percentage from your compensation award.
No Win No Fee agreements are a popular option for claimants as there are many financial benefits. There’s little to lose, so why wait to pursue a data breach claim? You can contact our team of advisers today for free legal advice.
How We Could Help You Claim For A Data Breach
You don’t have to stick to local lawyers when searching for the right solicitor for you. When pursuing a data breach claim, it’s important to ensure you work well with your solicitor and have an empathetic, sensitive approach.
It may be helpful to read through some reviews when deciding whether to work with a solicitor. Here are some reviews our law firm has received from past clients:
- ‘They were so helpful and followed every aspect of my case’ – Kate, 2021
- ‘The process was smooth and communication extremely good.’ – Laura, 2019
Contact Us And Make A Claim
If you possess evidence that shows you’ve suffered a Coventry City Council data breach, you may be able to make a compensation claim if you’ve suffered damage to your mental health or finances as a result. You can contact our team of advisers to chat about your situation and assess whether you have a strong enough case to pursue a data breach claim.
Please note that you don’t have to continue with our services if you don’t wish to. However, if you have a valid claim, one of our advisers can connect you with our solicitors.
You can get in touch with our team of advisers by:
- Giving them a call on 0800 073 8804 to discuss your case.
- Filling out our claims form online for a reply at whatever time is best for you.
- Talking with one of our advisers through our instant chat pop-up box for a response straight away.
Useful Resources
Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide – If you’ve suffered a data breach, our article discusses how you can make a compensation claim.
Data Breach Claims Frequently Asked Questions – Our guide includes answers to some frequently asked questions regarding data breach claims.
Solicitors Data Breach Compensation Claims Guide– If you’ve suffered a solicitor data breach, our article explores how much compensation you could claim.
Report A Breach – If you’d like to report a data breach to the ICO, you can visit this link.
Personal Data Breaches – This link includes information you may need to know about personal data breaches.
Other Useful Compensation Guides
- Cardiff Metropolitan University Data Breach
- Cardiff University Data Breach
- Carlisle City Council Data Breach
- Charnwood Borough Council Data Breach
- Chelmsford Council Data Breach
- Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Trust Data Breach
- Chesterfield Council Data Breach
- City of Lincoln Council Data Breach
- University Data Breach Compensation Claims
- Cranfield University Data Breach
- Crawley Borough Council Data Breach
- Barnsley Council Data Breach
- Calderdale Council Data Breach
- Eastleigh Borough Council Data Breach
- Hastings Borough Council Data Breach
- Stafford Borough Council Data Breach
- Stevenage Council Data Breach
- Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council Data Breach
- Maidstone Council Data Breach
- Medway Council Data Breach
- Is Sharing An Email Address a Breach of GDPR?
Frequently Asked Data Security Questions
Can I sue if my data is leaked?
You can pursue a claim following a data leak if you can show that it happened because of the failings of the organisation and you suffered damage to your finances or mental health as a result.
How do I claim for a data breach?
You can contact our team of advisers to discuss your situation today. If you have a valid claim, they can connect you to our expert solicitors to begin your data breach claim.
What is the most common cause of a data breach?
One of the most common causes of a data breach is human error.
Is a data leak a crime?
Yes, if done on purpose and with malicious intent. There have been cases involving this in the past, such as an incident involving mobile phone provider, EE.
Thank you for reading our guide on Coventry City Council data breach claims.
Guide by Naylor
Edited by Billing
