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My Existing Mental Health Problems Were Made Worse By A Data Breach, Can I Claim Compensation?

By Danielle Jordan. Last Updated 4th March 2024. Have your mental health problems been made worse after a data breach? A personal data breach can cause significant harm, financially and mentally. If the organisation responsible for handling your personal data fails to comply with data protection law, resulting in a personal data breach in which you suffer harm, you may be eligible to make a claim.

Mental health problems made worse data breach

Mental health problems made worse by a data breach claims guide

This article explains how a personal data breach could potentially worsen your mental health problems and what the kinds of damage it could cause. Alongside this, we will discuss the definition of a personal data breach and who is responsible for keeping personal data safe. We will also explore the potential compensation you may be eligible for, plus how our No Win No Fee solicitors could help.

We suggest talking to our advisors if you want to make a personal data breach claim. They can help understand the validity of your claim and connect you with our expert No Win No Fee data breach solicitors, who can help you begin the legal process. Talk to our advisors today by:

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  1. My Existing Mental Health Problems Were Made Worse By A Data Breach – Can I Claim Compensation?
  2. What Existing Mental Health Problems Could A Data Breach Affect?
  3. Types Of Data Which Could Be Affected
  4. My Existing Mental Health Problems Were Made Worse By A Data Breach – What Could I Claim?
  5. Talk To Us About How A Data Breach Impacted You

My Existing Mental Health Problems Were Made Worse By A Data Breach – Can I Claim Compensation?

Personal data breaches are security incidents that compromise the integrity, availability, or confidentiality of your personal data. The UK General Data Protection Regulations 2016 (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) are two pieces of legislation that outline data protection laws in the UK. 

Generally, the organisations that handle your personal data are:

  • Data controllers – The original collector of your data and the one that lays out the purpose of its use.
  • Data processors – An external company used by a controller to process your data on their behalf.

The data controller must have a lawful basis when processing your data. If they cannot establish a lawful basis, they may be in breach of data protection legislation.

A personal data breach can cause significant harm to your mental health, possibly exacerbating existing problems. If the breach was a result of failings on the part of the organisation responsible for your data, you may be able to make a claim for compensation.

What Existing Mental Health Problems Could A Data Breach Affect?

A personal data breach could affect a number of existing mental health issues, including:

  • Stress: Stress can range from normal everyday stress to more serious post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
  • Anxiety: It is possible to develop anxiety or worsen it if it was a pre-existing condition. Anxiety is a feeling of unrest, worry, or fear that can range from minor to severe.
  • Depression: This could worsen following a personal data breach and could cause the symptoms to become more severe.
  • PTSD: Following a personal data breach, symptoms of PTSD may become more severe. For example, if a breach exposes the address of a domestic abuse victim, this could cause any existing symptoms of PTSD to worsen.

To make a claim for a personal data breach, the breach must result from the organisation’s failings, and you must suffer mental or financial harm. Contact our team if a personal data breach has worsened your mental health issues.

Types Of Data Which Could Be Affected

Personal data is defined by the UK GDPR as information that can identify an individual, such as:

Special category data is a kind of personal data requiring extra protections under the UK GDPR and DPA. This information can include data regarding your:

  • Religion
  • Trade Union Membership
  • Race and ethnicity
  • Sexual life, history, and orientation
  • Biometric, genetic and health data

When a personal data breach occurs, this can cause significant harm to your mental health. If your mental health problems have been made worse as a result of a personal data breach, contact our advisors today.

My Existing Mental Health Problems Were Made Worse By A Data Breach – What Could I Claim?

In a successful data breach claim, you could possibly receive two types of compensation:

  • Material damages – The financial losses that you sustain through compromised banking information. This can lead to theft, impersonation, as well as fraudulent loan applications. 
  • Non-material damages – The possible mental health problems made worse or created by a data breach. For example, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, paranoia, and depression amongst other psychological injuries.

When claiming, potential compensation amounts are laid out in brackets in the 16th edition of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). They separate injuries according to types and intensity levels as shown in the table below:

 

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Injury Compensation Notes
Severe post-traumatic anxiety disorder (a) £59,860 to £100,670 Where the injured person has severe problems with every day life and working to a level anywhere near resembling pre-trauma normalcy.
Moderately severe post-traumatic anxiety disorder (b) £23,150 to £59,860 With expert help, the prognosis may improve, but disabilities can still exist in the future.
Moderate post-traumatic anxiety disorder (c) £8,180 to £23,150 A large recovery has taken place and lasting effects will not be majorly disabling.
Less severe post-traumatic anxiety disorder (d) £3,950 to £8,180 Minor symptoms may persist, but a recovery takes place over two years.
General severe psychological damage (a) £54,830 to £115,730 The person may experience problems with education, workability, relationships, and future vulnerabilities. The amount awarded depends on treatment, if it was successful and what the prognosis is.
General moderately severe psychological damage (b) £19,070 to £54,830 Where there are still substantial problems with the above issues, but the prognosis is slightly better.
General moderate psychological damage (c) £5,860 to £19,070 Problems still exist with the above factors, however, the claimant has improved by trial and the prognosis is better.
General less severe psychological damage (d) £1,540 to £5,860 Award considers disability period and how much sleep and daily life are affected.

 

The process for claiming non-material damages was amended in the wake of Vidal-Hall and Others v Google Inc. (2105). Now, it is possible to claim for non-material damages without also claiming for material damages in tandem.

The table above provides guideline figures, not guarantees. For a free estimate of what your claim could be worth, contact our team today.

Breach Of Data Protection – Other Compensation Amounts

In addition to an award for harm to your mental health, you could be awarded compensation for any material damage you suffered due to your personal data’s inclusion in the breach. Material damage refers to your financial losses caused by the compromise of your personal data.

For example, if your banking details were exposed in the data breach, someone could have used this data to spend your money. If you have evidence of this, such as previous bank statements, you might be able to recover this as part of your breach of data protection compensation. Additionally, they may have taken out loans or credit cards using your personal data. These financial losses could also be recovered.

As part of the award for material damage, you could also recover costs related to your mental health harm. These could include therapy costs and prescription costs or loss of earnings if the stress due to the data breach caused you to miss work.

If you are asking, ‘can I claim compensation if my data is breached?’, why not call our advisors for a free claim evaluation?

Talk To Us About How A Data Breach Impacted You

Data protection can be a complex part of the law. If you want to seek compensation for mental health problems made worse by a data breach, you may find it beneficial to talk to our advisors first. They can help understand the validity of your claim, possibly passing you on to our expert solicitors.

Our solicitors offer a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), a type of No Win No Fee arrangement. When using a CFA solicitor, there are no upfront costs. 

If your claim succeeds, only then will a CFA lawyer take payment. This is through a success fee, which is a small percentage of your compensation with a legal cap. If the case fails no success fee to pay.

To find out how one of our expert personal data breach solicitors could help you, contact our advisors by:

Mental Health Related Claims Guides

Below we have provided some more in-depth data breach guides:

And we have provided useful links too:

If your mental health problems were made worse in a data breach, contact our advisors today.