Universal Credit Data Breach – Could I Claim Compensation?

By Cat Way. Last Updated 27th February 2024. If a Universal Credit data breach was to occur, you may be curious as to what this could mean for your personal data. Throughout this guide, we will examine what personal data is, what laws there are that protect such data and how you could be affected should such personal information be breached.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for supervising and overseeing Universal Credit. In order to provide this service to the public, the DWP will need to process personal data. Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 DPA personal data is protected. This means that anyone responsible for your personal data must keep it secure in line with data protection laws.

You can also speak to our team of advisors, who are available 24/7, to receive free and confidential legal advice. They can assess your claim for no cost, and should they find that you could be eligible to bring forward a claim, they may connect you with one of our data breach solicitors. However, they will not place you under an obligation to progress your claim with us.

To get in touch, please:

• Call our helpline on 0800 073 8804
• Contact us by filling out our online form, or
• Use the live support feature at the bottom of this page

Select A Section:

• Universal Credit Data Breach – Can I Claim Compensation?
• Are You Eligible To Claim Compensation?
• Central Government Data Security Incident Statistics
• What Action Could I Take Should A Universal Credit Data Breach Occur?
• Compensation For A Data Protection Breach
• For Advice If A Universal Credit Data Breach Occurs And Involves Your Personal Data, Call Our Team

Universal Credit Data Breach – Can I Claim Compensation?

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), an independent UK body responsible for upholding information rights, defines personal data. This information can be used alone or in combination with other data to identify you. Personal data can include:

• Your name
• Date of birth
• Email address
• Home address
• Phone number
• Credit card
• Debit card

There is also personal data considered sensitive and requiring extra protection, called special category data. This includes:

• Personal data concerning health, such as medical records
• Sexual orientation
• Genetic data

Also, the ICO broadly defines personal data breaches as security incidents which affect the availability, confidentiality or integrity of personal data. This could occur due to accidental or deliberate causes.

Please speak to our team of advisors if you would like to discuss the steps you could take should a Universal Credit data breach occur and compromise your personal data.

Are You Eligible To Claim Compensation?

There are data protection laws in place that control the use and storage of both digital and physical personal data. Also, they create an avenue for people harmed by a personal data breach to seek compensation. These are laid out by:

• The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), and
• The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).

The UK GDPR outlines the rules data controllers, and processors must comply with when handling personal data. Data controllers are the overall decision-makers responsible for deciding the purpose and means of processing personal data. They may then recruit data processors to act on their behalf and follow their instructions.

Not every security incident that causes personal data to be compromised will result in a compensation claim. If the data controller has adhered to data protection laws, but a breach has still occurred, they may not be liable for the harm you are caused.

The criteria of eligibility that must be met for you to pursue a personal data breach compensation claim are as follows:

• Firstly, the data controller or processor failed to adhere to data protection laws laid out by the UK GDPR and the DPA.
• This results in a breach involving your personal data.
• This causes you to suffer financial losses or psychological harm.

If you would like insight into whether you may have valid grounds to make a personal data breach claim, please get in contact with our team of advisors.

Central Government Data Security Incident Statistics

All data controllers that suffer a data breach infringing on the rights of data subjects must report these to the ICO within 72 hours of discovery. The ICO then compiles all reported data security incidents across all sectors and publishes them as statistics on its website. From these figures, we can see that Central Government reported:

• From Qtr 2 of 2019 to Qtr 2 of 2022, there were 1,152 incidents.
• 1,100 happened due to non-cyber causes.
• 52 happened due to cyber causes.
• Data posted or faxed to the incorrect recipient is responsible for 345 of the incidents.

What Action Could I Take Should A Universal Credit Data Breach Occur?

An organisation may contact you to notify you that a data breach has occurred involving your personal information. They are expected to do this without undue delay if it puts your rights and freedoms at risk.

Alternatively, you may not have been notified but suspect a breach has taken place. Either way, we will provide some steps you can take below:

• Firstly, you can contact the data controller directly and ask about the data breach.
• Then, in the event that you receive an unsatisfactory response, you could escalate the complaint.
• You may want to make a complaint to the ICO. It is important to note that they cannot award compensation, however, any findings from an investigation could provide useful evidence to support a claim.
• Additionally, seek legal advice. Our team of advisors are available all day, every day, to provide confidential legal advice.

Contact us to find out what you could do if a Universal Credit data breach were to occur and compromise your personal information.

Compensation For A Data Protection Breach

If you are interested in claiming compensation for a data protection breach, you may be wondering how much you could receive. Since every claim is unique, and compensation is awarded based on the individual circumstances of each case, we can’t provide an average data breach compensation amount.

However, you could get an idea of what you could receive in terms of non-material damage compensation through the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). Non-material damage covers the psychological effects you suffered because of the breach. For example, you could experience anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder.

The JCG provides solicitors with guideline compensation awards to help them value this head of claim. Below, you can find some data breach compensation examples from the JCG.

Your data breach compensation amount could also include material damage compensation. This addresses the financial losses you suffer as a result of the breach. For example, this could include:

• Purchases made on your credit card
• Damage to your credit score
• Withdrawals from your account
• Debt accrued in your name

For more information on claiming compensation for a data protection breach, get in touch with our team.

For Advice If A Universal Credit Data Breach Occurs And Involves Your Personal Data, Call Our Team

Although not a legal requirement, using a solicitor to bring forward a claim could provide benefits, as they will be experienced with the claims process. Additionally, opting for a No Win No Fee data breach solicitor operating under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) will commonly mean:

• There will be no payments to be made for the services of your solicitor upfront, during the claim or if your claim is unsuccessful.
• If your personal data breach claim is successful, a No Win No Fee solicitor can take a small percentage of the compensation, which is often called a success fee. The law caps this amount.

If you would like to discuss the action you could take should a Universal Credit data breach occur and involve your personal data, please contact one of our advisors.

Find out whether you could be eligible to receive data breach compensation by:

• Calling us on 0800 073 8804
• Filling out our online form to contact us
• Using the live support feature at the bottom of this page

Data Breach Claim Resources

Please take a look at further guides from our website:

• Unauthorised Access To Patient Medical Records UK – Can I Claim Compensation?
• My Data Has Been Breached, What Can I Do?
• My Sort Code And Account Number Have Been Disclosed In A Data Breach – Can I Claim?

Explore the external links below to learn more:

• ICO – The right to object to the use of your data
• GOV.UK – Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
• GOV.UK – Data protection

Thank you for reading this article on the steps you could take should a Universal Credit data breach occur and compromise your personal information.