A personal data breach can be a source of considerable stress, especially when the data exposed is particularly sensitive. This guide examines who could be eligible to claim for a care worker data breach. We explain what a data breach is, and how organisations have legal obligations under relevant legislation.
In addition to explaining the eligibility criteria, you also see examples of data breaches that could be caused by a care provider failing to uphold their obligations under data protection law.
Included in this guide is an explanation of how data breach compensation figures are reached for the two different types of damage, with a compensation table to show guideline compensation values.
At the end of our guide, we examine the No Win No Fee agreement offered by our panel of specialist data breach solicitors, including all the advantages this brings should you choose to instruct a solicitor under such a contract.
You can read our data breach FAQs guide for further information. You can also put any questions you may have after reading our guide to our advisory team. In addition to answering your questions, the team can assess your eligibility to claim for free. Get in touch today via the following contact details:
- Call the team on 0161 696 9685.
- You can also contact us through our website.
- Finally, you can use the live chat button at the bottom of the page.
Browse Our Guide
- When Could You Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach?
- How Could A Care Worker Data Breach Occur?
- What Happens If Information Is Leaked In Health And Social Care?
- Payouts Following A Successful Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach
- How To Get Help Claiming On A No Win No Fee Basis
- Learn More About Making A Claim For A Personal Data Breach
When Could You Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach?
There are 3 relevant parties when examining data breaches. The living identifiable individual to whom the personal data relates is referred to as a data subject. The organisation that decides when and how your data is to be processed is known as the data controller. A data processor is an external organisation that has been contracted to process data on the controller’s behalf. Controllers may choose to process data themselves.
Personal data is any information that may be used to identify a living individual, either directly or indirectly. Care homes or in-house providers hold a range of personal data on care recipients, including names, contact information, and addresses relating to both the care recipient and their families. Care providers also hold more sensitive data, particularly health data, to provide the best standard of care to their recipients. This more sensitive personal information is known as special category data.
A personal data breach is defined by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a security incident that affects the availability, integrity or confidentiality of personal data.
Data controllers and processors both have legal obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) to protect the personal data they hold and process.
Eligibility Criteria to Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach
In this instance, the care company or organisation will be seen as the data controller. They may choose to process the personal data they collect themselves or contract a data processor. A care worker who works for the care provider will need to be trained in data awareness to ensure that they handle personal data in accordance with data protection law. Not all data breaches by a care worker will mean a claim is possible.
These eligibility criteria must be satisfied in order to make a claim for a care worker data breach:
- The data controller or processor did not comply with data protection laws; for example, they failed to train their staff on data security.
- This led to a care worker breaching your personal data, for example, disclosing personal data relating to your health to a person who had no authority to know such information.
- As a result of this breach, you suffered financial losses, psychiatric injury or both.
A claim also needs to be made within the relevant time limit. This is usually 6 years for a data breach.
For further guidance on the eligibility criteria or for a free consultation on your potential claim’s validity, talk to our advisors using the contact details provided above.
How Could A Care Worker Data Breach Occur?
There are a number of different circumstances in which you could claim for a care worker data breach. We have set out a few example scenarios in this section to illustrate this. Possible examples of a care worker data breach include:
- A care worker sent an email containing care recipients’ details to the wrong email address, allowing unauthorised access to their personal data.
- A care worker lost a memory stick containing the financial records of multiple residents and staff.
- Inadequate physical security procedures meant copies of documents were left unsecured in the care worker’s office. Subsequently, these documents were lost, and unauthorised persons gained access to the personal data of care at home recipients.
There are other circumstances where you could make a personal data breach claim against a care provider. However, in order to have an eligible claim, it must be proven that data protection law was not followed, leading to a breach of personal data that caused you financial or mental harm. To find out if your potential claim is valid, use the contact details below to speak to one of our advisors.
What Happens If Information Is Leaked In Health And Social Care?
By their very nature, care providers hold some highly sensitive data, particularly regarding the health of care recipients. Care providers can also hold bank and credit card information for billing purposes, as well as the contact information and addresses of care recipients and their families.
If this data is exposed during a breach, there can be significant adverse consequences. Health information could be exposed, leading to a medical data breach claim.
We will examine a potential payout following a successful claim for a care worker data breach in the next section. To ask any questions you may have regarding the data breach claims process, speak to an advisor today.
Payouts Following A Successful Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach
As we briefly touched on in the introduction, two types of damage can be compensated following a successful claim for a care worker data breach. The financial consequences of a personal data breach are classed as material damage, which will be covered further down the guide. The psychological distress and anxiety due to a data breach are known as non-material damage.
One of the many tasks solicitors from our panel can assist you with is the calculation of a potential compensation figure. The legal team assigned this task can refer to any medical evidence showing you suffered psychological distress alongside the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).
The JCG is a detailed publication that sets out the guideline award brackets for a multitude of different types of harm. We have used the psychological harm entries from the JCG in our table of non-material damage, which you can view here.
Compensation Table
We would like to emphasise that this table is intended to provide guidance only. The first table entry is not a JCG bracket.
| Type of Harm | Severity | Compensation Guideline | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very severe damage to mental health with substantial financial damage | Very Severe | Up to £250,000+ | The data subject will have experienced very severe psychological injury and suffered significant material damage. |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | Severe (a) | £66,920 to £141,240 | Severe problems across multiple life aspects. |
| Moderately Severe (b) | £23,270 to £66,920 | Significant problems across multiple areas of life but a much better prognosis. | |
| Moderate (c) | £7,150 to £23,270 | Marked improvement in the injured person's condition with a good prognosis. | |
| Less Severe (d) | £1,880 to £7,150 | Factors such the effect on sleep and daily activity will be considered. | |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | Severe (a) | £73,050 to £122,850 | Permanent effects that prevent any undertaking of work or functioning at the pre trauma level. Severe impacts across all areas of life. |
| Moderately Severe (b) | £28,250 to £73,050 | Significant disability for foreseeable future, some recovery with professional help. | |
| Moderate (c) | £9,980 to £28,250 | A large scale recovery will have taken place and any continuing affects will not be severely disabling. | |
| Less Severe (d) | £4,820 to £9,980 | Virtual recovery by two years with only minor persisting symptoms. |
Claim Material Damage For a Care Worker Data Breach
The financial impacts of a data breach, known as material damage, can be quite severe. We have listed some possible examples here:
- You could experience a loss of earnings if you have to take time off work due to psychological distress.
- Counselling and therapy costs as professional help are needed to help you recover.
Since data breach claims are valued on a case-by-case basis, this section is intended to act as guidance only. Our advisors can provide a more detailed estimate of the potential value of your claim for a care worker data breach. Contact us today using the contact information below.
How To Get Help Claiming On A No Win No Fee Basis
Contact our advisory team today for no cost assessment of your eligibility to claim. If the team decide you have valid grounds to proceed, they could connect you with one of the highly experienced data breach solicitors from our panel of legal experts.
The solicitors on our panel can offer their services on a No Win No Fee basis, under a contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). The CFA gives claimants some distinct benefits, including:
- You will not pay a fee for the solicitor to start work on your claim.
- There will similarly be no fees for this work during the claims process itself.
- Lastly, you will not be liable for any fees should the claim fail.
Should your claim be successful, you will receive a data breach compensation payout. A percentage of this payout will be taken as the solicitor’s success fee. Since success fees are subject to a legally binding cap, you will get to keep the majority of any compensation award you receive.
To get your eligibility to claim for a care worker data breach assessed or to ask any questions you may have regarding the data breach claims process, talk to one of our dedicated advisors today. You can reach the team at any time using the contact details provided here:
- Call the team on 0161 696 9685.
- You can also contact us through our website.
- Finally, you can use the live chat button at the bottom of the page.
Learn More About Making A Claim For A Personal Data Breach
You can read more of our data breach claim guides here:
- A care home could hold substantial data regarding the health of residents. You can read our guide to claiming for breaches of medical data here.
- Find out about claiming compensation for a medication data breach with this guide.
- Learn the eliglbity criteria to make a hospital data breach claim and find out how compensation is calculated.
We have also provided some external resources that may be of some assistance to you:
- Access mental health support through the NHS.
- If you need to take time off work following a data breach, you may be eligible to receive Statutory Sick Pay. You can read more on the Government website.
- You can read the guidance on data breaches from the National Cyber Security Centre here.
Thank you for reading our guide to making a claim for a care worker data breach. Our advisors are available to answer any questions you may have and assess your eligibility to claim. Get in touch today using the contact information provided above.