Care and health organisations have a duty by law to protect their patients’ data. If they do not adhere to these laws, then a patient’s personal information could be compromised. If you are a care recipient who is suffering financial and/or emotional damage because your personal information was exposed, you may be able to start a claim for a care worker data breach.
We first look at how successful care worker data breach claims are valued and what possible compensation amounts could be awarded. We then discuss the data breach claims eligibility criteria and look at what data protection laws outline how organisations must protect your personal information.
Following this, we discuss how a care worker could compromise your personal information as a patient and how this could impact you. Furthermore, we discuss what evidence you can keep hold of to prove a personal data breach claim.
If you are eligible to start a healthcare data breach claim, you could be connected with one of our No Win No Fee data breach solicitors. At the end of this guide, we explain how No Win No Fee agreements work and how they can benefit you.
Our advisors can talk to you for free about your circumstances. Our contact details are accessible 24/7 should you wish to have a chat with us at any time about how to potentially claim compensation:
- Call 0800 073 8801.
- Start a claim online by completing our form.
- Message our live support chat.
Jump To A Section
- What Could You Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach?
- Do You Have The Right To Claim Compensation?
- How Could A Care Worker Data Breach Impact You?
- Evidence Supporting Data Breach Claims
- Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
- Discover More About Making A Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach
What Could You Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach?
If a claim for a care worker data breach is successful, compensation for both non-material and material damage could be awarded. Data breach compensation could be awarded for both types of damage or just one.
Non-material damage is the psychiatric harm that has been suffered due to a data breach. This includes where mental health conditions have either become worse or developed. For example, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, stress and anxiety.
Any medical evidence you have can be referred to along with the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) while your non-material damage is being calculated. The JCG offers guideline compensation values for different types of psychological injuries.
Compensation Table
In the table below, we have included the JCG’s guideline compensation values for some psychiatric injuries (the first line is not from the JCG).
It is important to remember that since all of these compensation values are guidelines, the amount of compensation that could be awarded for your potential data breach claim cannot be guaranteed.
Injury | Severity | Guideline compensation figures | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Very severe damage to mental health with substantial financial damage | Serious | Up to £250,000+ | An award for sustaining very serious mental health damage and significant financial losses like a loss of earnings. |
Psychiatric damage | Severe (a) | £66,920 to £141,240 | There will be marked problems in various areas of the person's life, such as work and relationships with close ones. The prognosis is also very poor. |
Moderately severe (b) | £23,270 to £66,920 | There will be significant problems in various areas of the person's life such as above, but with a more optimistic prognosis. | |
Moderate (c) | £7,150 to £23,270 | While there will be problems in various areas of the person's life, a marked improvement by trial will be made with a good prognosis. | |
Less severe (d) | £1,880 to £7,150 | How long the period of disability is and the extent to which daily activities and sleep are affected is considered. | |
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | Severe (a) | £73,050 to £122,850 | All aspects of the person's life will be impacted. These impacts will be permanent and prevent the person from working or functioning close to the pre-trauma level. |
Moderately severe (b) | £28,250 to £73,050 | The person will have some recovery from professional help, leading to a better prognosis than above. However, the impacts will still lead to significant disability for at least the foreseeable future. | |
Moderate (c) | £9,980 to £28,250 | Any lasting impacts are not grossly disabling because the personal will largely recover. | |
Less severe (d) | £4,820 to £9,980 | A virtual full recovery will be made within 1-2 years and only minor impacts will persist longer than this time. |
Material Damage
Material damage is the monetary losses that have been suffered due to a data breach. This includes any lost earnings from missing work due to the effects of non-material damage.
If you can show proof of your material damage, you have the best chance of receiving compensation. So, to prove how a data breach has affected you financially, please keep any receipts, bank statements, invoices, and payslips you have.
Contact us today to find out more about how much data breach compensation you could claim.
Do You Have The Right To Claim Compensation?
Data controllers and data processors must ensure that your personal data is processed, handled, and stored safely. The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) are the laws that outline data processing legal obligations.
Data controllers are organisations or individuals who determine how and why your data is processed. They can either process your data themselves or hire an external third party (a data processor) to do so. The company for which the care worker works will be classed as the data controller and will be vicariously liable for its employees.
Wrongful conduct occurs when data controllers or processors fail to comply with their duties outlined in the UK GDPR and the DPA. Occasionally, wrongful conduct can cause personal data breaches.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) defines a personal data breach as an incident of security that compromises the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of one’s personal information. The ICO is an independent UK body that upholds information rights.
The UK GDPR also establishes, under Article 82, when someone could be eligible to make a data breach claim. As such, the criteria are:
- The organisation offering the carer services did not adhere to the duties outlined under data protection legislation. For example, they did not train their employees on data awareness.
- As a result, there was a personal data breach that compromised your personal data. For example, due to the care worker not receiving sufficient training on how to protect personal data, they disclosed personal information about you to an unauthorised party.
- You have suffered emotional and/or financial damage because of the breach.
If you can prove that you have experienced the above criteria, please contact us. Our advisors can determine whether you are eligible to start a care worker data breach claim.
Time Limits
The general claims time limit to initiate legal proceedings for data breaches is 6 years. However, there are several exceptions to this rule.
If you do not initiate legal proceedings within the above limitation period, then your data breach claim may no longer be valid. Thus, it is important to speak to us as soon as possible.
How Could A Care Worker Data Breach Impact You?
Personal data is any information that can reveal your identity. Types of personal data include your banking details, full name, and your postal address. Similarly, special category data is personal data that is more sensitive and, therefore, requires further protection. Types of special category data include biometric data, genetic data, and data concerning your health. Care workers have access to personal/special category data.
Here are some examples of how healthcare data breaches could occur and how it could affect a patient:
- If a care organisation has a poor cyber security system in place, such as no firewalls or a weak password, then the organisation could become subject to ransomware attacks. This could lead to hackers getting access to sensitive data, causing anxiety for patients.
- A care worker could send an email to the wrong email address in a human error that contained a patient’s data, such as data concerning their health. This could cause the patient distress.
- If a care worker does not lock their filing cabinets, paperwork containing personal data about patients, such as their credit card details, could be stolen, causing patients to suffer financial harm.
If you are a patient and your personal information has been involved in a data breach, don’t hesitate to contact us today. Our advisors could potentially give you advice about how to claim for a care worker data breach.
Evidence Supporting Data Breach Claims
If you are eligible to start a care worker data breach claim, it is essential to keep hold of as much evidence as possible. Your evidence should show how the organisation did not fulfil their duties as outlined under data protection legislation and how you have been affected by a data breach because of this.
So, the best types of evidence to keep hold of are:
- Evidence of correspondence between the responsible organisation and yourself. You should have received a notification letter from the responsible organisation without undue delay if your rights and freedom were put at risk in a data breach. As well as having a duty to inform you, the responsible organisation also has a duty to inform the ICO within 72 hours of knowing that a data breach has occurred. You can keep other letters and emails in addition to the notification letter.
- Investigation findings from the ICO. You can make a report to the ICO about the data breach yourself if the correspondence from the responsible organisation has been inadequate. They may choose to investigate your report despite there being no obligation to do so. If they do, you can use their findings as evidence.
- Your medical reports. For example, getting copies of your medical records from your GP that show what emotional harm you have suffered as a result of the breach.
- Your financial records. For example, payslips, bank statements, receipts or invoices that can prove what financial harm you have suffered as a result of the data breach.
Our advisors can tell you more about how claims for data breaches can be proven.
Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
If you wish to claim for a care worker data breach with a No Win No Fee solicitor, contact us. Our advisors can determine whether you have a valid data breach compensation claim and could potentially connect you with our specialist solicitors. Our solicitors can offer a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
It benefits you to be represented by one of our solicitors under a CFA because you will not have to pay if your claim is not successful.
A success fee will be deducted from your compensation instead if your claim is successful. As such, there are still no fees that have to be paid directly out of your pocket. A success fee is a percentage. To ensure that you keep the majority of your compensation, the maximum success fee that can be deducted is legally capped.
Get In Touch With Our Team Today
If you are a care recipient who is suffering financial and/or emotional harm because a care company failed to follow data protection laws, get in touch with us. Our advisors may be able to connect you to a No Win No Fee data breach solicitor who can potentially begin your care worker data breach claim. Our services are open 24/7. So, don’t hesitate if you have any questions at all:
- Call 0800 073 8801.
- Start a claim online by completing our form.
- Message our live support chat.
Discover More About Making A Claim For A Care Worker Data Breach
View our similar data breach claims guides here:
- Read about foster care data breach claims.
- Find out what rights you have if you’re making a private healthcare medical data breach claim.
- Advice on whether you can begin the compensation claims process if an organisation has misused your data.
Moreover, these external pages may provide you with useful information:
- Gov.UK – find out what rights for data subjects are in place regarding data protection.
- NHS – how to find the closest mental health services to you if you want support.
- Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – information on whether organisations need your consent in order to use personal information.
Thank you for reading our guide on how to claim for a care worker data breach. Our advisors are here to listen to you and give you advice about the claiming process.