Restrictions
Before you make a claim however, you have to distinguish between damage and distress - which can be a very tricky point and distress can be a very nebulous thing. Under the UK GDPR, you can claim compensation for non-material damage (including distress) without the restriction to special purposes. The special purposes exemption relates to different aspects of data protection law, not compensation claims.
Find out your legal rights on a faulty product in less than a minute.
Try our Faulty Goods Rights Checker free, here on this site →How to Claim Compensation
If the organisation offers you compensation, then everything can be settled easily. If you can't reach an agreement however, you'll need to take them to court (although most organisations would prefer to pay a small amount than face the glare of bad publicity). You can either specify the amount of compensation you want the court to award you (known as "liquidated damages"), or leave the decision up to the judge ("unliquidated damages"). Your claim should also contain an application that demands the organisation remedy the breach in the Act that caused the damage in the first place.
Generally, if your claim is for less than £10,000, the court will allocate the case to the small claims track, which means you won't need to use a solicitor; you can handle the case yourself.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
The Amount of Compensation
The amount of compensation is up to the judge; the Act offers no guidelines for compensation levels. This means he has to take a number of things into account, including the extent of the breach and its effect on you.
Even in the case of liquidated, or specified damages, where the sum you've stated is simply the same as the amount you've lost because of the organisation's actions, the judge might disallow part of your claim. He can also award you a lesser amount than you asked for, or possibly even nothing at all.
Getting Your Money
In most instances however, if an organisation is found to have done wrong and you've proved damage and distress, you'll receive at least some money in compensation and the organisation will pay relatively promptly.
If they don't however, or they refuse or can't pay, that leaves them in breach of the court. This means that you have to return to court to learn how you can enforce the judgement. This might even involve new proceedings, which can end up being more time-consuming than the amount is worth.
As an extreme measure, consider starting bankruptcy proceedings against the organisation if they refuse to pay. This course of action often achieves very quick results, but shouldn't be taken hastily.
Both myself and my husband was involved in a non fault accident in 2016 ,we both went through separate claims for injury , my husband is ans has cohersely controlled all my finances, and has been financially as well as emotionally and physically abusing me since 2010, due to having no control of my finances I still live with him effectively I'm stuck. Last year he was arrested for injuring me like a fool I dropped all charges as he would lose his job he has a very good job working with vulnerable adults, anyway to get back to my story , I was paid my claim for the accident in Nov 2017, as .y situation is so bad I didn't tell him and used it to pay off 2 debts , his claim has still not been settled as he is fighting for more money , basically the claim solicitors breached data protection and told him my claim was settled , when it was settled and for how much, and he is absoloutey fuming, he has made my life hell since finding out and is demanding money , I have complained to the solicitors for doing this all they did was apologise , can anyone help as to what my rights are they have put me in a terrible position , thank you x
Thank you
Eon, informed my old landlady of a outstanding dept i had with them ( that was for a old property i lived in) it caused me ALOT of stress abd worry and not only do the landlords know about it so do others as they have spread the word. Do i have a claim?
Many thanks
Emma
What options do I have with regards to compensation and how much should I pursue if the authority accept they have been negligent and breached my confidentiality?
Thanks.
With regard to compensation, if the claim for compensation relates to stress and/or anxiety, the same threshold for personal injury claims applies so if the injury is valued at less than £1,000 then it will be tracked into the Small Claims track otherwise it will be Fast or Multi Track, which is just a slightly different way the case is progressed.
The government and the ABI (Assoc of British Insurers) would have you believe that a layperson can pursue a claim for compensation without the need for a solicitor, and I would have to agree that some claimants could do the claim themselves, however the majority of people would need some guidance and that it would be best practice to instruct a legal expert in this area. It is also very likely that your opponent will instruct a solicitor so to have equality of arms, it is advisable to use one yourself.
If you have concerns about funding, some solicitors will pursue your claim for you on a Conditional Fee basis (often referred to as a 'No Win No Fee' Agreement) which essentially means that they will defer payment until the case has been settled in your favour and will often pursue the legal charges from the Data Controller (or in this scenario, the losing party).
It has taken the NHS 9 months to investigate but I still feel that I haven't had all the answers I need and want, this is such a long time for something like this to hang over me as an individual and as myself and my partners relationship. Is this worth putting in a claim for? If so any ideas what it might be worth?
Please could you advise.
The child services bury, went to see my daughters father and showed him all the reports for the conference.
My daughters father has no parental rights and his name isnt even on the birth certificate. The social worker even invited him to conference. She breached my data protection
Minutes from the outcome hearing of a dignity at work investigation were lost by the minute taker. Everything that was said was minuted and was highly confidential, personal and sensitive information. I did not get the opportunity to review the minutes before they were lost which was in hand written form. Is it worth making a claim and are there any time constraints.
Thank you
The ombudsman is now investigating this data breach, but who can I report The Housing ombudsman to, is it ICO. ?
My current insurance company cancelled my insurance, we recieved a card from the post man to notify us (my girlffriend and me ) he been here to hand a letter which requires a signature. We weren't expecting a parcel for sure firstly and secondly they sent us a letter which needed a sign. Fine. They never called us to follow up with the no claims discount which I had requested from my previous insurance company. Now the part that makes me frustrated, while I'm trying my best for my current insurance policy not to be cancelled the manager does not sympathise and says I will need to call your insurance company to check if this is correct ! He also says once we have confirmation that this no claims certificate is good he will then have to put me on a new policy. Which means I'm loosing out on my no claims discount and having to take out another insurance policy which i can't afford to as these insurance prices are sky high. So he makes a call to my last insurance company and calls me back saying they wouldn't confirm this with me as I'm in debt with them. Now when I rang up the insurance company that same day they never told me anything about a debt. Didn't send me no letters seeking payment of any sort. Is this a breach ? Thanks in advance
We went to furniture village over a year ago to purchase a mattress. We paid for it and was given a receipt. We had drone problems with the mattress and when I got the receipt out I noticed a name,phone number and address on it that wasn't ours. After a bit of a nightmare regarding the mattress they agreed to a reselection so we ordered another mattress and were given another invoice. I had to call the shop regarding the uplift of my old mattress, and when the guy put my details in he said my name address and phone number was on thousands of invoices!!! I then started receiving phone calls from people assuming I was furniture village. I contacted them and they just ignored me so I directed it to the ico who have told me they have co tacked them and informed them of the breach and actions they need to take to prevent it. I feel that this is not going to help they flouted dpa and we're not bothered. They put my family at risk and causes us so much stress and it feels like nothing has been done
Received a call from IKEA regarding my faulty sofa, only the sofa which I bought was at my exs house (messy end to the relationship) he had managed to get another girl to phone ikea pretending to be me and use my data information to get a replacement sofa! Ikea phoned me as I was the card holder and my information is on their books, only to not know anything about it!! So not only did my ex cause fraud, IKEA allowed someone to use my account!! What can I do?? Many thanks
I wrote on the 2-Mar-17 @ 8:05 PM, my name is Fran. You might have thought my message was a prank or that was it inappropriate, as I mentioned incontinence.
Please accept my apologies, if you were offended.
The only reason I have you such graphic detail was to make it absolutely clear, my Law Centre sent the most highly sensitive information to my neighbors and to make clear the level of embarrassment the breach has caused.
I thought in order for you to appraise my situation and whether there would be a possibility of compensation in my circumstances, was to give you a insight to the extent of what has happened to me.
I was wondering if you might be able to reply to my query please.
Thank you,
Fran.
My local Law Centre are representing me at a DWP ESA Appeal tribunal.
I was waiting for them to send me a copy of the DWP medical assessment and the DWP appeal documents.
This morning, one of my neighbour put a transparent plastic bag through my letterbox, with a sticky label attached saying "Opened by mistake - Mike No 9".
Inside the bag was an envelope, with my name at the top but addressed to No 9 my neighbours house.
Inside the envelope, was my medical assessment and the DWP ESA appeal tribunal documents.
My medical condition is a serious illness, with the extremely embarrassing consequence of 'severe double incontinence'.
Now not only do the resident of No 9 know but soon enough, the gossip will spear to my other neighbours.
I rang the Law Centre, to inform them of this major breach and the solicitor responsible responded with a apathetic "Sorry about that", when I asked what will be done to ensure my data is not breached again, I was given a flippant "I'll just have to be more careful in future".
1. My financial circumstances and income data has been breached and disclosed to my neighbours, as they now know I am an ESA claimant
2. My very serious and highly embarrassing medical condition data has been breached and disclosed to my neighbours, in documents that not only detail my current medical status but also my medical 'History and treatment'
3. My legal affairs, regarding my appeal tribunal data has also been breached and disclosed to my neighbours
4. Unlike disclosures from one organisation to another, which is contained behind their walls and doors - the disclosure to my neighbours, as I have lived here 17 years, I know my neighbours well enough to know this will be the subject of gossip and embarrassment that I will not be able to escape. I see my neighbours everyday and I will have to feel the embarrassment every time I see them, for however many years.
5. Only my Mother knows the full details of my condition, as she is my next of kin, so she knows I almost died and I have undergone several major surgeries. NO OTHER relative or friend knows the full extent of my medical condition i.e. severe double incontinence; as as I stay home the majority of the time, as my condition makes it too difficult to go out and I discourage visitors also. Therefore, I had kept the details of my medical condition totally private and now all my neighbours know.
I cannot see how there would be financial damages in this situation, however, I am sure it is clear I am and will continue to experience extreme distress, that is inescapable, as it is at my home where I live everyday, every time I see my neighbours.
I would like to make sure the solicitors and his employers are made to treat this seriously and acknowledge it it not acceptable and they can't just shrug their shoulders.
Can you advise me whether you think I would have a claim for compensation?
Hope you can help.
Fran.
They then told my children's social worker who went onto tell my ex husband and he never returned them to me after contact.
My employer has destroyed my children's and my lives as I am now in the famply court fighting to get them back.
Any advice would be much appreciated please.
Thank you.
Any advice would be appreciated as Social services have just uttered a 'Sorry!!'
Thanks.
can I claim it and how?
A drunk man crashed into my parked car 3 times and tried to drive off. Neighbours saw him and stopped him, but he was verbally abusive and intimidated them and walked off into the pub across the road. I took pictures of the damage and contacted my insurance company as he wouldn't give me his name when I arrived at the scene. My insurance company agreed I had a claim against him and contacted his insurance company who send him a letter of a claim made against him which also had my personal details on as well as my address. The man who crashed into my parked car used my address that his insurance company gave to him to turn up at my house with another man to threaten me and give me 24 hours to drop the claim. I am a single mother and now he keeps on harassing me. I am so frightened to leave my house in case he's outside which is causing me great stress and I am also very angry at the insurance company for giving him my address which they said they are sorry for it was an error and they won't do it again but it is too late the man has sat outside my house and is harassing me to drop the claim. Can you give me any advice as I want to sue the insurance company for the distress I am still going through because of them giving the man who crashed into my parked car my personal details?
My partner used my phone to contact the automated system at work, there is an option to say whether this is the number to contact you on which he chose no. They continued to contact me even after my partner returned to work, when they did not have permission to use my number as his point of contact. They then handed my number out to another company as his point of contact. The stress they created for me was unbelievable (waking my sleeping son) They are claiming this is not a breach of the Data Protection Act but I feel it is?
Staff members outside my home and my mental health shared in a meeting without my consent, I was sent minutes of the meeting where I read my mental health issues including a suicide attempt, I was struggling with the way the suspension was going and could not see a way forward, I put everything into my job, I was dismissed at the end of the suspension for reasons I fully disagreed with, I appealed but felt the company was to clicky and wanted rid of me as I had previously followed the whistle blowing procedure.
From start to finish I felt completely invaded.
I was recently victim of sim swap fraud. I believe my mobile company and possibly my bank has breached the Data protection act and allowed criminals to obtain my phone number(sim swapped to another device)by calling in pretending to be me, somehow getting past the 'security' questions and asking for the switch. They performed the switch and I believe if I hadn't immediately noticed the lost connection they would have had time to empty my bank account by authorising the transfer to another account. I want to know what exact parts of the Act have been breached and if I am entitled to compensation. I should note that the hackers had requested and had approved a £3000 loan which was in my bank account. So aside from my own actual money they would have removed this fraudulent 'loan' as well.
Where do I stand in making a claim for compensation?
I was not known to Social Services, but they found out who my GP was by unlawfully accessing the SCR and then passed the information to my GP without my knowledge or consent. The GP then referred me for a mental health assessment despite my refusal of consent.
I complained to the police re breach of DPA. In investigating the complaint, police contacted my former work colleague without my knowledge or consent and obtained information about my health and personal life. My former colleague gave no indication that I had a mental illness (because I don't) but the police rejected my complaint on the grounds that they had 'diagnosed' a "mental health condition" and the disclosure was in my 'best interests' (which is again an unlawful decision).
I also complained to my former workplace re breach of DPA as my former colleague had disclosed my confidential information to the police without my consent. She denied disclosing this information, despite it being recorded in the police file.
I also complained to the GP re breach of DPA. It went to the Ombudsman who concluded that I HAD refused consent (contrary to the GP's claims), but the GP had "misunderstood" (despite my repeating my refusal more than a dozen times) and no restorative action was recommended. Furthermore, the GP had also written in my records that I had a history of mental illness when I do not. I have asked the surgery to correct my records (or explain this diagnosis) but they continue to ignore my request. The GMC and NHS England have both tried and failed to secure a response from the surgery.
Thank you for any advice.
This is chan again regarding my 15th April 16th post
Every year my land lord given new contracts and also anyway he charged for bills too. He is messing around me nearly 2 years without shootout this problem the energy company people keep on calling to my mobile and sending letters it made me so frustration because I paid my rent and bills but I am replying and fighting with energy company without reason it's made me so stressful life can I ask compensation from company because they steel all my personal data without my knowledge or my landlord given my all personal datas without my permission ?
My land lord owed big amount of money to one of the energy supplier. I am tenant without my knowledge she transferred the properties energy bill under my name and landlord had a deal with the particular company. After that the energy company start to write to me I have to pay my energy bills, I spoke to them they are always neglecting me to respond proper way they put me on hold some time more than half an hour on hold. I am so distressed because of this the land lord even not taking this as a serious issue finally I am thinking to take a legal action against my land lord and company could you advise me regarding this big headache please!
Chan
I want to ask if I have a claim against my employer. I received a letter with regard to a stage 2 disaplinary hearing detailing my sickness record, it contains private and confidential information relating to my mental illlness, and other health related issues. I have began the grievance proceedure, though I need further advice.
Thanks and kindest regards Annon74
is this a breach of laws and what can I do about it.
thanks for reading.
I filled in all my details and new address.Despite this the council sent confidential letter on progress to my old landlord who in turn started calling me accusing me of applying for benefit on his house even after I left there more than 4 years ago.I am really distressed about this because we are from the same local community and has now told most people about it.I feel I have been let down by council about this for not updating their record about me.
Also they have let me down by letting my old landlord know about my present financial situation.I need your advice on way forward to suing the council about this, Thanks.
My employer breached the DPA on many occasions with regards to medical data. The ICO found them guilty of numerous breaches and my attempts to rectify the situation with my employer over the last year have been unsuccessful as they will not even follow their own company policy of dealing with it. It resulted in me having to move work place as people found out about a medical condition. What time limits do I have to make a claim with regards to reimbursement of solicitors fees paid and compensation for the distress which has affected my health?
Thank you.
have breached my Data protection, then sent private and confidential
paper's from court & childrens social services paperwork to my neigbours
address over and over , I contacted them to tell them about this, but they continued
I finally got them to on admit there mistake.
I am wondering if ican claim compensation for these breaches. ???
Is there a no win no fee organisation that will take on local govement??
The factors and solicitors representing them have been very unhelpful in this matter - we spent multiple hours trying to get them to cooperate with our former solicitors.
Recently, the factor's solicitors registered a NEW Notice of Potential Liability relating to "outstanding charges since our move" - this was done in error as we are fully up to date with the billing. So not only they falsely registered a new NOPL against our property without our knowledge (despite being in touch on a regular basis), they disclosed this false info to the third party (our former solicitors) which can now hinder our negotiation with them.
I believe this is a breach of the Data Protection Act on multiple levels and would appreciate your opinion on whether we have a case. Thanks.
My son attends a Disability day centre, and I had an assessment with them for services and she said her friend a Social worker knew me and was my ex social worker.
A social worker then took it upon herself took a file from work and gave it to this worker to help with my assessment
I was horrified it had all private information in it about everything.my children.health.finances etc.
She aquired me a support worker who then on picking up my son gave me his day file with this assessment in.
She had let this support worker read all my private information and the support worker said it was just in the office free for all to read.
I'm so embarressed and humiliated and angry.
Would I have a case? They are looking into this at present but I see this as a clear breach of data protection since some complete strange now has my full details!
Thanks
This has caused the council to Cancel a new ramp fitting into my home enabling me to get access with my wheelchair in and out of the house independently, at a cost of over £5,000.
The council also sent me a letter giving me my recent blood reports for an allergy (before the doctors told me), the allergy is not related what-so-ever to my spinal injury (hence in a wheelchair).
I am also having to move into a home with easy access (unlike my current one).
Do I have any sort of case against either the Doctors or the Council (for asking for documents which they should have asked permission for first)?
Thank you in advance for any help/advise that you can give.
It's because of the home I was in and the abuse can anyone help me!?
Can i take medirest to court for compensation, if so how do i go about it
Did the council breach the Data protection Act 1998?
Two days passed and I still had not received my order, despite having contacted the customer service team again and being assured once again that they were very sorry for the delay and that they would contact the store who should be in contact with me very shortly. I had come to the conclusion that there must have been some technical error and I wouldnt be receiving my shopping, however that night I received a call from a man who lived at the other side of the city to me, saying that he had received my order mixed in with his, and he was able to contact me because in addition to receiving my food order he also received my order form, which provided him with my personal details, including my full name, full address and contact number.
He told me that he had contacted the customer service team to inform them of what had happened and filed a complaint with them, he then asked if they had been in contact with me as they had informed him they would call me immediately. I told him that they had not and decided to ring them again myself to make a formal complaint, once again the staff apologized and told me that I would hear something soon. This was four days ago and I still havent heard back from the supermarket, and I have since been charged for an order I did not receive.
I'm just wondering what advise you would give me as to what to do next? I cant seem to get them to contact me back, and I cant help but thinking that if they'd responded to my complaint when I originally told them my order was missing, it wouldnt have found its self worked in with my personal details within another customers order, which wasnt due to be delivered for two days after mine anyway?
In jan 2014 we provided my car n her car as px against x1 car at the same garage my gf bought hers.
We returned this purchase within cool off period after x3 failed attempts to terminate this agreement. Police were called and contracts terminated. They even threatened us with there solicitors were looking into the agreement and receiving threating phone calls at 2am
The car finance provider returned to barclays from satander.
When visiting another car sales place we were unable to obtain a settlement figure. My gf details failed security with barclays. The garage called them back and tried my address and her name. This passed security and a figure was obtained.
Therefore barclays have changed a loan to my address details when i entered no financial agreements with anyone, or provided anyone with this information. Why did barclays change this. The only reason i can think of is that the garage had my v5 and passed this information to barclays for????
We also found a completed agreement in the car we returned on test driving. We handed this back to them.
Ive informed barclays and i just obtained generic complaints responce, unable to help and to contact FOS.
FOS advised ICO so i informed these and OFT and Barclays final response for this complaint.
Due to dealing with this garage, the distress i encountered was unreal. I dont want to go into too much detail but i was hospitalised twice and lost approx 6 months work.
No one would listen to me at the time at thought i was going crazy
Therefore barclays should be able to prove data protection breach on their own systems. I did not obtain any finance with barclays or satander or give the garage my details expect my V5.
Why has barclays got my information on their systems.
Do i have a case regarding distress damages. Should i envolve a solicitor?.
Barclays no longer offer finance at this garage anymore
my husband has applied for an injury compensation claim and it turned up that his employer shared more information from his medical records that they should; totally irrelevant illness that could cost my husband's position and reputation.
Shall we proceed on court?
the photos also contained my wifes name and phone number and we only realised it had happened when my wife recieved a call from the man who was given the photos by mistake.. would this be eligible for a claim? they offered the photos for free but we said that wasnt really good enough as it is a pretty serious error
who have lost sensitive data regarding myself and my daughter which they cannot recover, Also i had a recent severe health matter which i had informed them in writing i did not want disclosed to my daughter. this information was passed onto a third party who then told my daughter. I suffer with mental health problems and the hurt and distress this caused me including a breakdown in my relationship with my daughter because of this caused me to start self harming again which i had not done for many years. The council has done an investigation into my complaint and and found there were 17 sensitive contact notes lost which they cannot recover and also that the employee did disclose the information about my health. There is also a 3rd matter which their investigation did not find evidence of. can i claim compensation from the local authority for the loss of data and the breach of trust and how would i go about it. hope someone can help. Thanks
His housing trust are running a parallel civil eviction case and have asked me for evidence of my involvement. I provided details to them, which they have disclosed to the other party - including my full name, date of birth, home address, home telephone number, workplace and employment number. They have accepted that it is a serious breach of data protection and has placed me and my family at considerable risk.
Does this qualify as 'damage and distress'? There are still cases pending against this individual for which I am either the prosecuting officer or the main witness. He will have plenty of motive to harm me, my family or my home if things do not go his way.
I have taken great care over the years to cover my identity and personal information - this has all been undone by a careless disclosure.
I would welcome your advice, and representation if required.
Regards
i have been in dispute with Link Financial about wrong default notices listed on my Call credit score for the period of 4 months in 2006 and 2007.
They have now removed them but i had asked for compensation since this had dramatically effected my credit score for just over 4 years.
they came back to me but did not acknowledge that this was there fault but offered £150.00 for stress and inconvenience. I was happy that the wrong defaults were removed and from information from Call credit only Link Financial can change the rating.
Link Financial were unable to provide an answer as to why the default reappeared for these months.
So to clarify that after speaking with Call Credit the fault lies with Link Finance as only Link Finance can add or remove these reports using Call Credit.
i refused the £150.00
and said i would be looking at going to a small claims court as i felt this was not enough compensation for 4 years of mistakes of there doing.
I have all correspondence from me to them and vicer versa but do not have proof of declined credit applications except one from my bank that were made due to my poor credit rating.
do you think i have a case?
any help and advice would be appreciated
Thank you
Alan
Ask Consumer Rights Expert a question
Ask our editorial team a question and we will reply with our advice. Tell us as much about your situation as you can: the more detail you give, the more useful our answer can be.
You do not need to use your real name. Please do not include your full address, phone number, email address, or the names of other people. We may edit or remove identifying details for privacy and legal reasons.
Comments are moderated before publication.