Social services breaches – compensation advice

Run by local councils, social services provide care and other assistance to many residents in various different forms: from carers for the elderly, to adoption support for children in care. With such an important responsibility to their community, it is vital that social workers provide a high standard of care and support to all the residents they come into contact with. As part of the maintenance of this standard, social services breaches must be prevented.

Social services have a duty, as all data controllers do, to maintain the protection of personal data and, where necessary, to maintain strict confidentiality. However, councils have been known to fail to meet the appropriate data protection standards. It was estimated in a recent report that as many as 700 council data breaches were reported in 2020 alone.

As specialists in data protection law, we have represented clients affected by data breaches caused by local councils and by social services. It is vital that data controllers are held accountable when they fail to observe their duties, and we use our expertise in this area of law to help clients make compensation claims.

The importance of data security within social services

Employees of social services provide support to residents for a range of purposes. One common characteristic of those in receipt of social support or benefits is that they can be vulnerable or disadvantaged.

For example, victims of domestic abuse and children in care often depend upon the local authority for refuge from dangerous situations. In some cases, the insecure position of these residents is such that their locations and identities need to be kept strictly confidential to prevent their former abusers from finding them. It is for reasons such as these that social service breaches can be so serious, and why the impact on the victims can be so substantial.

Recent social services breaches

A number of social services breaches from recent years have demonstrated how severely data security can be endangered by simple errors. For example, in 2020, a data breach at Bristol City Council reportedly involved an error in the delivery of a mass email, with the names and email addresses of children with disabilities being unintentionally disclosed due to a failure to use the blind carbon copy (Bcc) feature. A similar mistake was made at Newcastle City Council in 2017, when an email invitation to a summer party reportedly included an attachment containing the details of over 2,700 children and their adoptive parents.

Social services breaches can involve such basic human error, but this does not mean they can be excused.

Make your compensation claim

Victims of social services breaches may be eligible to claim compensation from the organisations that exposed their personal information. Where data controllers are at fault for failing to keep data secure, they should be held responsible, and we have experience in holding such organisations to account.

Our expert lawyers have extensive experience in data breach claims, having represented victims for privacy matters since 2014, and having won over £1m in damages for data breach claimants to date. If you have been affected by a data breach, we can offer free, no-obligation advice to anyone considering making a claim, and we can even provide No Win, No Fee representation to eligible claimants.