‘GDPR’ is short for General Data Protection Regulation (2018). GDPR is an EU regulation which is implemented into English law under the Data Protection Act 2018.

The ICO is an independent authority upholding information rights in the public interest. The ICO can investigate data breaches and impose fines on organisations which do not conform to the requirements of the Data Protection Act. Although the ICO cannot award individuals  compensation, you have the right to ask the ICO to investigate an organisation which you suspect has breached data protection law. A positive finding by the ICO can then be used to support a data breach compensation claim.

Our expert team of Data Breach Solicitors will advise you if you have a valid data breach claim. If you think that your personal data may have been breached, please fill in the short questionnaire on our contact page and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Anybody who has suffered loss due to mishandling of personal data, has the right to claim compensation. Claims may be based on financial loss, distress or both and can be brought by an individual or an organisation.

Thanks to the new data protection laws, any organisation can be held accountable for a data breach. This includes local authorities, police forces, businesses and government departments.

The claims procedure can begin when the ICO determine that the company is liable of a data breach. We can help you make a claim against a company even before the breach is reported to the ICO, but we would always recommend this to be the first step.

The amount of financial compensation would depend on the seriousness of the breach and damage and distress caused. As the new data protection legislation has only recently come into force, there are no guidelines setting or limiting compensation awards. The minimum level of damages for more minor breaches would be between £750 to £1,000 however this figure could be much higher depending on the severity of the breach and the impact it has on you.

Currently you can claim compensation if the data breach has happened within the last six years.

The most likely outcome is a settlement payment from the offending party so in most cases you will not need to attend court.

DRM Legal will always consult specialised counsel in more complex cases and we will keep you well informed of any developments in your case.

DRM Legal will not charge you for any initial advice and we are happy to act for you on a no win- no fee basis. This means if your claim does not succeed we will not charge you for our work.