Breaches of children’s personal data represent serious failures of information security, and the parents, guardians, and adults responsible for those children may be able to claim compensation on their behalf for the harm caused. A claim can be brought if this financial or psychological harm results from an organisation’s failure to safeguard your child’s personal data. Many organisations will store and process the personal data of children, including schools, the police, hospitals, and social services. There is a clear obligation under data protection law to ensure any personal information relating to children is subject to adequate safeguards.
The team at Data Breach Claims know that dealing with such incidents can be very challenging. Children are inherently more vulnerable due to a lower awareness of the risks and consequences of having their personal information compromised. With this in mind, our panel of highly experienced data solicitors can ensure not only that the child is adequately protected, but also that their families have the necessary support when claiming on their behalf.
Key Takeaways
- A personal data breach is defined as a security incident that leads to the accidental or unlawful loss, alteration, destruction, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal information.
- Under data protection law, the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018, children’s data requires specific protection due to their increased vulnerability.
- Various organisations work with, care for and safeguard children, including schools, hospitals and social services, and adequate steps must be taken to protect their personal information.
- A data breach compensation claim may be made on a child’s behalf if they experience damage due to a breach of their personal information.
- Data Breach Claims’ panel of expert solicitors deliver their tailored, family-focused legal services on a No Win No Fee basis.
If you would like to share your family’s situation confidentially or get further information on the data breach claims process, please reach out to our advisory team today.
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Browse This Page
- Can I Claim For The Breach Of My Child’s Data?
- Examples Of Children’s Data That Might Be Held
- What Organisations Might Hold A Child’s Personal Data?
- How Might My Child’s Data Be Breached?
- What Can I Do After A Breach Of Children’s Personal Data?
- How Much Compensation If My Child’s Personal Data Has Been Exposed?
- Claim With An Expert Data Breach Solicitor From Our Panel
- Can I Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis?
- Breaches of Children’s Personal Data – Learn More About Claiming
Can I Claim For The Breach Of My Child’s Data?
Yes, you can claim for a breach of your child’s data if it can be shown that an organisation failed to adequately protect their personal information, resulting in a data breach that caused them harm. There are 3 parties that need to be considered with regard to any claim for a breach of personal data:
- Data Controller: A data controller decides how and why data is to be processed. This may be an app developer, a school, or a local authority.
- Data Subject: This refers to a living individual who may be identified from the personal data. In this case, the child themselves.
- Data Processor: An external organisation that processes personal data on the data controller’s behalf, such as a cloud service provider. It should be noted that not every data controller will use an external data processor.
To have a valid claim for a data breach, it needs to be shown that:
- The data controller or processor failed to comply with data protection legislation.
- This failure directly led to the compromise of your child’s personal information.
- Financial losses, psychological distress, or both resulted from the breach. These are referred to as material and non-material damage, respectively.
If your child is under 18, they will not be able to claim on their own behalf. In order to seek compensation, they would either need to wait until they are 18 years of age or use a litigation friend. Any adult who meets the suitability criteria can fulfil this role and manage the claim on the child’s behalf, under the strict requirement of acting in their best interests.
To find out more about claiming for breaches of children’s personal data in your family’s specific circumstances, get in touch with a member of our team today.
Examples Of Children’s Data That Might Be Held
Various forms of children’s data might be held by organisations, including names, parents’ contact information, and educational records. Any information that may be used to identify your child, whether directly or indirectly, amounts to personal data.
Certain types of personal information that are more sensitive in nature are categorised as special category data, requiring a higher standard of protection. This is particularly relevant in healthcare settings, but as we’ll examine below, there are many other examples:
- Information regarding your child’s physical or mental health, such as vaccination records or special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reports.
- Data regarding religious or philosophical beliefs, which may be collected by faith-based schools.
- Genetic data and biometrics. For example, schools and libraries may use fingerprint scanners.
- Support groups and healthcare providers may hold data on your child’s sexual orientation and gender identity.
Additional guidance on the information that may be involved in a personal data breach can be sought from our advisors.
What Organisations Might Hold A Child’s Personal Data?
Schools, healthcare providers, and foster homes are among the most common organisations that might hold a child’s personal data. However, any organisation that collects or stores personal information regarding minors have legal obligations to ensure that it is adequately protected. Personal data regarding your child may also be held by:
- Social services, the police, and the local authorities.
- Educational institutions, including schools and academies.
- After-school clubs.
- Digital platforms, including social media sites, app developers, and online gaming services.
- Charitable and non-profit organisations that work with children or their families.
- Retailers and delivery companies.
To find out more about claiming for breaches of children’s personal data against organisations such as these, or any others for that matter, speak to one of our advisors today.
How Might My Child’s Data Be Breached?
Outdated security software, administrative errors, and unauthorised verbal disclosures are among the main reasons why your child’s data might be breached. Some examples are given below, but remember that breaches of children’s personal data can occur in a wide range of circumstances:
- Wrong address: The school reception posted a letter regarding your child’s SEND support package to the wrong address because their records were not updated to reflect current information. This leads to your child developing anxiety, affecting their studies.
- Inadequate training: A lack of data security training meant a care facility failed to destroy child placement records. The files were thrown out with other office recycling rather than being shredded. This resulted in unauthorised persons gaining access to the records, causing considerable distress to the affected children.
- Unauthorised verbal disclosures: A doctor discusses your child’s medical condition with staff who were not part of the care team and had no need to know. This results in lasting emotional distress.
- Insufficient cybersecurity: A social media platform fails to adequately safeguard the personal data of its users, resulting from a failure to regularly update cybersecurity measures. The platform’s failure leads to your child’s personal data being compromised following a hack, causing anxiety and the need to pay for extra security in the family home.
If the exact scenario your child has experienced has not been discussed above, there may still be grounds for a valid claim. Speak to a member of the Data Breach Claims team today. Our advisors are available 24 hours a day, so please don’t hesitate to reach out today.
What Can I Do After A Breach Of Children’s Personal Data?
After a breach of children’s personal data, you can contact a legal professional, ensure your child’s mental health is supported, and request that the organisation responsible take all necessary remedial action.
All of us at Data Breach Claims know that any harm to a child can cause a considerable amount of distress to both them and their families. So, we’ve offered some step-by-step guidance here on how to respond to a data breach incident to make things as simple as possible.
Get Psychological Support
One of the first steps to take is to ensure that your child receives any necessary mental health care if they are experiencing emotional distress following the breach. We should also point out that, as a parent or guardian, this can be a very stressful and worrying time for you as well.
By ensuring all affected persons get the necessary help from a trained psychiatrist, not only is everyone’s wellbeing protected, but the formal diagnosis and treatment records will be very helpful in detailing the harm suffered. This can serve as valuable evidence when pursuing data breach compensation on your child’s behalf.
Report The Incident
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) provides guidance on how to make a data protection complaint on their website. It is not necessary to do so, but speaking with the responsible organisation can outline the circumstances of the data breach and how it has affected your child’s personal information. If your family doesn’t receive an adequate response, you can raise a complaint with the ICO. This should be done within 3 months of the last meaningful correspondence with the organisation.
While the ICO cannot award compensation, it can levy fines as part of its duties as the UK’s independent data regulator. In addition, if the ICO launches an investigation, its findings can be used as evidence to further strengthen any future claim.
Keep Up To Date Records
Tracking the impacts of the personal data breach on your child and family will be of great help. You can also make notes about the impact on your child’s mental health, recording whether they have attended therapy or other treatment. We fully appreciate that this is a highly sensitive area, and no one at Data Breach Claims wants your child (or you, for that matter) to experience any more distress than has already occurred. Any notes you provide to a solicitor from our panel will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Collect Supporting Evidence
As with any type of claim, collecting the right evidence is crucial. Not only do you need to show that the data controller or processor was responsible for any breach of children’s personal data, but you also need to show what the impacts of this were.
The main piece of evidence will be the data breach notification letter from the data controller, informing all affected data subjects that their personal information has been impacted by a security incident. Other proof includes medical records showing what psychiatric distress has been caused, any documents showing financial losses and, as we mentioned above, any findings from the ICO investigation.
Consult A Solicitor
Consulting with one of the expert solicitors from our panel at Data Breach Claims will be a big advantage to you. A legal professional can help you gather the right evidence, as well as ensure important documents are completed and deadlines adhered to. Our panel have years of experience handling claims, just like your family’s, providing a range of dedicated services and support to give peace of mind throughout the legal process.
Adhere To The Time Limits
In most cases, the time limit for data breach claims is 6 years from the date you first became aware of the breach. This isn’t anything to worry about, as our panel has extensive experience in ensuring claims are started within the appropriate time limit.
Talk to our advisors today to learn more about how to respond to any breaches of children’s personal data, and how our panel of dedicated solicitors support families in situations similar to yours. Our advisory team is available 24 hours a day via the contact information given below.
How Much Compensation If My Child’s Personal Data Has Been Exposed?
If your child’s personal data has been exposed or compromised in some other way, how much compensation is awarded will reflect the extent to which they and your family have been harmed. Data breaches can have far-reaching impacts on the mental health of children, which may affect their studies or other areas of life.
Compensation can reflect such nuances, and legal professionals often refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to assist with valuing non-material damage. This document may be used alongside medical evidence because it lists suggested compensation brackets for many forms of harm.
We have included several brackets from the JCG concerning psychological harm. Please note that the top figure was not taken from the JCG.
Compensation Table
Please be aware that this table has been included to serve as guidance only.
| Type of Harm | Guideline Payout Figure | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Very Serious Psychological Distress with Financial Harm | Up to £1,000,000+ | Where there is very serious psychological injury and financial losses, including therapy, the cost of additional home security, or loss of earnings from parents taking time off. |
| General Psychiatric Harm - Severe (a) | £66,920 to £141,240 | Marked problems relating to ability to cope with education, social activity and personal relationships with a very poor prognosis. |
| General Psychiatric Harm - Moderately Severe (b) | £23,270 to £66,920 | Cases with more positive prognoses but where substantial problems problems relating to ability to cope with life and relationships. |
| General Psychiatric Harm - Moderate (c) | £7,150 to £23,270 | Significant improvement to overall condition with a good prognosis. |
| General Psychiatric Harm - Less Severe (d) | £1,880 to £7,150 | Factors such as the impact on sleep, daily activity and length of time affected will be considered. |
| PTSD - Severe (a) | £73,050 to £122,850 | Permanent, bad effects across all aspects of life preventing anything close to pre-trauma levels of functioning. |
| PTSD - Moderately Severe (b) | £28,250 to £73,050 | A better prognosis but with substantial long term disability. |
| PTSD - Moderate (c) | £9,980 to £28,250 | Cases where there has been a large scale recovery with no grossly disabling continuing effects. |
| PTSD - Less Severe (d) | £4,820 to £9,980 | Virtual recovery within 2 years. |
Other Damages You Could Claim After A Data Breach
Other damages you could claim after a data breach affecting your child are for the financial harm caused to both you and your child. This material damage can be significant, depending on the severity of the breach. We have given a few such examples here:
- Lost earnings due to any time taken off work to support and care for your child.
- Therapy, counselling and other mental health support that your child needs because of the breach.
- Security installations at your home if the family address has been revealed. This could include a video doorbell, CCTV cameras, additional locks and alarm systems.
- In severe cases, the cost of a full relocation could be reimbursed if the child has been put in danger by the exposure of their personal information.
To reiterate, sufficient evidence of any costs incurred will need to be presented. Your payslips, receipts for any security purchases, bills for counselling, and any documents from a relocation can all be used.
Please get in touch for further guidance on data breach compensation and to share your family’s situation confidentially.
We Can Help With Your Claim
Our team of specialist advisors are ready to assist you with your data breach claim
Claim With An Expert Data Breach Solicitor From Our Panel
To check if you could claim with an expert data breach solicitor from our panel for any breaches of children’s personal data, simply use the contact information given below. Our advisors can offer additional guidance on the claims process and provide a quick, no-obligation eligibility assessment in as little as a few minutes.
If your child’s case does meet the criteria, and you choose to proceed, you’ll be connected with a highly experienced data breach legal representative from our panel of solicitors. They have decades of experience dealing with every type of claim you can imagine, with a proven track record of success and a long list of satisfied clients. We’ve set out just some of the ways in which the solicitors on our panel support claimants and their families:
- Connecting you and your child with the right psychiatry professionals to ensure you both get the mental health therapy and support that you need.
- Assisting with getting evidence together, such as copies of your child’s medical records or the findings of any ICO investigation.
- Helping you to get all the required paperwork completed and submitted on time.
- Keeping your family informed of the claim’s progress and explaining all the tricky terminology. You can see our legal glossary for more help in this regard.
- Communicating with the defendants and ensuring there are regular updates on how the case is progressing.
- Calculating a compensation figure, paying attention to both material and non-material damage.
- Negotiating with the defendants on your behalf.
Can I Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis?
Yes, you can claim on a No Win No Fee basis with our panel of solicitors, under a particular type of contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement or “CFA.” A CFA ensures claimants do not have to pay any service fees to the solicitor, both at the start of and during the claim. This type of No Win No Fee contract also means that no service fees are charged if a claim is lost.
If your child’s claim is successful, then the solicitor will take a fee from the compensation. This rather aptly named “success fee” is charged as a percentage, legally capped by The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013. What all this adds to is the very simple fact that by choosing to begin a claim with one of the solicitors on our expert panel, your family will benefit most from the compensation.
Contact Us Today For Free Legal Advice
You can reach one of our friendly advisors at any time to inquire about claiming for a breach of a child’s personal data. Whether the child is your own or one you are responsible for, our advisors aim to make the process of finding out whether you can claim as straightforward as possible.
Get a free eligibility check by using any of the contact details given here:
- Call our 24-hour helpline on 020 8050 6279.
- You may also contact us online, and an advisor will get back to you.
- Or you can click the live chat button in the bottom corner of your screen now.
Breaches of Children’s Personal Data – Learn More About Claiming
More personal data breach claims guides can be found on our website:
- Read further on what to do if your data has been breached with this guide.
- Learn more about claiming for student data breach and what the impacts of such an incident can be.
- Find out about claiming if your personal data was sent to a neighbour by mistake.
We’ve also provided a few external resources to give you some additional guidance:
- Read the NHS guidance on anxiety, fear and panic, and find out where to access services and support.
- Access the guidance on data breaches, aimed at individuals and families, from the National Cyber Security Centre.
- See the latest action taken by the ICO on their website.
Thank you for taking the time to read our guide seeking compensation for breaches of children’s personal data.