We go to the gym to improve our physical fitness and mental well-being. Notably, the gym offers a space for people to engage with a shared interest and a consistent environment to meet new people. So, if you have engaged with a gym — a space meant to benefit you eclectically — and you suffer a personal data breach involving your personal trainer, it can be deeply upsetting. However, you could be entitled to compensation for your mental injury and/or financial harm. To make a personal trainer data breach claim, you need to gather as much evidence as you can of any psychological harm you have experienced, as well as any proof of financial losses you have incurred and secure yourself legal representation.
We can represent you. If you want to work with a panel of solicitors who genuinely care about the outcome of your claim and prioritise client wellbeing above all else, Data Breach Claims may be the legal representation for you. Our panel will also offer you a No Win No Fee funding option, as they believe in accessible legal support and financial transparency throughout the claims process. Get in touch with us today using the contact information below if you’d like to discuss working with compassionate and experienced legal professionals:
We Can Help With Your Claim
Our team of specialist advisors are ready to assist you with your data breach claim
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I Make A Personal Trainer Data Breach Claim?
- What Information Could Be Involved In A Personal Trainer Data Breach?
- How Might A Personal Trainer Breach My Data?
- What Compensation Can I Get For A Personal Trainer Data Breach?
- What Do I Need To Claim For A Personal Trainer Data Breach?
- How We Can Help With Personal Trainer Data Breach Claims
- More Information
Can I Make A Personal Trainer Data Breach Claim?
Yes, you can make a personal trainer data breach claim if you can prove that your trainer breached your personal data and you suffered harm as a result.
Let us be clearer: personal data is any piece of information that could directly identify you, or that, in combination with other information, could do so. The most important thing we want you to know is that any organisation that processes your personal data must comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). Consequently, these laws place responsibilities on data controllers and data processors to safeguard your personal information. Notably, they must keep your personal information safe throughout every phase, ranging from storage to deletion.
A data controller is the party that decides how and when to process personal data and can process the data themselves if they don’t outsource the task to a data processor. The data processor is the party that processes personal data on behalf of the data controller. In this instance, the personal trainer is the data controller because they determine the purposes and means of processing their clients’ personal data.
If your personal trainer (the data controller) fails to comply with the data protection laws, it may result in a personal data breach.
More specifically, a personal data breach is any security incident that affects the confidentiality, integrity or availability of personal data. Furthermore, the UK GDPR outlines the following eligibility criteria to seek compensation:
- A data controller or processor failed to adhere to data protection laws
- This failure caused a personal data breach to take place
- Consequently, you suffered financial and/or psychological harm
We’d like to take this opportunity to let you know that personal data breaches can be a complicated area of law, and we strongly advise you to contact our advisors to help walk you through it.
What Information Could Be Involved In A Personal Trainer Data Breach?
A personal trainer data breach could involve a range of information, including, but not limited to, your address, financial information, name and date of birth.
Other information a personal trainer can hold might include:
- Personal phone number
- Email and postal address
- Banking details such as credit card information
Your personal trainer might also have access to something called special category data. This is classed as more sensitive data and consequently requires more careful safeguarding. We’ve provided some examples of special category data below:
- Medical records
- Racial or ethnic origin
- Sexual orientation
The important thing we want you to take away here is that exposing someone’s special category data can have devastating consequences for their life, including their emotional and financial well-being.
Maybe you have already experienced these consequences yourself. If this is the case, we actively encourage you to contact us today so that we can help you as quickly as possible. We’re available 24/7 and always ready to assist.
How Might A Personal Trainer Breach My Data?
A personal trainer could breach your data in several capacities, ranging from losing a device containing personal information about their clients to sending a sensitive internal email to the wrong person.
We’ve provided some more examples of incidents below of how your personal data could be breached:
- Insecure storage: A personal trainer leaves hard copies containing personal client data around the gym, or doesn’t have a password to protect digital information.
- Improper disposal or destruction: A personal trainer fails to dispose of personal data when a client moves to a different gym, for example, they fail to shred paperwork or delete digital files.
- Lost devices: A personal trainer leaves their digital device on the gym floor, which contains sensitive client information, and loses it.
- Sharing without consent: A personal trainer texts their colleague about a medical file belonging to one of their clients without permission.
In any of the above data breach examples, the outcome could result in an unauthorised person gaining access to your personal data.
If your personal trainer has breached your personal data in one of the ways listed above, don’t suffer in silence. Call us today so we can assist you immediately.
What Compensation Can I Get For A Personal Trainer Data Breach?
The compensation you can get for a personal trainer data breach is determined by the material and non-material damage you have suffered. (We discuss the former thoroughly later on in this guide.)
Non-material damage is any psychological harm you have suffered because of your personal trainer data breach. This can include things like anxiety, depression and PTSD.
When it comes to calculating your data breach compensation regarding non-material damage, legal professionals can refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to assist them. The reason for this is that the JCG is a comprehensive list of instances of harm, severities, and suggested compensation brackets.
Our table, which you can find below, contains several carefully sourced examples of psychological harm that you could suffer as a result of experiencing a personal trainer data breach claim.
Please be advised that the first row in our table has not been taken from the JCG, and we kindly request that you use the contents below as a guideline only when considering your own compensation.
| HARM | COMPENSATION GUIDELINE | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| Severe Mental Harm With Financial Losses | Up to £250,000+ | Severe mental harm with financial losses like loss of earnings, relocation costs and private therapy sessions. |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally - Severe (a) | £66,920 - £141,240 | This compensation bracket takes into account the harmed individual's ability to cope with their own life ranging from their prognosis to how they navigate work and education settings. |
| Moderately Severe (b) | £23,270 - £66,920 | Similar issues as above but the prognosis is more optimistic. |
| Moderate (c) | £7,150 - £23,270 | The harmed individual will experience similar problems addressed above but there will have been marked improvement and the prognosis will be positive. |
| Less Severe (d) | £1,880 - £7,150 | In this bracket the length of period of disability will be taken into account. |
| Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - Severe (a) | £73,050 - £122,850 | The individual will suffer from permanent effects that will prevent them from working or at least from functioning at the level they were at before the psychological injury. |
| Moderately Severe (b) | £28,250 - £73,050 | This compensation bracket is different from the content above because the prognosis will be better and some recovery will be possible through utilising professional help. |
| Moderate (c) | £9,980 - £28,250 | The claimant will be largely recovered and any remaining side effects will not be grossly disabling. |
| Less Severe (d) | £4,820 - £9,980 | The harmed individual will have made virtually a full recovery within one to two years. |
Other Damages In Personal Trainer Data Breach Claims
Other damages in personal trainer data breach claims include material damage. Specifically, material damage refers to any money you have lost as a direct result of your personal trainer data breach.
Take a look at what material damage can qualify as:
- Relocation costs
- Loss of earnings
- The cost of therapy
- Expenses from installing home security systems
If you’d like to talk to a professional about how to claim compensation for material damage, please speak to one of our advisors at your earliest convenience.
We Can Help With Your Claim
Our team of specialist advisors are ready to assist you with your data breach claim
What Do I Need To Claim For A Personal Trainer Data Breach?
To claim for a personal trainer data breach, you need evidence of the personal data breach, proof of psychological or financial harm, and documented communication between you and the personal trainer regarding the compromise of your data.
Other pieces of evidence you can use to strengthen your personal trainer data breach claim are:
- Medical records articulating any treatment for psychological harm, such as antidepressants
- A letter confirming a diagnosis from your psychiatrist
- Any findings from an Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) investigation
- Proof of any financial harm by providing payslips, bank statements and invoices
Here at Data Breach Claims, we understand how distressing it can be to gather evidence for a potentially triggering life event. Don’t worry, our experienced panel of solicitors can gather evidence on your behalf. Call an advisor today to find out more.
How We Can Help With Personal Trainer Data Breach Claims
We can help with personal trainer data breach claims by providing robust legal support built on trust and a No Win No Fee promise. More specifically, our panel can offer you a contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which outlines that you can only be charged a success fee if our panel win your case. In other words, our fees are conditional upon success. In an effort to be transparent, a CFA means:
- You won’t pay solicitors’ fees if your claim fails
- You won’t pay solicitors’ fees while your claim is in progress
- You won’t pay upfront solicitors’ fees
In the happy outcome that your personal trainer data breach claim is successful, you will pay a success fee, which will be taken out of any compensation that you recover. Don’t worry, this will be capped at a legally limited percentage under the Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013 to protect you from paying an unfair share of your compensation.
Our Support Services
Here at Data Breach Claims, we know how daunting the road ahead can feel after suffering a comprise of personal data, and that’s why we have curated a list of support services to help you through the claims process. Choosing the right legal team is crucial, and we like to think that our panel of data breach solicitors, who prioritise pastoral support and client wellbeing over everything, will be the right choice for you. Take a look at some of our support services below. We will:
- Determine a fair compensation figure
- Represent you in negotiations with the other party
- Ensure that you have access to any specialist therapy that you might need
- Advise on the strength of your data breach claim
- Help ensure that your security needs are met
We’d like to clarify that this is not an exhaustive list. There’s much more we have to offer you because we do what’s right by our clients. So, if you want to work with our panel of solicitors who are dedicated to providing people like you with compassionate and experienced representation, get in touch using the contact information below:
Get Help From Data Breach Claims
- Phone us on 020 8050 6279
- Contact us online
- Our live chat has a bot-free guarantee — you’re just a click away from talking to a dedicated advisor
More Information
Why not read our other guides for more information on:
- Read our guide on human error data breaches.
- Take a look at our guide on data breaches caused by lost or stolen paperwork.
- Have a read of our guide on how to claim compensation for a group email data breach.
Broaden your research by following these external resources:
- See if you’re eligible for Statutory Sick Pay.
- Here is access to NHS mental health services.
- Read through information on data protection from GOV.UK.
Thank you for taking the time to read our guide on how to make a personal trainer data breach claim.