FAQs
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What is personal data?
The European General Data Protection Regulation defines ‘personal data’ as any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. This typically includes a person’s name, address and date of birth, as well as a number of other details.
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What is a data breach?
A personal data breach is a breach of security which leads to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data.
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What does processing my personal data mean?
The processing of data includes collecting, recording, storing, deleting or using said data to analyse, combine or disclose it to others.
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How should my personal data be processed?
The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires that your personal data should be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner to you. You must have consented to the processing of your personal data for one or more specified purposes.
The processing of your personal data must be necessary for compliance with legal obligations and be necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests, except in certain limited circumstances. The full process is outlined in GDPR legislation.
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What happens if there is a data breach of my personal data?
You should be contacted by the data controller and the data controller should also report the data breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is the supervisory authority for data protection in the UK.
You should be told:
- the name and contact details of the data protection officer;
- the anticipated consequences of the data breach; and
- the steps taken, or to be taken, to address the data breach. This should include the steps to mitigate any possible adverse effects as appropriate.
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What is the Data Protection Act 2018?
The European General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) created a data protection regime that applies to most UK businesses and organisations.
The Data Protection Act 2018 enacts GDPR into UK Law.
GDPR legislation has direct effect, but the Data Protection Act 2018 makes provisions for how this legislation will be applied in the UK and introduces UK-specific additional measures.
In conjunction with existing common law on privacy and confidence, the Data Protection Act 2018 governs the law applying to the processing of your personal data.
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Who can bring a claim in relation to a data breach?
Any individual can potentially bring a claim in relation to a data breach concerning their personal data, by a party who has processed that personal data or who controls it. That person is known as the ‘data subject’.
A data controller is the person who decides how and why to collect and use personal data. Generally speaking, the data controller’s duties are wider than the duties of someone who processes personal data.
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What remedies can be sought for a data breach?
The primary remedy that a court will consider will be an award of damages.
Any award for damages should take into account the loss of control of formerly private information. A claim for damages under the Data Protection Act is permissible even when the only impact on the claimant had been distress.
The award of damages by the courts is dependent on the individual circumstances of a particular data breach.
Depending on the nature of the data breach, it may also be appropriate to consider applications to the court for injunctive relief.
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What are the time limits for bringing a claim?
The limitation period for making a data protection claim is currently six years.
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What funding options are available to bring a claim?
There are various methods that we can arrange with you in order to fund the legal costs associated with a claim, including:
- ‘No win, no fee’ agreements
- Deferred fee agreements
- Hourly rate retainers
- Fixed costs
Depending on the type of case you have, the merits of the case and the stage it is at when you bring it to us, we may be able to offer you more than one of these options to fund the legal costs associated with your case. We ensure that the funding options available are suitable to your needs and circumstances.
In the majority of cases, a successful claim or defence of a claim results in your opponent being ordered to pay your legal costs.
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How do ‘no win, no fee’ and ‘deferred fee’ arrangements work?
If your case has sufficiently good prospects of success, we may be able to work for you under a Conditional Fee Agreement, commonly known as a ‘no win, no fee’ arrangement or a CFA.
This means that we would undertake the work on the case, up to an agreed stage (which may be the end of proceedings or settlement) without payment and only be entitled to payment for our fees if the claim is successful (either at court or by settlement). In those circumstances, we would also be entitled to a success fee to reflect the work done and the risk taken.
We can also consider entering into ‘deferred fee agreements’ where we agree to defer payment of our fees for a period of time, while court proceedings or settlement discussions take place.
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Who pays the costs of a claim?
The payment of costs depends on a number of factors, including the type of claim, the conduct and position adopted by the parties and importantly, whether one of the parties has succeeded over the other.
However as a general rule, the losing party pays the winning party’s costs, subject to the assessment of those costs as to reasonableness and proportionality by the court.
As there is a risk in any litigation, we will discuss with you whether you wish to take out an ‘after the event’ insurance policy to cover the payment of any adverse costs awarded against you should the claim be unsuccessful.
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What next?
If you have any other questions or wish to discuss a potential case, please contact one of our team below or complete our enquiry form, and one of our experienced solicitors will be happy to talk to you on a no-cost, no obligation basis to see how we may be able to help you.
