Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic Data Breach – Who Is Eligible To Claim Compensation?

In this guide, we will look at the Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic data breach. If your personal information was exposed in a data breach, you might be eligible to claim compensation. This guide will explain how a personal data breach can occur and give advice on how to start the claims process.

Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic data breach

Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic Data Breach – Can I Claim Compensation?

We will look at the responsibility that organisations have to protect personal data. Furthermore, we will look at the definition of special category data and the impact that it could have if it is involved in a breach.

Our advisors are available at any time that suits you if you need support following a data breach. We can also connect you with a No Win No Fee solicitor if we see that your claim has a good chance of success. To learn more, reach out to us today.

Select A Section

  1. Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic Data Breach – Who Is Eligible To Claim Compensation? 
  2. What Happened In The Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic Data Breach?
  3. What Evidence Do You Need To Claim For A Personal Data Breach?
  4. What Damages Could Be Awarded For A Personal Data Breach Claim?
  5. Can A No Win No Fee Solicitor Help With The Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic Data Breach?

Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic Data Breach – Who Is Eligible To Claim Compensation?

A data breach is described as a security incident that results in the accidental or unlawful loss, disclosure, alteration, destruction or access to personal information. Data breaches can happen as a result of human error or malicious action. The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) are pieces of legislation that outline how personal data should be protected. It also outlines the right that you have to claim compensation if harmed by a breach of your personal data. 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is an independent body in the UK that upholds data protection rights on behalf of the public. They can sanction those who fail to abide by data protection law.

As a data subject, you may be able to make a data breach claim against the data controller if your personal data was involved in a breach and you were harmed as a result. A data subject is a natural person to whom personal data relates, and a data controller decides how and why personal data is processed. You could also claim against a data processor if they were responsible for a breach that harmed you; this is an organisation that processes personal data on behalf of a controller. 

Not all information about you is personal data. Personal data is any processed information that can be used to identify a data subject. It can be stored digitally or physically, but it still needs to be protected either way.

If positive wrongful conduct on the part of a controller or processor has caused a breach that has harmed you, you could be able to claim. Read on for information on data breach compensation examples, or get in touch with our team for free legal advice.

What Happened In The Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic Data Breach?

When you send an email using BCC, it hides the email addresses of all other recipients. This allows emails to be sent to large groups of recipients without allowing them to see the email addresses of others who have been sent the email. The CC function in emails allows all recipients to see the email addresses that received the original message.

In the Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic data breach case, an employee sent an email to patients about an art competition. However, they entered the email addresses into the “To” field instead of the “BCC” field. The member of staff attempted to immediately recall these emails but was unsuccessful in doing so. Around 1,700 recipients’ email addresses were involved in a breach. This clinic is under the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. 

This error meant that all of the recipients of the email were able to see the email addresses of other recipients. Even if these email addresses do not directly contain the names of the patients, they could be used via search engines to find social media profiles, for example.

The wording of the email that was sent made it clear that the email recipients were all clinic patients. This meant that the breach clearly connected those whose email addresses were involved and the gender identity clinic.

For guidance on claiming for a data breach via email, speak with an advisor today.

ICO Enforcement Action

The ICO fined Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust for the breach mentioned above. Patients included in this breach could be at risk of further personal information, such as a phone number, being breached if their email addresses are researched. This can cause severe stress and other psychological injuries. 

The ICO a monetary penalty notice of £78,400. In their penalty notice, they stated that this could have been higher. However, they took into account the circumstances around it and the public role of the organisation. 

If you have evidence that you have been harmed by a breach of your personal data, speak with an advisor.

Failure To Use BCC Data Breach Statistics

The ICO collects informtion on data security incident trends. According to their statistics, there were 1,015 security incidents reported to the ICO from 2019-2022.

Below, we show how many of these incidents occurred each year:

  • 2019 – 244 incidents
  • 2020 – 364 incidents
  • 2021 – 279 incidents
  • 2022 – 128 incidents

What Evidence Do You Need To Claim For A Personal Data Breach?

If your personal data has been involved in a data breach that threatens your freedoms and rights, then you should be told about this by the responsible party without undue delay. For example, they might send you a notice letter informing you of the breach. The party responsible for the breach should also inform the ICO of a breach of this nature without undue delay.

You can speak with the organisation responsible for the breach to ask them what data was impacted. They may offer to compensate you at this point. If they do and you accept, you cannot then go on to make a claim.

Our advisors can help you with any questions you may have regarding collecting evidence to show that you have been affected by the Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic data breach. Call us today for free legal advice on how you could deal with a data breach.

What Damages Could Be Awarded For A Personal Data Breach Claim?

If you are awarded a settlement in a claim for harm caused by a personal data breach, you could receive compensation for material and non-material damage. Material damage includes any financial losses caused by the data breach. This can include money stolen from your bank account and negative effects on your credit score.

Non-material damage relates to the psychological impact of the data breach. For instance, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and stress could arise as a result of your personal data being exposed in a breach.

The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) outline compensation brackets for non-material damages. As well as being used to value personal injury claims, it can be used to value material damage in data breach claims. We have included the table below as an alternative to using a compensation calculator. 

Edit
Injury Compensation Description
Severe PTSD (a) £59,860 – £100,670 The injured person cannot function as they did before the trauma due to permanent effects. Poor prospect of recovery.
Moderately Severe PTSD (b) £23,150 – £59,860 More optimistic prognosis than in more serious cases, with help from a professional. Injured person will still be significantly disabled for the foreseeable future.
Moderate PTSD (c) £8,180 – £23,150 Large recovery with no grossly disabling effects.
Less Severe PTSD (d) £3,950 – £8,180 Virtually full recovery. Minor symptoms persist beyond a year or two.
Severe Psychiatric Damage (a) £54,830 – £115,730 Prognosis is very poor, with effects on several aspects of the injured person’s life, including relationships and education or work.
Moderately Severe Psychiatric Damage (b) £19,070 – £54,830 Significant problems with factors like relationships and education or work but with a more serious prognosis than in more severe cases.
Moderate Psychiatric Damage (c) £5,860 – £19,070 The sort of problems associated with relationships and education or work. Good prognosis.
Less Severe Psychiatric Damage (d) £1,540 – £5,860 Level of award will take into account factors such as impact on sleep.

Please note that these figures are a guideline. You can speak to our advisors for a more accurate estimation of what your claim could be worth.

Can A No Win No Fee Solicitor Help With The Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic Data Breach?

Our advisors can connect you with a No Win No Fee solicitor to start your claim. A kind of No Win No Fee agreement called a Conditional Fee Agreements (CFA) require no upfront costs or solicitor fees for the duration of your claim. If your claim is unsuccessful, there is nothing you need to pay your solicitor for the work they’ve done.

In the event of a successful claim, a legally-capped success fee will be taken from your settlement total to cover your solicitor’s costs. All of these terms are discussed with you before agreeing to any processes.

To learn more about claiming for a data breach with a solicitor on a No Win No Fee basis, contact our team today. Our legal professionals can answer any remaining questions you may have about making a claim if you have evidence that you were affected by a gender identity clinic data breach.

Find Out More About Clinical Data Breach Clams

Thank you for reading this guide. See the links below for further reading:

You can also see more of our guides here:

For more information regarding a potential Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic data breach claim, contact our advisors at any time that suits you.

Writer SE

Checked by NC