DVLA
If a private parking company has sent you an invalid PCN, or if the DVLA has given a parking company your personal information in error, you could be due compensation.
Modern governance and the delivery of public services require sharing a wide range of our sensitive information. But reliance on unsecured legacy software and a lack of preparation for dealing with cyber-attacks has made the sector vulnerable.
As well as being lucrative to hackers, the public sector is also struggling to train its staff and put robust data management practices in place. So, human error remains the leading cause of breaches, and people across the country are left paying the price.
There are many different types of public sector data breaches to watch out for, including:
Local Councils. Almost 100 million cyber-attacks hit Britain’s local authorities in just five years. But it is human error rather than hackers that are the leading cause of breaches in the sector.
Social Services. Social Services safeguard and promote vulnerable children. As such, it deals with sensitive personal and personal data. If this information is breached, the consequences can be disruptive and upsetting.
Housing Associations. The number of incidents of data breaches is increasing across the housing association sector.
Health & Emergency Services. The NHS and the police handle a lot of sensitive personal data. So it is vital that this is robustly protected, and that officers, medical staff, and suppliers know how to work with this information securely. However, all too often, this is not happening.
Schools. A failure to invest in adequate staff data protection training means that data privacy violations are happening all too often in our local authority-run schools.
Keller Lenkner UK has gained an enviable reputation in data breach law. And, with a team of data breach experts led by Kingsley Hayes – arguably the UK’s foremost data breach solicitor – and considerable expertise in this field, it’s easy to see why. Here are just some examples of the public sector cases our data protection lawyers have dealt with…
Nichola contacted social services to make an application for child support from her ex-partner. She was unequivocal that her address must remain confidential as there was a history of abuse.
Despite this, social services disclosed Nichola’s address to her ex, leading to considerable upset, fear, and stress.
We are helping Nichola to claim compensation following this grave data breach.
Mary & Ben adopted Sarah when she was a baby. They planned to tell Sarah about her adoption when she was older. However, her local authority-run school sent documents referencing Sarah’s adoption to the wrong address. The information ended up with a neighbour who opened and read the documents before sharing Sarah’s adoption status with other people in the local community.
Sarah subsequently found out that she was adopted, leading to considerable distress for her and her family.
We are helping Mary and Ben to claim compensation for this shocking privacy violation.
*Names have been changed to protect client confidentiality.
In some cases, you won’t be the only person to experience a data breach. In these instances, it might be worth joining a group action. Our current public sector data breach actions include:
If a private parking company has sent you an invalid PCN, or if the DVLA has given a parking company your personal information in error, you could be due compensation.
In 2019, The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) suffered a severe data breach following a ransomware cyber-attack hit the PFEW headquarters. Around 120,000 current and former officers are affected.
In August 2019, over 750 annual benefit statements were sent to the wrong postal addresses. These statements were for police officers of Sussex Police.
Equiniti, a company that provides support, communications and technology platforms to help manage company pensions, was responsible for distributing these statements.
We are one of the most experienced multi-claimant law firms in the UK.
We represent clients in group actions and individual cases with innovation, resources, and expertise.
We work with expert barristers to ensure you get the very best level of legal support available.
We have all the resources and global expertise necessary to take on complicated cases and win.
We have offices in Chancery Lane London, Birmingham and Liverpool, and the technology to provide a nationwide service, so we can help clients across England & Wales.
We use technology to deliver a better legal experience to our clients.
We work on a no-win, no-fee basis.
We make the process straightforward and hassle-free.
To find out if you are eligible to join our action, here are some of the most frequent questions we have been asked about making a DVLA data breach claim.
Are you, or have you recently been, a police officer in England & Wales? If so, you could be owned significant data breach compensation following a 2019 Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) data breach. But how much will it cost you to claim with Keller Lenkner UK? Here is everything you need to know.
The process to make a no-win, no-fee PFEW claim with us is straightforward and hassle-free. However, to help us make the strongest case possible on your behalf, we will ask you to provide us with information about how the breach affected you. So what kind of evidence do you need to make a PFEW data breach claim?
The emotional impact of the PFEW data breach should not be underestimated. We all know the impact that theft can have on a person. Following a burglary, people often feel shock, anger, fear, helplessness, and panic. These feelings might develop immediately or be experienced much later. Cybercriminals are committing theft when they steal personal data, so it is understandable that some people feel upset; particularly as the PFEW effectively gave the burglar the keys.
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reported 17 data breaches to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) over a 15-month period. That’s an average of more than one data protection failure a month. In total, more than 3,000 people could have had their data compromised by HMRC between January 2020 and March 2021.
We are already helping a significant number of Federation members, and it is not too late to join our action. Around 120,000 officers could have a PFEW data breach claim and we are making sure that they do not miss out on the compensation they deserve.
While each case is judged on its own merits, there are some things we would typically look for when it comes to when claiming compensation following a data breach, cybercrime or other GDPR violation:
With stolen data, cybercriminals can make purchases using your bank and credit cards, apply for credit in your name, set up fraudulent bank accounts and access your existing online accounts.
GDPR failures, cybercrime and data breaches can have a significant impact on you, both mentally and physically. They can cause or exacerbate anxiety, stress and other psychological conditions.
Keller Lenkner UK has been shortlisted in three categories at the Modern Law Awards 2022. These categories are ‘Business Growth Award’, ‘Innovation of the Year’ and ‘Boutique Law Firm’. We have also been shortlisted for ‘Law Firm of the Year’ at the 2022 LexisNexis Legal Awards.
This follows our 2021 success where we were shortlisted in the ‘Independent Law Firm of the Year’ and ‘Strategic Legal Operations Team of the Year’ categories at The British Legal Awards, and the ‘Disputes Boutique Firm of the Year’ category at The Lawyer Awards.