HR records can contain some of the most personal information connected to your working life, so discovering that an employer has lost control of that data can leave you worried about who has seen it and what the breach may mean for you. If that failure to protect your personal data resulted in psychological harm or financial loss, you may have grounds to claim compensation. The value of any successful claim will depend on the impact the breach has had on you, and our panel of specialist data breach solicitors can determine how much compensation for an HR data breach may be appropriate in light of those consequences.
Knowing that compensation may be available does not necessarily make it easy to judge how serious the breach was or how the effect it has had on you should be presented. At How Much Compensation, a solicitor from our panel will consider what the loss of privacy has meant for your wellbeing or career. That detailed approach can help your solicitor seek compensation that reflects the real consequences the HR data breach has had for you.
If a solicitor from our panel is able to represent you, that comprehensive support will be provided on a No Win No Fee basis. For free initial guidance on the compensation you may be able to claim, speak with our advisory team and find out whether a solicitor from our panel could support you today.
We are here to help you
Here at HowMuchCompensation.co.uk our expert advisors are on hand 24 hours a day 7 days a week to assess your compensation claim. Should you require free advice we can connect you to a specialist solicitor.
Jump To A Section
- How Much Compensation For An HR Data Breach Can I Claim?
- How Are HR Data Breach Compensation Claims Calculated?
- What Financial Losses Could HR Data Breach Compensation Include?
- Could I Bring An HR Data Breach Claim?
- What Employee Data Could Be Exposed In An HR Data Breach?
- How Could An HR Data Breach Happen?
- Starting An HR Data Breach Compensation Claim
- How Can We Help With Your Claim?
- More Information
How Much Compensation For An HR Data Breach Can I Claim?
How much compensation for an HR data breach you could claim will depend on the psychological harm and financial loss caused by what happened. The nature of the employee information involved can be an important factor, with the disclosure of confidential health records to colleagues potentially affecting you very differently from an incident involving payroll information.
Psychological harm caused by the breach is known as non-material damage, while any financial loss is referred to as material damage. The value of each will depend on your own situation and the evidence available, rather than on a standard amount for data breach claims because a particular type of HR record was compromised.
When valuing non-material damage, legal professionals may refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This document provides guideline compensation brackets for psychiatric injuries of varying types and severities.
The figures in the table below are taken from the JCG, apart from the first row. That first figure is not a JCG bracket and is included only to illustrate how compensation may reflect both material and non-material damage. The table should therefore be treated as a guide.
| Harm | Severity | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Very Serious Psychological Harm and Expenses | Very severe psychiatric harm caused by the breach, as well as financial expenses such as the cost of psychological treatment, security costs or lost expenses | Up to £250,000+ |
| Psychological Harm | Severe (a) - when this bracket is being valued, future vulnerability, prognosis and impact on capacity to cope with work can all be considered | £72,440 to £152,900 |
| Moderately Severe (b) - there will be significant problems related to claimant's relationships and ability to cope with their life but there will be a more positive prognosis | £25,190 to £72,440 | |
| Moderate (c) - there will have been marked improvement with a good prognosis | £7,740 to £25,190 | |
| Less Severe (d) - the amount awarded will factor disability duration and the extent of impact on daily activities | £2,040 to £7,740 | |
| PTSD | Severe (a) - permanent effects that prevent claimant from working or functioning at anything close to their pre-trauma level, with all areas of life being badly affected. | £79,080 to £133,000 |
| Moderately Severe (b) - better prognosis with some level of recovery through professional support, but likelihood of significant disability in foreseeable future remains | £30,580 to £79,080 | |
| Moderate (c) - large recovery will have taken place and continuing impacts will not be grossly disabling | £10,810 to £30,580 | |
| Less Severe (d) - a virtual full recovery will have been made within 1-2 years | £5,220 to £10,810 |
If you would like a clearer idea of how your own HR data breach claim might be valued, get in touch today for a confidential discussion with one of our advisors.
How Are HR Data Breach Compensation Claims Calculated?
HR data breach compensation claims are calculated by examining the connection between the breach and the harm it caused, using available evidence to establish the extent of that impact. This means looking beyond the fact that employee information was disclosed and considering what changed afterwards, such as whether the loss of privacy affected your mental health or working life.
Establishing whether the harm you experienced can reasonably be linked to the HR data breach is an important part of the calculation. In doing so, a solicitor from our panel can consider the nature of the employee record involved and the context in which it was mishandled. A breach affecting occupational health or sickness absence information, for example, may have a particularly personal impact if details about your health became known within the workplace.
If the effects go beyond temporary distress and there are signs of a psychiatric injury, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an independent medical assessment may be arranged by your solicitor to evaluate it and what recovery is likely to involve. This can give the valuation a stronger evidential basis by showing the extent to which the HR data breach has affected your mental health over time.
For guidance on how much compensation for an HR data breach you could receive in a successful claim, have a chat with our advisory team and find out how your experience could influence the value of your claim.
What Financial Losses Could HR Data Breach Compensation Include?
The financial losses that HR data breach compensation could include may range from income you missed because the psychological impact affected your ability to work to costs such as private counselling or proportionate security measures taken in response to the incident. A solicitor from our panel can identify which losses may be recoverable and use the available financial evidence to calculate them.
Loss Of Earnings
If the psychological harm caused by the breach affected your ability to work, the income you lost as a result could form part of your compensation. This might be relevant if you needed time away from your job or temporarily worked fewer hours, with your solicitor using payslips and employment records to establish the financial shortfall.
Security Costs
HR records may include your home address or details about where you can be contacted outside work. If that information is disclosed to someone who should not have received it and you have a genuine reason to be concerned about your safety, reasonable costs such as changing locks or improving home security may be factored into the value of your claim.
Counselling Expenses
Paying privately for counselling after an HR data breach may leave you with an additional expense at an already difficult time. This may be particularly relevant where information about your health or absences from work was accessed inappropriately or disclosed to colleagues who should not have seen it, and the cost of that treatment may form part of your claim’s value where it can be linked to the breach.
The financial consequences of an HR data breach will not look the same for everyone, which is why the solicitors on our panel will consider the losses that actually arose in your circumstances rather than working from a standard checklist. If a data breach has affected you financially, speak to our advisors and they can explain which losses may be relevant to a potential claim.
We are here to help you
Here at HowMuchCompensation.co.uk our expert advisors are on hand 24 hours a day 7 days a week to assess your compensation claim. Should you require free advice we can connect you to a specialist solicitor.
Could I Bring An HR Data Breach Claim?
Yes, you could bring an HR data breach claim if an employer or another organisation failed to protect your personal data properly and the breach caused financial or psychological harm. A specialist solicitor from our panel can assess whether the incident gives you grounds to claim compensation by looking at:
- Whether data protection law was not followed: Employers must comply with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 when handling staff records throughout the employment relationship, from information supplied during recruitment to employee data later created or maintained by HR.
- How your employee data was mishandled: An HR data breach may involve employee records being sent to the wrong person or unauthorised access gained through poorly controlled permissions within an internal system. That context can show how control over your workplace records was lost and whether the incident reflects a failure in the way your employee data was handled.
- What harm resulted: Compensation reflects the consequences caused by the HR data breach, so the evidence needs to connect what happened to your employee information with the psychological or financial impact you are claiming for.
You do not need to decide for yourself whether the incident meets those legal requirements before seeking advice. Our advisors can listen to your experience and, if there appears to be a valid route forward, connect you with a solicitor from our panel who can assess the breach in more detail.
What Employee Data Could Be Exposed In An HR Data Breach?
Employment records and payroll information are among the types of employee data that could be affected by an HR data breach. HR teams often collect this information from recruitment through to changes in your role or the end of your employment, so the data involved could include:
- Contact and identification details, such as your home address or National Insurance number.
- Records connected to your role and performance, including material created during disciplinary or redundancy processes.
- Recruitment and onboarding information supplied when you applied for the role or joined the organisation.
HR departments may also hold special category data, which receives additional protection under data protection law because of its sensitive nature. In an employment setting, this can include information recorded about your health or disability, while other HR records may contain details about trade union membership or racial or ethnic origin.
Knowing exactly which employee records were affected can therefore explain why the breach has had the impact it has. If you would like to discuss your situation confidentially, contact our advisors to find out what may be relevant to an HR data breach compensation claim.
How Could An HR Data Breach Happen?
An HR data breach could happen through human error or weaknesses in the way employee information is protected. In other cases, someone may deliberately gain unauthorised access to HR records. For example:
- While HR is updating your sickness record, an employee sends an attachment containing your health data to the wrong email address, leaving private medical information visible to someone who has no reason to see it.
- You discover that a colleague has viewed confidential disciplinary records about you because their HR system permissions give them access to information outside their role.
- You learn that your payroll information has been accessed during a cyber-attack because weaknesses in the company’s security allow an attacker into the HR system, exposing your bank details and other sensitive personal data.
These examples show why the circumstances of the incident matter when assessing a personal data breach. A solicitor from our panel can investigate how your information was exposed and whether access controls or other safeguards should have prevented it.
If the incident has caused you harm, speak with How Much Compensation and our advisors can explain whether you have grounds to pursue a claim.
Starting An HR Data Breach Compensation Claim
To start an HR data breach compensation claim, you will need to have evidence showing what happened to your employee information and how the incident affected you. Early advice from a solicitor on our panel can help give the claim direction by identifying which HR records may explain how the breach occurred and what further evidence could demonstrate its psychological or financial impact on you.
Evidence Needed To Support An HR Data Breach Claim
Useful evidence in an HR data breach claim can come from the employment records and communications created around the incident itself. A breach notification from your employer may identify whether data held in your personnel file or payroll records was involved, while correspondence with the organisation’s data protection officer can shed light on how the breach was discovered and investigated.
If other workplace documents were affected, such as disciplinary records or grievance correspondence, the surrounding HR communications may also help explain the context of the breach and why it caused distress. Medical records can then support the psychological impact of the breach, while payslips or other financial documents may show any material loss that followed.
For more guidance on the types of evidence that can help support a claim and how they may be used, take a look at our negligence guide.
How Long After An HR Data Breach Can I Claim Compensation?
You generally have up to 6 years after an HR data breach to claim compensation. To understand which deadline may apply, read our guide to the limitation period, or speak with our advisory team if you would like guidance on your own claim.
No Win No Fee HR Data Breach Compensation Claims
The solicitors on our panel offer a No Win No Fee service to eligible claimants pursuing HR data breach compensation claims under the terms of a Conditional Fee Agreement. This means you do not pay your solicitor’s fees for their work upfront or while the claim is progressing. If the claim is unsuccessful, you would also not pay those fees to your solicitor, subject to the terms of the agreement.
If the claim succeeds, a success fee becomes payable under the agreement. The solicitor representing you will explain how this works before you proceed, so you know how that fee is calculated as a legally capped percentage of the HR data breach compensation from the outset.
To find out whether you could pursue your claim on a No Win No Fee basis, speak with the How Much Compensation advisory team. They can review your position and, where appropriate, connect you with a solicitor from our panel who can take your case forward.
How Can We Help With Your Claim?
If you have a valid case, How Much Compensation can help with your claim by connecting you with a solicitor from our panel who can take responsibility for the legal work involved in pursuing HR data breach compensation. Once they understand the incident, they can investigate responsibility and build the claim around its impact on your mental health and finances by:
- Untangling responsibility between organisations: Employers may rely on third-party HR software providers or employee benefits administrators to process staff data, so your solicitor can examine how those arrangements operated and identify who may be legally responsible for the breach.
- Building a cohesive account of the breach: Your solicitor can review the breach notification alongside relevant correspondence and any available audit trail, bringing the information together into a clear account of how the employee data was mishandled and how the claim should be presented.
- Explaining why the HR data mattered: Performance reviews or employee relations records can contain highly personal details that were never intended to circulate beyond the people responsible for managing your employment, so the solicitor supporting your claim can use that context to show why the breach had the impact it did on you.
- Relating the impact to compensation: Evidence showing how the breach affected your mental health or ability to remain at work can be used to assess how much compensation for an HR data breach may be appropriate, so the figure pursued is grounded in what the incident actually changed for you.
- Handling correspondence: As the HR data breach claim progresses, your solicitor will manage communication with the representatives of your employer or any external organisation involved, while you are kept updated on responses and developments so you continue to know where matters stand.
Contact Our Advisors
If information held about you by your employer’s HR department or an external workplace provider has been mishandled, How Much Compensation’s advisory team is ready to give you a calm, practical starting point. Your first conversation with our advisors can help bring some clarity to what happened and whether legal support may be available. Use any of the contact methods below, and an advisor can guide you from there:
- Call on 0800 408 7826
- Contact us online
- Speak using our live chat
More Information
You may also find these guides useful:
- See if you could claim for a post office data breach
- Learn about claiming for an NHS data breach
- Find out how much compensation for landlord data breaches
Helpful external resources:
- Information from the ICO on personal data breaches
- Government overview of data protection legislation
- NHS advice about mental health conditions
Thank you for reading our guide on how much compensation for an HR data breach you could claim.
