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Vulnerable Children’s Personal Information Exposed after Central Bedfordshire Council Data Breach

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In a human error blunder, personal data belonging to around 100 vulnerable special educational needs (SEND) students was exposed after a freedom of information (FOI) was requested from the Central Bedfordshire Council.

The council were only meant to send statistical information about children with SEND, but instead, during a human error blunder after not checking the response correctly, they released important details concerning vulnerable SEND pupils. The information containing the personal details was released onto a public website whatdotheyknow.com for around 90 minutes, including details such as:

  • Names
  • Whether they have a disability or are special needs
  • Whether or not they have a school place

A spokesperson for the Central Bedfordshire Council told MailOnline: “Regrettably we were made aware of data being accidentally released to a public website on Monday afternoon, but our officers worked swiftly to get the information removed.

“We are extremely sorry to all of those affected and we are in the process of contacting all of the families affected to apologise directly.

“We have reported the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office and we will be working positively with them.

“We have already made changes to our procedures in response to this incident and will quickly act on any feedback from the ICO to make our data protection systems even more robust.”

If you suspect that your child was a victim of the Central Bedfordshire Council data breach or you have received a letter of communication directly from the council confirming their details have been compromised, please don’t hesitate to contact our team of data breach experts. You could have grounds to claim compensation for the data breach.

We are ready to provide clear, tailored advice and support. For more information on how we can assist, please get in touch with a member of the team today.

What to do if you are concerned about the Central Bedfordshire Council data breach

If there is any indication that you have been affected by the data breach, the responsible organisation is legally required to directly contact you so you can take the appropriate measures to protect yourself and your sensitive information from cyber criminals.

Central Bedfordshire Council has directly contacted those impacted by the breach via letter confirming the data breach and the actions taken following it. If you have not received conformation, but believe your child has been impacted, you should contact Central Bedfordshire Council immediately for confirmation.

The concern that comes with a data breach compromising your personal details is whether unauthorised third parties have access and plan to carry out malicious actions. The Bedfordshire County Council claim that the data breach did not contain any contact details and no child should be identified. Despite this, it’s wise to still be vigilant of any unexpected communications you receive.

Educating yourself on data breaches, including the potential impact they can have, what you can do to protect yourself and the appropriate measures to take if your details have been compromised in a breach, is incredibly important. For more information on how to reduce the risk, please take the time to read our informative guide on what to do if your data has been stolen in a data breach.

If your child’s personal details were exposed during the Central Bedfordshire Council human error data breach, you could be eligible to claim compensation for your suffering. Our team of Hayes Connor data breach experts can provide helpful aid with the claims process in hopes of achieving data breach compensation.

How Hayes Connor can help you claim compensation for the Central Bedfordshire Council data breach

Any organisation that has access to your personal data, including recording and storing it, is obligated to follow the GDPR rules and regulations, ensuring your personal data is protected from unauthorised third parties. Failing to do so can leave you vulnerable and has the potential to impact you financially and mentally.

We are proud to be recognised as one of the largest data breach teams across the UK, with decades of combined expertise in assisting a range of clients across various data breach incidents. No matter the situation or your personal circumstances our team can provide top-quality assistance, ensuring you get the outcome you deserve.

If you decide to proceed with our team of data breach specialists, we will work to understand how it has impacted your life. We can then provide the likelihood of your claim being successful and the potential compensation value you could be entitled to. We will walk you through the entire process, providing quality advice and support throughout.

At Hayes Connor, we absolutely understand the disturbance a data breach can cause to those impacted, with particular concern for finances and mental health. We are committed to making the claim process as stress-free and straightforward as probable, allowing you to focus on more important matters, such as your impacted child’s concerns over the incident.

You can find out more about our data breach expertise and how we handle claims similar to the Central Bedfordshire Council data breach here.

To start a data breach claim, you can use our online claim form.

To speak to a member of our team about the Central Bedfordshire Council data breach, please do not hesitate to give us a call on 0151 363 5895.