Man moved home after data breach by Jobcentre Plus

What happened

Mr M was approached by someone who had previously abused him. This person knew who he was because a Jobcentre Plus employee had shared Mr M's confidential information. Mr M moved to a different part of the country to avoid the abuser.

After a thorough investigation, Jobcentre Plus accepted responsibility for the breach and made Mr M a payment for the impact of the situation on his wellbeing and to recognise that it had caused a major disruption to his life. Mr M asked it to increase the payment. He told Jobcentre Plus that he had moved to a different part of the country to avoid the person. He said this had caused him stress, inconvenience and financial loss. Jobcentre Plus did not increase the payment until the complaint was investigated by the Independent Case Examiner (ICE), which recommended a further payment for financial loss.

Mr M explained that he had felt he had no choice but to move, and this had caused him a lot of emotional upset. He said the move meant he no longer had any support to help him get over what had happened.

What we found

Jobcentre Plus did a good job of investigating the data breach and its payment was fair in light of the impact on Mr M. We also agreed with ICE's conclusions and the additional payment that it had recommended. While we could not recommend any action that would undo what had happened, we decided that there was more that Jobcentre Plus could do to put right the loss of Mr M's support network.

Putting it right

We recommended that Jobcentre Plus make Mr M an additional consolatory payment of £2,000.