Kingston Council faces privacy breach claim

Surbiton.com: May 4, 2012 - 6:00am

Kingston Council could be faced with fines of thousands of pounds if an investigation finds it has breached data protection laws.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is set to investigate after more than 100 rent statements were posted to the wrong addresses in Chessington. Residents in Charles Lesser House, Hereford Way, were shocked to find their two-page rent statements contained one sheet of their own information and a second page with somebody else’s personal data.

The council has apologised for the blunder and vowed to carry out a review of its mailing system, but many residents were outraged that their privacy had been compromised.

The data included details of housing benefits entitlements and other benefits, the name of the bank each tenant used, their rent account number and any supporting people’s transfer details. Kingston Council issues 7,000 rent statements to tenants on a quarterly basis. The latest rent statements were affected by a problem with the council’s mailing machine that resulted in an error.

In the mix-up, which was predominantly in Chessington, a rent statement from Ewell Road in Surbiton also ended up with a Charles Lesser House tenant. An ICO spokesman said organisations must make sure that appropriate technical and organisational measures are taken to prevent unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data.

If organisations were found to have seriously breached the rules a fine of up to £500,000 could be imposed.

http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/9687652.Kingston_Council_faces_privacy_breach_...

SurreyComet.co.uk

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