Council &quot;misplaced&quot; copy of contract - is this a data protection breach (UK)?
<p>My Girlfriend changed jobs recently, and as such had to provide the local council with a copy of her employment contract to support claims for low-income support benefits.</p>

<p>Now, it seems they have lost it. </p>

<p>This is a document provided in confidence to an official department, which contains details including home address, workplace/working hours, full name, DoB, etcetera.</p>

<p>I'm fairly sure that this is the sort of information which could be used to steal her identity.</p>

<p>Another concern is that someone could essentially track her movements, plan to break into the house, anything. She has had problems with stalkers in the past.</p>

<p><strong>Would this constitute a break of the data protection act? (We are UK-based)</strong></p>

<p>On the face of it, yes, it may well be in breach of principle 7 if there is an underlying systematic failure.</p>

<ol start="7">
<li>Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data <strong>and against accidental loss</strong> or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.<a href="https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/data-protection-principles/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1</a></li>
</ol>

<p>Only if the data actually goes to a third party. Losing your data is not a breach; having it in the hands of someone else may be.</p>

contract-law data-protection