Letters sent out by the Isle of Wight Council to a number of households across the Island have mistakenly contained the personal information of other people including full names, addresses, monies owed and council tax reference numbers, Island Echo can exclusively reveal.
The standard letters, issued by the local Council Tax department, have somehow been double printed – 1 side contains the correct details for the recipient, whilst the other contains the personal data of someone completely different.
Shocked locals have expressed their concerns about the apparent GDPR data breach with one source telling Island Echo that the letter they received contained the information of an unknown gentleman in Ryde.
It has been confirmed that a total of 51 letters have been posted containing the details of another person – a fairly small number compared to the 70,000 households on the Isle of Wight. They have been delivered to households across the Island and are not specific to any particular area, so anyone could be affected.
Council officials have today (Friday) been going from door to door hand-delivering a second letter explaining the faux pas and requesting that the original letter is not opened.
The second letter reads:
“You may have received a letter addressed to you from the Council tax department marked from the Isle of Wight Council. It has come to our attention that this letter may also contain details that do not relate to your council tax account and for this reason we kindly request that you do not open this letter, if you have not already done so.
“Please contact our offices immediately if you have received correspondence from us either today or in the coming few days and we will arrange for the letter to be collected from you as quickly as possible.
Article continues below this advertisement “Please accept our sincere apologies for any distress and inconvenience this may have caused you. Please also be assured we are doing our utmost to deal with this error and we thank you kindly for your assistance and understanding in this matter”.
In response to the incident, a spokesperson for the Isle of Wight Council has told Island Echo:
“We are investigating how this data breach occurred and ensure it does not happen again. After realising the data breach, officers are currently visiting those affected to apologise and hand deliver a letter of apology and to collect the letters with errors.
“In line with GDPR requirements, we are currently investigating internally through our Corporate Information Unit whether this data breach has met the threshold for self-referral to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).”
they don’t proofread anymore just print and send
This has happened before typical council blunder!
Trust me, it happens every year in various councils across the country… CT bills are printed and mailed under a ridiculously short timetable usually contracted out by the local authority to the cheapest bidder who says they can meet the deadline…
I received a woman’s details 3 years, rang the Council they just said send it back to them.
Only 51 or maybe more. Do Clown Hall ever get anything 100% correct. I do hope the offenders are penalised. How much time do they spend covering things up & did they pay the correct stampage this time?
Horrible hypocrites.
The lectures and finger wagging the council give to other agencies and professionals about GDPR and they can’t even get this simple thing right. Embarrassing.
I’ll be waiting for the council to give updates on actions been taken with their procedures and with the staff at fault.
May I suggest everyone at County Hall do a full day of mandatory GDPR training ?
Pathetic amateurs