South Ayrshire Council data breach sees details of school meal recipients sent to hundreds

A council has apologised after an email with the names and email addresses of those applying for school meals and clothing grants was sent to hundreds of people.

The email was sent by South Ayrshire Council last Wednesday before being recalled soon after.

The council apologised to recipients the following day, but some parents believe the damage was already done.

However, the Information Commissioner’s Office states that organisations have to report personal data breaches within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach.

However, the Local Democracy Reporting Service was told that, as of Tuesday morning, the ICO had not received a complaint or a report of a breach.

The council says that an internal investigation into the incident is being undertaken.

The ICO does have the power to step in in the event of a breach, even if there are no formal complaints.

Parents have spoken of their fears that, by revealing that their children may be in receipt of free school meals and clothing grants, they may be open to bullying.

An email apology was sent out by the council’s benefits and revenues team. It stated: “Dear customer, I am contacting you to confirm that the email issued to you yesterday is a genuine email from the council.

“Regrettably, due to an administrative error, the email was issued to multiple email addresses rather than to you individually. Please accept my sincere apologies for this error.

“I have informed the council’s data governance team that a data breach has occurred, and this will be investigated by them.

“I can confirm your application has been approved however please now delete the original email from your email account.”

A South Ayrshire Council spokesperson added: “We are aware of a potential data breach and are taking the appropriate action.

“We have been in contact with those affected.”