L50 Response Accepted

Compensation for Distress

Recommendation

It should be made clear that the right to compensation for distress conferred by section 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998 is not restricted to cases of pecuniary loss, but should include compensation for pure distress.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- Section 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998, which had been interpreted as requiring pecuniary loss for compensation claims, was repealed when the Data Protection Act 2018 came into force on 25 May 2018 (Data Protection Act 2018, legislation.gov.uk).
- Section 168(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018 explicitly provides that "in Article 82 of the UK GDPR... 'non-material damage' includes distress", confirming that compensation for pure distress is available without requiring pecuniary loss (Data Protection Act 2018, Section 168, legislation.gov.uk).
- This directly implements the recommendation that the right to compensation should not be restricted to cases of pecuniary loss.
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by Claude (Anthropic) on 10 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted
Accepted UK Government
29 Nov 2012

The Data Protection Act 2018 (Section 168) provides for compensation for distress without requiring pecuniary loss, implementing this recommendation. Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/12/section/168

Read Full Response
Note: PM David Cameron responded to all 92 recommendations with a single statement accepting them "in principle" or "in part". No per-recommendation response was published.
Published Evidence

Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Confirmed Completed
23 May 2018
UK Parliament legislation

Section 168 of the Data Protection Act 2018 provides for compensation for distress without requiring pecuniary loss. This implements Leveson's recommendation that compensation should include pure distress.

View detailed findings

Compensation for distress without pecuniary loss fully implemented under DPA 2018.

Data Protection Act 2018, Section 168 View Source
Source
Inquiry Leveson Inquiry
Report An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press 29 Nov 2012
View Source
Responsible Bodies
UK Government Primary
Themes & Tags
Weak Government Accountability & Scrutiny ICO Data Protection Compensation Distress
Recommendation age 13.5 yrs
Last formal update 4931 days ago