Southend Council has avoided a six-figure fine for a data breach

A council has avoided a potential six-figure fine after a data leak left the personal details of 2,000 staff and councilors publicly available.

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council reported itself to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after a table of details was included in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request in May.

The council could have been fined a six-figure sum for the breach, but the ICO instead ordered it to provide additional training to staff to avoid future breaches, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reports.

In a report on its decision, the ICO said: “The list of employees and former employees contained a significant amount of personal information.”