Afghan nationals whose personal data was accidentally leaked could be entitled to thousands of pounds each in compensation, a lawyer specialising in data breaches has warned – as immigration specialists urged the government to reopen a resettlement route that was ‘abruptly closed’.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that personal data belonging to 18,700 Afghan nationals who applied for resettlement was emailed 'outside of official government sytems' in 2022 and ‘briefly appeared online’ in 2023. The leak was finally revealed this week after a ‘superinjunction’ granted in September 2023 preventing disclosure was lifted by Mr Justice Chamberlain.

The Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA) has urged the government to reopen the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme, which was ‘abruptly closed’ to principal applicants on 1 July, the day a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules was laid. ILPA said this breached parliamentary convention as rules must be laid for 21 days before they take effect, which allows for parliamentary scrutiny. 

Read more

ILPA said family members of individuals whose data was leaked would be eligible under ARAP but may not have applied as they were unaware about the additional threat arising from the data breach. 'Compensation for the data breach, while important, is no replacement for a safe route to protection,' ILPA added.

However, lawyers are already being contacted about compensation.

Manchester-based Barings Law posted on its website that it has received instruction from almost 1,000 people.

Sean Humber, a data breach lawyer at Leigh Day, said his firm is investigating a group claim for compensation. As well as acting for existing clients, the firm is being approached by dozens of people every day, he said. 

‘The priority must be ensuring the safety of those affected by the data breach who remain in Afghanistan. We expect the level of compensation to be in the thousands [per person], although the exact amount is likely to vary and will probably be higher for those remaining in Afghanistan compared to those that have successfully relocated to the UK,' Humber added.

The Ministry of Defence, which has been approached for comment, has posted guidance for those who may have been affected by the data leak.