From the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office:
A former family intervention officer at St Helens Borough Council has been sentenced for unlawfully accessing social services records.
Rachel Anderton was prosecuted for viewing records on the council’s case management system between 17 January 2019 and 17 October 2019 without having a business need to do so.
An internal council audit found the defendant unlawfully looked at the records of 145 people whilst employed in the social services department. Anderton resigned from the council before disciplinary proceedings commenced.
Anderton, of Haydock, Merseyside appeared before Wigan and Leigh Magistrates Court on 11 September 2023 and pleaded guilty to one offence of unlawfully obtaining personal data, in breach of s170(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. Anderton was fined £92.00, ordered to pay court costs of £385.00 and a victim surcharge of £32.00.