Ex-council worker fined for illegally sharing personal information

A former local authority education worker who admitted to unlawfully obtaining and sharing personal information about schoolchildren and their parents has been fined £850 and ordered to pay £713 in costs.

The Information Commissioner’s Office said Samira Bouzkraoui, 24 of Scovell Road, London, took a screenshot of a council spreadsheet concerning children and their eligibility for free school meals before sending it to the estranged parent of one of the pupils via Snapchat.

The image included the names, addresses, dates of birth and National Insurance numbers of 37 pupils and their parents. She also sent a copy of a school admission record relating to another child.

The defendant was at the time employed as an apprentice in the schools admissions department of Southwark Council and had received training in data protection.

The ICO said she had declined to answer any questions when interviewed.

Bouzkraoui appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court and admitted three offences of unlawfully obtaining and disclosing personal data, in breach of s55 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

ICO Criminal Enforcement Manager Mike Shaw said: “This is yet another example of how people whose jobs give them access to personal data can end up in serious trouble after allowing temptation to get the better of them.

”Parents have the right to know that their personal information, and that of their children, is being treated with respect and in accordance with the law. Anybody who ignores that right and that law has to accept the consequences.”