Leicestershire County Council reported to the ICO that a briefcase was stolen from a social worker's home which contained 18 records detailing cases of child neglect and removal of children from their parents care.

Talking about the security breach, the Information Commissioner's Head of Enforcement said: "Local authorities must recognise that social workers are handling some of the most sensitive information available. While [the Council] already recognised the risks associated with home working and had produced guidance for their staff, the guidance did not explain how papers containing personal information should be kept secure".

The Council have since signed an undertaking with the ICO committing them to amend their existing policies to include detailed guidance relating to the security of paper documents while working from home, training staff on these amended policies, putting in place appropriate monitoring to ensure compliance and implementing other security measures to ensure personal data is protected.

This incident should act as a warning to all organisations, not just those in the public sector, which handle sensitive personal information that staff should be trained appropriately and that guidance should be sufficiently robust to deal with home working and other off-site examples of data security.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.