COMPENSATION of £3000 has been offered to each of those affected by the data breach that revealed the email addresses of those who had signed up for updates on the Church of England’s Redress Scheme (News, 29 August).

The law firm responsible — Kennedys — made the offer on Tuesday. It issued a statement on Wednesday, saying that it was “deeply sorry for the significant error that occurred. Rebuilding trust in the Redress Scheme, and the role of Kennedys in administrating that scheme, is of the upmost importance to us.

“As we seek to rebuild trust with those impacted, we have contacted each person individually regarding a compensation offer that Kennedys is making. We have ensured impacted individuals will not need to go through any court proceedings or protracted assessment processes in order to accept this redress from Kennedys.

“We want to be clear that this compensation is offered by Kennedys in relation to the data breach. It does not impact any potential claims people may make in the future as a Survivor of Church-related abuse under the Church of England’s Redress Scheme. We would like to once again apologise for what happened and reiterate our unwavering commitment to the redress scheme and supporting victims and survivors in their journey moving forward.”

In total, 194 individuals and law firms were affected by the breach.