Jobseekers’ Personal Info at Risk After Mail Mistakes in Cornwall

A series of mail mix-ups in one Cornwall town has raised serious concerns about data security for jobseekers.

Government figures reveal that eight mail errors in St Austell led to personal information being sent to the wrong people last year. These incidents were among nearly 400 data breaches reported across British job centres in just over a year.

The information comes from a Freedom of Information request made by Data Breach Claims UK, a group that helps people seek compensation for data leaks. According to their findings, 238 job centres in the UK reported at least one data breach between November 2023 and January 2025.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which runs Jobcentres, said there were 261 postal security incidents during that time. These typically involve letters being posted to the wrong address, potentially exposing private details such as names, addresses, National Insurance numbers, job histories, and even medical records.

St Austell was among the worst affected locations, with only six other towns or cities in the UK seeing more mail errors.

The DWP defended its record, pointing out that it sends over 80 million pieces of mail every year, and the number of incidents represents just 0.00027% of that total.

But the problems don’t end there. Data breaches were also linked to four different job centres in Cornwall over the past 18 months. This includes centres in Redruth and Truro, although Truro only had one reported breach in late 2023 and none in 2024.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) defines a data breach as any event where personal data is lost, stolen, wrongly shared, or accessed without permission.

Since jobseekers are required to provide sensitive personal information to use the service, any breach can be serious.

Data Breach Claims UK says affected individuals may be entitled to compensation if their privacy has been violated.