Government admits breaking privacy law with NHS test and trace | Data protection

The UK government has broken the law by launching its test-and-trace programme without a complete assessment of privacy implications, says the Department of Health and Social Care. It follows a legal challenge and subsequent admission that the programme has already led to three data breaches, involving shared personal information and email errors, which contravene basic privacy protections. The crisis has been heightened by the government’s refusal to obey a crucial safety step known as the data protection impact assessment (DPIA).