Councils have admitted to officially losing "hundreds" of people's personal data, with thousands more of children's details thought to have been "compromised", a civil liberties group has warned.
The breaches total more than a thousand but campaign group Big Brother Watch fear many councils are failing to even record incidents of data loss. 132 councils across the UK have come clean about losing sensitive personal information with one council member saying it was "no surprise".
Cases reportedly include an unencrypted memory stick which contained "highly confidential" childcare data being lost on the street and another employee losing people's names, addresses, income and health reports in a pub.
Big Brother Watch director Nick Pickles called the compromises "deeply disturbing".
"Highly confidential information has been treated without the proper care and respect it deserves."
According to the figures published on Wednesday, 244 laptops and portable computers were lost, while at least 98 memory sticks and more than 93 mobile phones went missing.
The report named and shamed local authorities who had lost data in relatively embarrassing circumstances. Incidents included:
- Childcare files found in a hire car (Essex)
- Scanned notes relating to children posted on Facebook (Kent)
- Around 2,000 email addresses wrongly sent to the public (Bucks)
- Caseworker's briefcase left in car park containing approximately 20 current cases (Suffolk)
- USB stick lost, and never recovered, containing 64,000 names, contact details and ethnic origins of tenants (Birmingham)
Out of the 1035 incidents, which took place during the past three years, local authorities admitted just 55 were reported to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), while only nine incidents resulted in termination of employment.
Roger Gough, of Kent County Council - which was identified as recording one of the highest rates of data loss - blamed the council "coming out top" on being the "largest shire authority in the country", according to one Public Service publication.
"Clearly we would look at each case individually and take appropriate action depending on the severity of the case.
"We handle a proportionally larger amount of information but we do understand the distress caused by any loss of data."
The top offending councils were:
- Buckinghamshire (72 incidents)
- Kent (72)
- Essex (62)
- Northamptonshire (48)
- North Yorkshire (46)
But concerns were voiced by Big Brother Watch about the number of councils owning up to data losses.
Nick Pickles added it seemed "surprising" 263 authorities claimed not to have lost "a single mobile phone or memory stick" when compared to the scale of the loss in other councils.
Responding to the report by the campaign group, minister for local government Grant Shapps said he "welcomed the research".
"This reinforces the need for steps to protect the privacy of law-abiding local residents.
"Civil liberties are under threat from the abuse of town hall surveillance powers, municipal nosy parkers rummanging through household bins and town hall officials losing sensitive personal data on children in care", he said.
The ICO can fine organisations up to £500,000 pounds for "serious" breaches of the Data Protection Act. A spokesperson said the quango said it was "vital" local authorities lived up to their legal responsibilities to keep data secure, especially when vulnerable individuals such as children were involved.