COLCHESTER Council has apologised for sending personal information relating to 150 people to the wrong addresses.

Letters relating to housing benefits were sorted into bundles based on surnames.

They remained in the bundles when they were posted, meaning about 60 people received multiple letters containing information about their namesakes.

FDM, a printing and mailing company based in London, sent the letters on the council’s behalf.

Paul Smith, councillor responsible for business and resources, said it thought about 150 people’s personal information has wrongly been given out.

Mr Smith said: “We take this data breach extremely seriously.

“The information we are talking about is how many people there are in their household and figures which people might be able to deduce their income from.

“There seems to have been a quirk in the system.”

The council was alerted after one of the recipients rang up to report they had received other people’s letters.

Colchester Council is investigating to see who is responsible for the breach – itself or its letter sorting company.

Mr Smith said: “We immediately rang up the mailing company to ask if they were aware of the breach, which they weren’t.

“They have since found out another council has had a similar problem.

“I wouldn’t wish to speculate who is at fault until the investigation is complete.

“Our priority now is to notify the people who have been affected, so we can put it right.

“Then we can focus on finding out precisely what went wrong and who is responsible.”

The council has told the Information Commissioner’s Office and will submit all required information as the investigation progresses.

Helen Jones, client services manager at FDM, said: “We sincerely regret any distress caused by this data breach and apologise to all those affected.

“An urgent investigation was launched as soon as we were made aware of the breach, and we are working hard with Colchester Council to understand how this happened and to put preventative measures in place.

“It would be inappropriate to try and pre-empt the final conclusions or provide any further comment at this point.”

! Any resident receiving housing benefit who is concerned is advised to contact the council by emailing @colchester.gov.uk or phoning 01206 505336.