Over 300 civil servants have been hit by a data breach in the civil service’s shared payroll system, involving their personal details being sent to HR departments other than their own.
The breach was reported to the Data Protection Commissioner at the end of October.
PeoplePoint, the shared human resources and pensions centre based in Clonskeagh, inadvertently emailed a report relating to multiple departments to a number of local human resources departments. The details of 317 people, including their names, PPS numbers, grade, department and details of overpayments, were unencrypted.
In a report to the commissioner, PeoplePoint’s data protection compliance team blamed the error on a “momentary lapse in concentration on the part of the officer responsible”.
“The report was not intended for circulation by email as it is not part of the process or practice to do so. Unfortunately, as it was not meant for distribution in this way, it had not been encrypted,” the report said.
The error was identified instantly by the PeoplePoint officer and unsuccessful efforts were made to recall the email.
Remedial action was taken immediately and a follow-up email was sent asking recipients to confirm they had deleted the mail and that they had not copied or further circulated it.
The head of PeoplePoint made individual contact with the personnel officers of the affected departments to inform them of the breach and of the proposed follow up plan.
In November last year, the Civil and Public Services Union highlighted problems with PeoplePoint – in particular what it said were "growing difficulties" with overpayments arising from sick leave and a transition to half-pay.
It sought flexibility with repayment plans were problems arose through no fault on the part of its members.
Discussions between the union and PeoplePoint have continued this year.
The CPSU said in an update to members that it was liaising with other unions whose members had been affected by the breach.
In 2011, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin announced the establishment of shared services, including in HR and payroll, across the civil service as a cost saving and efficiency measure.
At that time, it was costing the civil service €85.6 million to deliver HR services to 40 government departments and offices.
Mr Howlin said that after 2014, when all those departments had moved to PeoplePoint, the annual cost of human resources services for the civil service would be cut by €12.5 million a year. There were 870 people working in human resources in 2011 and when fully implemented, PeoplePoint would have about 330 staff in Clonskeagh, south Dublin.