Two councils have been fined a total of £140,000 for 'sloppiness' over data breaches where emails with sensitive information about vulnerable people were sent to unintended recipients.

The Information Commissioner's Office has served Worcestershire County Council with an £80,000 fine. This follows an incident in March 2011 where a staff member accidentally sent a file for internal use, with details of a large amount of people, to 23 address book contacts outside the authority.