Details of more than 100,000 company pensions have been stolen from a Deloitte staffer after her laptop was snatched in a handbag theft.

The computer had the pension holders' names, National Insurance numbers and salary details stored on it but Deloitte has said that there was a 'very very low' risk of anyone being able to access the information, The Press Association reported.

Deloitte said in a statement: 'A handbag with a Deloitte laptop in it was stolen from a public place in September. The laptop held information which included employee details of individuals from a number of Deloitte's clients. It did not include addresses or bank account information.

'The theft was immediately reported to the police and relevant clients were notified.

'The laptop was protected by a number of security measures, including start up password, operating system user ID / password authentication and encryption.

'Deloitte has information security policies which include guidelines for employees to ensure they pay close attention to their laptops when in public places.

'Nevertheless, and very unfortunately, this theft still occurred. We believe that the likelihood of unauthorised access to the data held on this laptop is remote due to the opportunistic nature of the theft and the security controls.'