The public are being told that their employee payroll details cannot be easily used for identity theft, after the Metropolitan Police admitted three laptops containing such data had been stolen.

The three police laptops contained payroll details of staff working for the Metropolitan Police Service, and it was feared such sensitive banking information could be used to commit ID fraud. But APACS, the UK payments association, said that information alone was not enough to create a false identity.

Jemma Smith, spokeswoman for APACS, said: “Although this burglary must be of great embarrassment to the Met, people must not panic. Any personal information is of interest to fraudsters, but they need a lot more than account and payroll details to do cause damage. ID theft is also not as common in the UK as people think.”

However, those concerned about falling victim to ID theft can take a few simple steps to ensure they are safeguarded. These include checking every bank statement and carrying out annual credit checks.

“In the unlikely event that someone is a victim of ID fraud, reporting the problem to the police and bank provider will make sure they are not liable,” added Smith.

The police laptops were stolen from the offices of LogicaCMG, the company responsible for its pay and pension services.

When contacted, a Met Police spokesman refused to comment on the theft, instead referring to a prepared statement: “A risk assessment of the data on the laptops has been conducted. We believe the risk of staff members falling victim to either fraudulent activity or identity theft is minimal.

“However, we are in discussion with CIFAS (the UK fraud prevention service), APACS (the single point of contact for most UK financial institutions) and credit reference agencies about what action we can take to further safeguard our staff from becoming victims of fraud.”

Officers from the Burglary Squad, based at Peckham, and the Specialist Crime Directorate, who are investigating the robbery, arrested on a man on suspicion of burglary on Friday. He was later bailed, pending further inquiries.