On the 15th September 2025, the Deputy Prime Minister, David Lammy, announced that the Government will introduce the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, now widely referred to as the ‘Hillsborough law’.
The legislation is designed to impose a statutory duty of candour on public officials and create new criminal offences aimed at ensuring that serious wrongdoing in public office is met with accountability, sanction and penalty.
Mr Lammy stated that the Bill responds directly to longstanding concerns arising from a series of national scandals that includes Hillsborough, Grenfell, Windrush, the Manchester Arena attack and the Post Office Horizon case. During all these cases, the victims and their families encountered systemic resistance, misleading information and protracted public struggles to uncover the truth.
What is the Hillsborough Law?
The term ‘Hillsborough law’ arises from the campaign led by families of the 97 victims of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.
The disaster was followed by decades of legal processes which exposed significant failings, not only in the policing of the event, but also in the subsequent investigations and public communications.
The families argued that public officials too often escaped accountability for misleading statements or institutional defensiveness. This led the campaigners to press for three principal reforms:
1. A statutory duty of candour imposed on all public authorities and officials.
2. A fairer inquest process, including automatic legal aid for bereaved families.
3. Clearer criminal liability where senior office-holders deliberately mislead or obstruct justice.
The Government’s new Bill directly tackles these principles, although campaigners are continuing to press for clarity on the breadth of the duty and the agencies to the ‘Hillsborough Law’ it will apply.
What are the key provisions of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill?
The key provisions of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill include:
- Statutory duty of candour
This is a new legal duty that will require public servants like government ministers, police officers and civil servants to act with honesty and integrity. Any breach of this duty may attract criminal liability.
- Offence of flagrant misleading
This is a specific offence that will criminalise conduct where public officials “flagrantly mislead” the public, with penalties of up to two years’ imprisonment.
- Reform of misconduct in Public Office
The existing common law offence of misconduct in public office will be replaced with two new statutory offences thus modernising the framework and closing gaps identified in previous prosecutions.
- Legal Aid for bereaved families
Families will receive automatic entitlement to legal aid in inquests where the state is legally represented, to ensure parity of arms between families and public bodies.
- Extended scope
The duty of candour and supporting provisions are expected to extend across a wide range of public authorities, including local and combined authorities, regulators (e.g. HSE, CQC), and those participating in public inquiries or ombudsman processes.
From a legal perspective, the proposed reforms are likely to be significant.
The replacement of the common law offence of misconduct in public office, long criticised for uncertainty and inconsistency, represents an important codification of standards in public life. The introduction of a statutory duty of candour and a bespoke offence of “flagrant misleading” reflects a move towards sharper accountability mechanisms with defined thresholds and penalties.
However, questions still remain.
How will “flagrantly mislead” be defined in statute, and what evidential thresholds will apply?
To what extent will the duty of candour extend to regulators, contractors, or other quasi-public bodies?
Will automatic legal aid provisions be sufficiently robust to guarantee equality of arms in practice, particularly in complex inquiries?
These issues are likely to be the subject of detailed parliamentary scrutiny and potential amendment as the Bill passes and its adoption begins.
What can we expect from the introduction of the Hillsborough Law?
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill marks a significant development in the law of public accountability. If enacted in its current form, it should help to strengthen both the cultural expectation and the legal requirement that public office must be exercised with honesty, transparency, and integrity.
For legal practitioners, the Bill represents not only the creation of new criminal offences but also a recalibration of how public authorities must approach inquiries, inquests and investigations. Its progress through Parliament will be closely followed, however, not least by campaigners who are already signaling that they will resist any dilution of its provisions.
Our Civil Law team includes barristers who specialise in areas like Inquests and Police Law. If you would like to discuss the coverage and potential impact of the ‘Hillsborough Law’ in more detail, please contact us today.