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Hillsborough Law

Lifecycle: Implementation Cabinet Office · Ministry of Justice · Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care Last regenerated 10 hours ago

Summary

What this is

The Public Office (Accountability) Bill — colloquially the 'Hillsborough Law' — imposes a statutory duty of candour, transparency and frankness on public authorities and officials in their dealings with inquiries, inquests and investigations, creates new criminal offences for misleading the public and for seriously improper acts by office-holders (replacing the abolished common-law offence of misconduct in public office), and establishes parity-of-arms measures including non-means-tested legal aid for bereaved families at inquests involving public authorities.

Why it matters

This is the Government's headline accountability reform fulfilling a Labour manifesto commitment and responding to decades of campaigning by the Hillsborough families and Bishop James Jones's 2017 report; it will fundamentally alter how public bodies (police, NHS, intelligence services, departments, local authorities, and contractors with health-and-safety responsibilities) interact with inquiries and bereaved families, with personal criminal liability for non-compliance.

Current status

The Bill completed Public Bill Committee on 4 December 2025 and is in Commons Report stage during 2026; a carry-over motion was agreed on 27 April 2026 to allow proceedings to continue into the next Session, and the Senedd approved a Legislative Consent Motion on 26 March 2026.

What changed recently

  • 27 Apr 2026 — Commons agreed a carry-over motion so the Bill's proceedings survive prorogation — signalling the Bill will not complete this Session →
  • 28 Apr 2026 — Commons Library published updated progress briefing CBP-10424 tracking the Bill through Report →
  • 27 Mar 2026 — Senedd Cymru approved the Legislative Consent Motion on 26 March 2026 →
  • 16 Mar 2026 — Government republished its 'Hillsborough Law Bill' policy hub on gov.uk as the Bill moved through Commons →
  • 3 Feb 2026 — Oral question pressed Ministers on the Bill's impact on intelligence services — the principal contested carve-out →

Key documents

Framework

Operationalising

Scrutiny

Evidence

Other

Consultations

Stakeholders

Grouped by role with evidence. Long groups scroll inside their column.

Sponsoring department 2

  • Ministry of Justice → src
    Lead department; introduced Bill 306 on 16 September 2025, jointly responsible (with Cabinet Office) for the Delegated Powers Memorandum, and published the Duty of Candour Factsheet and Impact Assessments.
  • Cabinet Office → src
    Co-sponsor on cross-Whitehall machinery; co-authored the Delegated Powers Memorandum and handles the duty's application across civil service-wide ethical standards.

Sponsoring minister 4

  • David Lammy → src
    Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; named Commons sponsor of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill on the Parliament Bills register.
  • Alex Davies-Jones → src
    Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Minister for Victims and VAWG); made the 19 January 2026 next-steps statement on the Bill and moved the 27 April 2026 carry-over motion; handles departmental engagement with Hillsborough Law Now and Pete Weatherby KC.
  • Keir Starmer → src
    Prime Minister; opened Second Reading on 3 November 2025 framing Hillsborough as 'an injustice' and 'a cover-up by the institutions that are supposed to protect and serve'.
  • Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede → src
    Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lords); answered Lords oral questions on Hillsborough Law on 22 April 2025 and 24 July 2025 restating Government commitment.

Lead committee 2

  • Public Bill Committee on the Public Office (Accountability) Bill → src
    Chaired by Peter Dowd and Sir Roger Gale; took oral evidence 27 November 2025 and conducted clause-by-clause 2-4 December 2025, with the Bill reprinted as amended on 4 December 2025.
  • Joint Committee on Human Rights → src
    Conducted pre-legislative scrutiny culminating in the Third Report of Session 2023-24 (May 2024) calling for a broad duty of candour and enhanced legal support; received the MoJ supplementary ECHR memorandum on 27 October 2025 and published the Government's response on 3 March 2025.

Witnesses & evidence-givers 11

  • Hillsborough Law Now (campaign coalition) → src
    Lead campaign coalition co-signing the joint POAB07 written evidence and meeting Ministers on 19 January and 6 March 2026; pushes for a stronger version of the duty than the Government's text.
  • INQUEST → src
    Inquest charity; co-signed POAB07 and submitted earlier evidence to the JCHR inquiry on duty of candour and equality of arms for bereaved families.
  • JUSTICE → src
    Law-reform charity; co-signed POAB07 joint submission with Hillsborough Law Now and INQUEST.
  • Pete Weatherby KC → src
    Counsel for Hillsborough families and architect of the campaign-drafted Public Authority (Accountability) Bill; in continuous engagement with MoJ since 18 January 2026 by phone, message and formal meetings (19 January and 6 March 2026).
  • Former Members of the Hillsborough Family Support Group → src
    Written evidence POAB16 from former HFSG members directly affected by the disaster.
  • Chinook Justice Campaign → src
    Written evidence POAB09 drawing on the 1994 Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash and the case for retroactive candour mechanisms.
  • Spotlight on Corruption → src
    Written evidence POAB14 addressing how the new offences interact with anti-corruption enforcement.
  • Hacked Off → src
    Written evidence POAB15 on the clause 11 'misleading the public' offence and its press/journalism carve-out.
  • Independent Public Advocate → src
    Written evidence POAB13 from the statutory Independent Public Advocate created by the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 — section 46 of which is repealed by this Bill.
  • WhistleblowersUK → src
    Supplementary written evidence POAB18 on how the duty of candour should interact with protected disclosures under ERA 1996 (clause 9(5)(b) and (11)).
  • Browne Jacobson LLP → src
    Written evidence POAB20 from a major public-sector law firm advising on operationalising the duty within public authority legal departments.

Commentator 10

  • Ian Byrne → src
    Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby; member of the Public Bill Committee, parliamentary lead for the Hillsborough Law Now campaign who reintroduced the campaign Public Authority (Accountability) Ten Minute Rule Bill on 2 July 2025 and pressed Ministers via oral question on 10 July 2025, 5 February 20
  • Anneliese Midgley → src
    Labour MP; pressed the Solicitor General on duty of candour delivery in the 4 September 2025 oral questions.
  • Harriet Cross → src
    Conservative MP; tabled the 3 February 2026 oral question on the Bill's potential impact on the intelligence services — the contested clause 6 / Sch 1 carve-out.
  • Max Wilkinson → src
    Liberal Democrat MP; tabled written question 86383 (29 October 2025) asking for legislative steps to require public sector reports on internal culture and inquiry-recommendation implementation.
  • Cameron Thomas → src
    Liberal Democrat MP; tabled written question 75553 (5 September 2025) on DHSC engagement with mental health services on meeting the statutory duty of candour.
  • Lord Alton of Liverpool → src
    Crossbench peer; led the Short Debate on Hillsborough Law on 13 November 2025 and pressed for progress in oral questions on 24 July 2025 and 22 April 2025.
  • Baroness Chakrabarti → src
    Labour peer; tabled and spoke in the 22 April 2025 oral question on the Government's intended introduction date for the Hillsborough Law as set out in the Labour 2024 manifesto.
  • Baroness Manningham-Buller → src
    Crossbench peer (former Director General of the Security Service); contributed to the 22 April 2025 Lords oral question — likely intervention point for the intelligence-services carve-out.
  • Baroness O'Loan → src
    Crossbench peer (former NI Police Ombudsman); contributed to the 22 April 2025 Lords oral question.
  • Lord Storey → src
    Liberal Democrat peer; tabled the 24 July 2025 Lords oral question pressing for the Bill's progress.

Regulator / delivery programme 1

  • Professional Standards Authority → src
    Engagement raised in written question 123117 (24 March 2026) on the extent to which Duty of Candour principles are embedded in the GMC and other healthcare regulator conduct standards.

Civil society 1

  • Bishop James Jones → src
    Author of the 2017 'The patronising disposition of unaccountable power' report on the experience of the Hillsborough families — the report whose recommendations the Bill is partly delivering, alongside the Hillsborough Charter signed in the 2023 Government response.

Political commitments

What parties and ministers have promised — manifesto pledges, King's Speech announcements, ministerial statements. Each card shows what was said, by whom, and when, with a link to the original source.

  • commitment Manifesto pledge Labour · 2024 · 'Hillsborough Law' — Lords Oral Questions — Hansard

    Hillsborough Law — duty of candour for public servants

    we remain fully committed to bringing legislation forward at pace, which will include a legal duty of candour for public servants and criminal sanctions for those who refuse to comply

    Why linked: The Government's 22 April 2025 Lords answer expressly tied the Bill to the manifesto commitment; the Bill is the legislative vehicle delivering that commitment.

    Source: 'Hillsborough Law' — Lords Oral Questions — Hansard · Original ↗
  • commitment Ministerial statement Labour · 2025 · Government policy on the Hillsborough Law

    Bill to be introduced before 36th anniversary of Hillsborough (15 April 2025)

    the Prime Minister's promise to introduce the Hillsborough Law to Parliament before the 36th anniversary of the disaster on 15 April 2025

    Why linked: EDM 64038 records that this commitment was missed — the Bill was not introduced until 16 September 2025 — and the campaign coalition has used that delay as leverage.

    Source: Government policy on the Hillsborough Law · Original ↗
  • commitment Ministerial statement Conservative · 2023 · Hillsborough disaster report: government response

    Organisational duty of candour for policing via the Code of Practice for Ethical Policing

    introducing legislation for an organisational duty of candour for policing - part of the code of practice for ethical policing laid in Parliament on 6 December 2023

    Why linked: The 2023 Conservative Government response to Bishop James Jones's report (the immediate predecessor commitment) introduced a policing-only duty of candour by Code of Practice rather than a cross-public-sector statutory duty — the gap the current Bill is intended to fill.

    Source: Hillsborough disaster report: government response · Original ↗

Open questions & gaps

Known gaps in the evidence base and what's still pending.

Pending in the lifecycle

  • Commons Report and Third Reading following the 27 April 2026 carry-over motion, before the Bill moves to the Lords
  • Lords stages and any amendments responding to the JCHR and Lords Library analyses of clause 11
  • Northern Ireland implementation following the NI Executive's earlier commitment to its own organisational duty of candour
  • Commencement regulations and transitional saving provisions under clauses 7 and 25

Beyond the corpus

  • MISSING A consolidated published list of all amendments accepted at PBC by the Government against the campaign-coalition asks — The Hillsborough Law Now / INQUEST / JUSTICE submission (POAB07) pressed for stronger drafting; the as-amended Bill 341 shows the Government's response only implicitly.
  • MISSING Government response to the JCHR's Third Report on the Hillsborough Law proposal — Only the March 2025 response is in the corpus; a further JCHR view on the as-introduced Bill would be the next natural scrutiny step.
  • MISSING Lords Constitution Committee and Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee reports on the Bill — Routine pre-Lords-stage scrutiny on a constitutionally significant Bill — not yet in the corpus.

Confidence gaps

  • Whether the parity-of-arms legal-aid provisions (Schedule 6 Part 4) extend to bereaved families at non-statutory inquiries on the same terms as inquests
  • The precise reach of clause 4 'relevant public responsibility' to outsourced service providers — written question 122930 confirms it captures some university work but the scope is contested
  • The interaction between clause 11's 'misleading the public' offence and the recognised news publisher carve-out in subsection (4)(b)