The Public Office (Accountability) Bill
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill, commonly known as Hillsborough Law, was introduced to Parliament in September 2025. This Bill marks a significant step towards greater accountability, transparency and justice in public life.
The Bill is the result of years of tireless campaigning by the families and survivors of the Hillsborough disaster, alongside those affected by other major tragedies, who have worked relentlessly to ensure that lessons are learned and institutional failings are not repeated.
JUSTICE welcomes the Bill and, in particular, its provisions to:
- Introduce a statutory duty of candour on public authorities and public officials across the exercise of their official functions, including duties to assist a broad range of official investigations. These measures have the potential to address the culture of cover-up, obfuscation, denial and defensiveness that too often emerges when public bodies are implicated in serious failings.
- Create new criminal offences relating to breaches of the duty of candour, misleading the public, and failing to fulfil duties to assist investigations. These provisions provide a meaningful deterrent and strengthen mechanisms for holding public officials to account.
- Expand the availability of legal aid for bereaved families involved in inquests where public bodies are represented. This is an important step towards ending the inequality of arms that forces families to fund their own legal representation, or go unrepresented, while state bodies benefit from taxpayer-funded legal support.
While these measures are welcome, JUSTICE believes that Parliamentarians must also:
- Support the Bill's provisions in their entirety, including the compliance and enforcement mechanisms needed to ensure the duty of candour is practical, effective and properly enforced.
- Ensure the Government guarantees that the legislation applies to intelligence services and officers, and that chief executives are fully accountable for meeting the Bill's requirements.
- Strengthen the offence of misleading the public by removing the requirement to prove actual harm, ensuring the provision can effectively deter cover-ups.
- Safeguard genuine equality of arms between victims, families and state bodies during investigations and inquests by supporting the protections contained in Part 4 of the Bill.
JUSTICE has worked jointly with Hillsborough Law Now and INQUEST in support of these reforms and will continue to advocate for legislation that delivers meaningful accountability, transparency and access to justice for victims, survivors and bereaved families.
JUSTICE - Briefing on oral question regarding Hillsborough Law tabled for 22 April 2025