Government introduces Hillsborough Law to Parliament

The new Public Office (Accountability) Bill will introduce crucial legal protections for bereaved families and victims involved in public inquiries, investigations, and inquests.

The government has confirmed the Bill will include a “legal duty of candour,” requiring state agencies and public officials to be truthful and fully cooperate with investigations, with criminal penalties for any breaches. Campaigners had previously feared this measure might be excluded from the legislation.

Natasha Elcock, chair of Grenfell United, said: “It has been far too easy for public and private agencies to avoid accountability and scrutiny. Establishing a duty of candour through Hillsborough Law will prevent this, help us learn from failures, and ensure bereaved families and survivors receive the support they deserve.”

The legislation will also secure families’ access to non-means-tested legal aid at all inquests involving the state.

A spokesperson for the Hillsborough Law Now campaign said that if fully implemented, the Bill could “spark a major cultural shift and end the cover-ups and institutional defensiveness that have plagued so many disasters and scandals. The government must remain committed and resist pressures from vested interests seeking to weaken it as it passes through Parliament.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed campaigners to Downing Street to mark the Bill’s introduction, originally planned for the Hillsborough anniversary on April 15. He told them: “You have changed the lives not only of the families affected by these scandals and injustices, but also of thousands of people you will never meet. Generations to come will now be able to say, ‘We don’t have to go through that.’”

Sue Roberts, whose brother Graham was unlawfully killed at Hillsborough, described the Bill as “a huge step in the right direction” but added that families will be “watching closely to ensure it is passed and enacted in full.”

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard has Responded to Hillsborough Law Announcement and has said:

“Today marks a historic and long overdue moment. The introduction of the Hillsborough Law is not just a piece of legislation – it’s a promise kept to the 97 who lost their lives at Hillsborough, their families, and the survivors who have fought so hard for decades to secure truth and justice.

“The Hillsborough Law will help ensure that the cover-ups, delays, and denials faced by those families can never be repeated. By placing a clear duty of candour on public officials, providing equal legal representation for bereaved families, and holding those in power accountable when they mislead or conceal the truth, the Hillsborough Law represents a fundamental change in how our country responds when things go wrong. It is crucial that public officials act with honest and integrity – and there are clear consequences when this isn’t the case.

“Here in South Yorkshire, we carry a particular responsibility to acknowledge the failures of the past, and to ensure those failures are never allowed to happen again.

“I want to pay tribute to the campaigners who have made today possible. Their fight has always been about more than Hillsborough alone; it has been about fairness for every family touched by tragedy. The Hillsborough Law will now stand as a safeguard for generations to come – to ensure truth is never again concealed by the state.”