MPs have approved a new bill at third reading in The House of Commons which will impose a duty on public authorities and public officials to act with candour and co-operate with official investigations and inquiries. It will also have implications for organisations that carry out public functions and/or engage with public bodies. The Public Office (Accountability) Bill gives effect to the commitment in the Labour Party’s 2024 manifesto to introduce a ‘Hillsborough Law’ which will “place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities and provide legal aid for victims of disasters or state-related deaths”. It will also be supported by a code of ethics for public bodies and authorities to address the wider culture of defensiveness seen in the wake of public disasters such as the Post Office Horizon IT system, the Infected Blood Inquiry, and Windrush. The bill now passes to the House of Lords. Once in force, this legislation is likely to lead to more onerous disclosure obligations, potentially higher litigation costs, and a shift in defence strategies.
A body may be considered a public authority if it performs functions of a public nature, so this could apply to social care providers such as healthcare providers and nurseries, as well as other private contractors running public services.
The Bill will require additional public expenditure on legal aid for bereaved family members at inquests where a public authority is named as an “interested person” and represented.
The Bill has now completed its third reading in the House of Commons and will proceed to the House of Lords for further scrutiny. Its progress had previously been delayed by disputes over how the duty of candour and assistance should apply to the intelligence services. Government amendments published on 14 July 2026 introduced new provisions relating to security and intelligence information, under which the duty applies subject to specified safeguards. These issues are likely to attract further scrutiny in the Lords.
In terms of timing, the Government will be under pressure to complete the Bill’s passage before the next Hillsborough anniversary in April 2027.
Once in force, the new law will shift the way in which those caught by the legislation handle official investigations, inquests and inquiries. Initial costs are likely to increase as the disclosure obligations become more onerous and these investigations more protracted. But balanced against that, many will argue that co-operating more openly will allow parties to focus on the key issues and then narrow them down, which will save costs.
While both legal advice privilege and litigation privilege will remain intact, the new legislation is likely to result in more challenges to how privilege is asserted with arguments around the “dominant purpose” of the document becoming key. If a document is generated principally to establish what went wrong, it may be harder to resist disclosure, although issues of legal professional privilege, public interest immunity, and other legal restrictions will still need to be considered.
The introduction of new criminal offences for public authorities and officials aims to end institutional defensiveness. To that end it significantly broadens the circumstances under which officials may be held accountable and includes severe penalties. This may lead to internal conflicts, defensive behaviour, and uncertainty as to who polices and enforces compliance within public bodies. These issues are likely to be revisited in the Lords, particularly given the speed with which the final Commons amendments on security and intelligence information were tabled and debated.
Insurers will need to look at their Directors & Officers wordings to see whether the new criminal offences will be covered and the expanded liability of public bodies and those organisations that carry out a public function under public liability and professional indemnity policies. Sectors particularly impacted are likely to include social care, healthcare, waste management, construction, prisons and public IT infrastructure.
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