Hempsons: Preparing for an inquest
As the Public Office (Accountability) Bill advances toward enactment in 2026, healthcare providers in the UK confront new criminal penalties for lacking candour in inquests, amid a surge in scrutiny over patient deaths.
Key takeaways
- •The Bill imposes a statutory duty of candour on public authorities like the NHS, making failures to disclose information in inquests punishable by up to two years' imprisonment.
- •Prevention of Future Death reports rose 25% in 2024, with notable increases in care home and mental health cases, signaling higher inquest volumes and regulatory pressure in 2025-2026.
- •The UK Covid-19 Inquiry's final module, starting February 2026, exposes healthcare vulnerabilities from the pandemic, likely spurring more inquests into related fatalities.
Inquest Accountability Surge
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill, introduced in September 2025 and known as the Hillsborough Law, represents a major shift in how public bodies handle investigations into deaths. It creates a legal duty for officials in sectors like healthcare to act with transparency during inquests, driven by past scandals where information was withheld. This comes as coroners issued 713 Prevention of Future Death (PFD) reports in 2024, up 25% from the prior year, with 34 tied to care homes—a sharp rise—and 20 to community health services.
Healthcare organizations, including NHS trusts, are directly impacted. The Bill applies to all employees as public officials, requiring proactive disclosure of significant information and correction of errors. Non-compliance could lead to fines or imprisonment, with offences defined around seriously improper conduct that causes harm. This affects thousands of inquests annually, where families now gain automatic legal aid if public bodies are involved, potentially costing £183 million based on 11,400 cases per year at £16,000 each.
Deadlines loom: the Bill is at committee stage, with royal assent expected in 2026, applying to new inquests thereafter. Inaction risks reputational damage, as seen in ongoing Covid-19 Inquiry hearings from February 2026, which highlight disparities in care for vulnerable groups and could trigger fresh inquests. Record deaths in custody—up to unprecedented levels in 2025—add to the caseload, straining coroners' courts with backlogs.
Less obvious tensions arise in balancing candour with practicalities. While the Bill mandates ethical codes and whistleblowing channels, critics worry about a chilling effect on decision-making if penalties deter honest errors. Extensions to intelligence services include safeguards like closed hearings, but healthcare faces no such exemptions, raising concerns over sensitive patient data. Trade-offs include stronger family participation versus higher costs for providers, and broader accountability versus potential overreach into private contractors delivering public services.
Sources
- https://dwfgroup.com/en/news-and-insights/insights/2025/12/implications-of-section-13-of-the-public-office-accountability-bill
- https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/offence-of-misleading-the-public-public-office-accountability-bill
- https://cms-lawnow.com/en/ealerts/2025/09/the-public-office-accountability-bill-and-its-implications-for-public-sector-transparency-and-misconduct
- https://www.eversheds-sutherland.com/en/united-kingdom/insights/the-public-office-accountability-bill-striking-the-right-balance
- https://www.kingsleynapley.co.uk/insights/blogs/public-law-blog/enhancing-public-accountability-key-elements-of-the-public-office-accountability-bill-2025
- https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/06/cassandra-somers-joce-a-new-chapter-for-governmental-candour-the-public-office-accountability-bill
- https://www.chemins-publics.org/articles/the-duty-of-candour-and-its-potential-significance
- https://www.eversheds-sutherland.com/en/global/insights/transparency-reform-and-rebalancing-justice-the-public-accountability-bill
- https://www.stoneking.co.uk/literature/e-bulletins/standards-public-life-and-so-called-hillsborough-law-strengthening-our
- https://www.weightmans.com/media-centre/news/inquests-what-s-on-the-horizon-for-2026
- https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=ead0f1ac-6344-4008-9d76-98ee2d4a4afb
- https://www.bevanbrittan.com/insights/articles/2026/health-care-update-january-2026
- https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/17095354/C-19-Inquiry-16-February-2026-Module-10-Day-1.pdf
- https://www.simpsonmillar.co.uk/public-law-and-human-rights/deaths-in-custody-at-record-high
- https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/network-and-thematic-analysis-of-mental-healthrelated-prevention-of-future-death-reports-from-2013-to-2025-in-england-and-wales/E85F90BA3E17FEDBC1F7FC97A408ACC9
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