Members of the House of Lords

Lords Spiritual

26 bishops of the Church of England sit in the House of Lords: the Archbishops of Canterbury and of York, the Bishops of London, of Durham and of Winchester, and the next 21 most senior diocesan bishops (with the exception of the Bishop in Europe and the Bishop of Sodor and Man). Under the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015, female bishops take precedence over men until May 2025 to become new Lords Spiritual for the 21 seats allocated by seniority.

Lords Temporal

Lords Temporal include life peers, excepted hereditary peers elected under the House of Lords Act 1999, and remaining law life peers.

Current non-sitting members

There are also peers who remain members of the House, but are currently ineligible to sit and vote.

Peers on leave of absence

The following peers have been granted a leave of absence for the remainder of the session or the current parliament under section 23 of the Standing Orders of the House of Lords.

Peers temporarily disqualified

Under section 137(3) of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, holders of certain judicial offices who are peers are disqualified from sitting and voting in the House of Lords while in office. The following peers are currently subject to this provision.

Recently deceased

The following peers have died since March 2016:

Ceased to be members

As well as the hereditary peers excluded under the House of Lords Act 1999 and retired Lords Spiritual, there are a number of peers who have permanently ceased to be members of the House.

Resigned

Under section 1 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014, peers may permanently retire or otherwise resign their membership of the House. The following peers have exercised that right since the Act came into force in August 2014 and are either still living or have died since March 2016:

Additionally, the following peers elected to retire from the House of Lords in accordance with the Resolution of the House of 27 June 2011, under which peers were granted the option to signal their intention to voluntarily retire and have their service recognised in the House and marked informally outside the House.

Removed for non-attendance

Under section 2 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014, peers who fail to attend any sittings of the House during a whole parliamentary session cease to be members of the House at the start of the next session. The following peers have been subject to this provision since the Act came into force and are still living or have died since March 2016:

Permanently disqualified

Under section 41 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, peers must be domiciled in the United Kingdom for tax purposes. Section 42 allowed peers who did not wish to comply with the provision to choose within three months of the act coming into force to become permanently disqualified from being members of the House. The following peers opted to exercise that right and are still living or have died since March 2016: