Members of the House of Lords are appointed, not elected. Voters have no direct say in who sits in the upper chamber of the UK Parliament. Of the roughly 835 current members, almost all hold life peerages granted by the monarch on the Prime Minister’s advice, with a small number of seats reserved for senior Church of England bishops.1UK Parliament. The Two-House System So if you are asking whether House of Lords members are elected or appointed, the short answer is appointed, through a process controlled largely by the sitting Prime Minister.
Who Actually Appoints Peers
The main route into the Lords is a life peerage. The King formally creates the peerage by issuing Letters Patent, but he acts on the Prime Minister’s advice.2UK Parliament. How Members Are Appointed A life peerage lasts for the holder’s lifetime and cannot be inherited. Nominees are typically people with a track record in business, law, science, public service, or the arts, though many nominations are openly political.
The House of Lords Appointments Commission, set up in 2000, sits alongside this process. It recommends individuals for non-party-political peerages, and it vets every party-political nomination for propriety.2UK Parliament. How Members Are Appointed Its advice is not binding. The Prime Minister can proceed with a nomination the Commission has flagged, which keeps real appointment power concentrated at the top of government.
Outgoing Prime Ministers have also traditionally submitted “resignation honours” on leaving office, with other party leaders contributing names. Each change of government tends to produce a fresh wave of peers, which is part of why the House has grown so large.
Crossbench Peers
Not every life peer takes a party whip. Around 184 members sit as politically independent crossbenchers, roughly 22 percent of the House.3UK Parliament. Crossbench Peers They are still appointed rather than elected. The crossbenches simply describe where they sit and how they vote, not how they got there.
What Happened to Hereditary Peers
For centuries, some people sat in the Lords purely because they had inherited a title. The House of Lords Act 1999 removed that automatic right from most of them, but kept 92 hereditary peers in place as a temporary compromise.4UK Parliament. Hereditary Peers Removed When one of the 92 died or retired, the seat was filled by an internal by-election in which only other hereditary peers could vote or stand. The public was never involved.
That arrangement is now being closed. The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, which passed the Lords in early 2026, repeals the exception that preserved those 92 seats. Once it takes effect at the end of the current parliamentary session, no one will sit in the Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage.5GOV.UK. Hereditary Peers Bill Passes in House of Lords, Paving the Way for Further Reform Around 88 hereditary peers still sitting at that point will lose their seats. Some may return if separately appointed as life peers, but the hereditary route into Parliament will be permanently shut.
The Bishops’ Seats
Twenty-six seats are reserved for senior bishops of the Church of England, known as the Lords Spiritual. Five hold their seats automatically by office: the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of London, Durham, and Winchester.6House of Lords Library. Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords Explained The other 21 places go to the longest-serving diocesan bishops in England. Because they sit ex officio, they leave the Lords when they retire from their diocese.
Since 2015, vacancies among those 21 seats have gone to the most senior eligible female diocesan bishop, when one is available, ahead of any male bishop. This priority rule has been extended to May 2030 under the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Act 2025.7legislation.gov.uk. Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Act 2025 The Church of England only began ordaining women as bishops in 2015, and without the rule they would have had to wait decades to accumulate the seniority needed to qualify.
None of this involves an election in any public sense. Bishops reach the Lords through Church appointments and seniority, not a vote.
Why the Lack of Elections Shapes What the Lords Can Do
Because peers are not chosen by voters, the chamber operates under real limits on what it can override. The Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 removed its former veto. If the Lords rejects a bill passed by the Commons, the Commons can reintroduce it in the following session and send it for Royal Assent without the Lords’ consent, provided roughly a year has elapsed.8UK Parliament. The Parliament Acts
Money bills, covering taxation or public spending, are tighter still. The Lords cannot amend them, and they must receive Royal Assent within one month of being sent up, whether the Lords has passed them or not.8UK Parliament. The Parliament Acts
An unwritten rule reinforces the point. Under the Salisbury Convention, dating from the 1940s, the Lords does not vote down at second or third reading any government bill promised in the governing party’s election manifesto.9UK Parliament. Salisbury Doctrine The reasoning is straightforward: a chamber without a democratic mandate should not overturn policies voters explicitly endorsed.
How Members Leave
The other side of never being voted in is never being voted out. Until 2014, a life peer had no way to leave the Lords voluntarily. The House of Lords Reform Act 2014 introduced three ways out.11legislation.gov.uk. House of Lords Reform Act 2014
The conviction rule applies to offences in the UK or abroad, though for overseas convictions the House itself must pass a resolution before the Lord Speaker can certify the removal.10legislation.gov.uk. House of Lords Reform Act 2014
Short of one of those triggers, an appointed peer stays for life. That is the practical consequence of the answer to the original question: the House of Lords is an appointed chamber, and the public’s role in shaping its membership is indirect at best, exercised only through electing the Prime Minister who does most of the appointing.