United Kingdom

House of Lords

Political system
Parliamentary system
Structure of parliament
Bicameral
IPU membership
Yes

Parliamentary mandate

Start and end of mandate

Not applicable. Members of this parliament/chamber are not elected.
Yes
Start of the parliamentary mandate for appointed members
Other

Notes: A member’s mandate is in effect from the moment they are sent their writ of summons by the Queen.

End of the parliamentary mandate
Other

Notes: There is no retirement age for members of the House of Lords, except that bishops retire from their sees on reaching the age of seventy, and cease to be members of the House. Members of the House Lords can retire. Retired members remain peers, and retirement does not affect the use of their title. Retired members also continue to be treated for the purposes of general law as members of the House.

Speaker

Mode of designation of the Speaker
No information available
Authority that designates the Speaker when the Speaker is designated from outside parliament.
Not applicable
Rank of the Speaker in the hierarchy of the State
Other

Notes: Excluding the royal family, the Lord Speaker is eighth in the hierarchy of the State.

Speaker becomes interim Head of State in the event of the latter’s death or incapacity
No
Speaker's mandate continues between legislatures
Yes

Speaker terms

The term of the Speaker is different from the term of the house
No information available
Speaker's term
5 Years
Fixed election date for the Speaker, if any
No information available

Immunity and code of conduct

Parliament’s authorization is required for the detention or prosecution of members
No
There is a Code of conduct for members
Yes

Salaries and allowances

Members are paid salaries by parliament
Yes
(2020)
Basic salary, per year
0 GBP
(2021)
Basic salary, per year in PPP
0
(2021)
Basic allowances
No information available
Names of the basic allowances

Members may claim an attendance allowance up to £323 (as of 1st April 2020), or may choose to make no claim at their discretion.

Periodicity of attendance allowance
Day
Members pay income tax on salaries
No information available
Members pay income tax on allowances
No
Members can have remunerated employment outside parliament
Yes
Members are required to declare income from other employment to parliament
Yes
Additional salaries and allowances provided for leadership positions
Yes

Facilities, services and allowances for constituency work

Personal staff to work directly for the parliamentarian
No
Office at parliament
Yes
Constituency office
No
Housing
No
Other cash or in-kind allowances for constituency work
No
Additional salaries and allowances for leadership positions
List of salaries and allowances for leadership positions
Salary Allowances
Speaker Yes
Committee Chair

Notes:

Speaker: GBP 105,216 per annum

Salary of the Speaker
105,216 GBP
Salary of the Speaker in PPP
152,487
Parliament determines the amount of salaries
No
Name of the institution outside parliament which determines the amount

Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).

Parliament determines the amount of allowances
No
The parliamentary salary is determined in reference to another salary scale
Yes
Reference scale used for parliamentary salaries
Other

Notes: While the level of MPs’ pay is not determined by reference to another salary scale, annual increases in MPs’ pay are set by IPSA which has stated that it will usually link these to an official statistic on changes to public sector pay from the UK Office for National Statistics.

Information on salaries and allowances on the parliamentary website
Year data was last reported

2020

Participation in the government

Members of the government must also be members of parliament
Must be a member of parliament
Number of members of the parliament/chamber who are also members of the government
20
(2023)
Members for whom data is available
785
(2019)
Percentage of members of parliament/chamber who are also members of the government
2.5%
(2023-12)

Historical data for IPU membership

Historical data for IPU membership
Year IPU membership
2020-09
List of values for 2020-09
No
2019-04
List of values for 2019-04
No
2018-06
List of values for 2018-06
No