Prior to the House of Lords Act 1999 ("the 1999 Act") a hereditary peerage generally carried with it the right to sit and vote in the House of Lords1. The 1999 Act removed the right of most hereditary peers to membership of the House of Lords (and therefore their right to sit and vote in the House). The original intention was that the 1999 Act should remove the membership of all hereditary peers. However, under a compromise agreement reached during the passage of the Bill, an amendment was made which excepted from that removal 90 hereditary peers, as well as hereditary peers holding the offices of the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain.
	In its 2024 General Election manifesto, the Government committed to removing the right of the ‘excepted’ hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. This Act gives effect to that commitment.
	As a result of the Act, there are no longer be members of the House of Lords by virtue of their hereditary peerage. The Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain continue to be able to exercise their ceremonial functions in the House but are no longer members.
	The House of Lords Reform Act 2014 ("the 2014 Act") allows peers to retire or otherwise resign from the House of Lords. The Act makes provision for Standing Orders of the House of Lords to set out how a person acting on behalf of a peer who lacks capacity can give and sign the necessary notice to allow the peer to resign under the 2014 Act. The Standing Orders may provide, for example, how a notice should be given by a person acting on behalf of a peer under a lasting power of attorney under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and equivalents in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
	As well as removing the final link between the hereditary peerage and membership of the House of Lords, the Act also abolishes the jurisdiction of the House of Lords in hereditary peerage claims. The intention is that:
any complex or disputed peerage claims that would have otherwise been considered by the House of Lords will instead be referred to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council by way of section 4 of the Judicial Committee Act 1833; and
claimants to a peerage of Ireland will no longer petition the House of Lords to confirm their succession.
Policy background