Pledge
“Labour will also introduce a mandatory retirement age. At the end of the Parliament in which a member reaches 80 years of age, they will be required to retire from the House of Lords”
Our verdict
A select committee has been appointed to consider and make recommendations on Labour’s proposed reforms to the House of Lords, including the introduction of a retirement age.
Most members of the House of Lords are appointed for life (though since 2014 they have been allowed to retire). The exceptions to this are the ‘Lords Spiritual’—the 26 Church of England archbishops and bishops entitled to sit in the House, who must retire at the age of 70.
As part of a wider commitment to reform the House of Lords, Labour’s manifesto pledged to change the rules so that: “At the end of the Parliament in which a member reaches 80 years of age, they will be required to retire from the House of Lords.”
The maximum length of a parliament is five years, which means that under these rules a peer who turned 80 just after the start of a new parliament would theoretically be able to remain in the House of Lords until they were 85 (rather than having to retire immediately upon reaching the age of 80).
Analysis by the House of Lords Library in November 2024 stated: “Assuming no changes in the current complement of life peers, including that no current life peers leave the House and no further life peers join the House, 301 (42.1%) of the House’s 715 life peers would be aged 80 or over at dissolution in 2029.” (These figures will change over the course of the parliament.)
Labour’s manifesto does not indicate when this change will take place, so we assume this pledge will be met if a retirement age is in place by the end of the current parliament.
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In September 2024 it was reported that the government planned to launch a consultation on its proposal to introduce a retirement age, though no timeframe for this has been publicly set out yet.
It was reported in January 2025 that the government was considering alternative ways to reduce the size of the Lords without requiring further legislation, and was “open to ways to bring down the number of peers beyond a hard age limit of 80, if an agreement across the chamber could avoid a legislative quagmire”.
When we asked the Cabinet Office about this in March 2025 it referred us to the Labour manifesto and said that it was right that the government takes time to consider how best to implement its commitments, engaging with peers and the public where appropriate. It did not commit to a specific date for launching a consultation on the reform.
In December 2025, the Lords agreed to establish a select committee to consider and make recommendations on Labour’s proposals for House of Lords reform, including the participation requirement. It is due to report by 31 July 2026.
As we develop this Government Tracker we’re keen to hear your feedback. We’ll be keeping the Tracker up to date and adding more pledges in the coming months.
Progress displayed publicly—so every single person in this country can judge our performance on actions, not words.
Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister – 24 September 2024