Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015

Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make time-limited provision for vacancies among the Lords Spiritual to be filled by bishops who are women.
Citation	2015 c. 18
Introduced by	Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Commons) Lord Faulks, Minister of State for Civil Justice and Legal Policy (Lords)
Territorial extent	United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent	26 March 2015
Commencement	18 May 2015
Status: Current legislation
History of passage through Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted

Bishoprics Act 1878
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to provide for the foundation of four new Bishoprics in England.
Citation	41 & 42 Vict. c. 68
Dates
Royal assent	16 August 1878
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (c. 18) is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. It states that whenever a vacancy arises among the Lords Spiritual during the next ten years after the act comes into force, the position has to be filled by a woman, if there is one who is eligible. In this case, the act supersedes section 5 of the Bishoprics Act 1878, which would otherwise require "the issue of a writ of summons to that bishop of a see in England who having been longest bishop of a see in England has not previously become entitled to such writ".^[1] It does not apply to the five sees of Canterbury, York, London, Durham or Winchester, which are always represented in the House of Lords.

The act was passed half a year after the Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure 2014 authorised the Church of England to appoint women as bishops.^[2]

In 2024, the Labour Starmer ministry government introduced a bill to Parliament to extend the Act's provisions by five more years (until May 2030).^[3]