Lording it! Study find three quarters of peers do hardly any work - but many still claim thousands of pounds in expenses

The vast majority of work in the House of Lords is done by only a quarter of peers while 24 members do nothing, an analysis has shown.

According to new research by Tortoise, roughly 210 of the 830 peers in Parliaments upper chamber do two-thirds of the work.

More than 70 per cent of all amendments are made by 26 per cent of peers, while 63 per cent of all spoken contributions are made by the same group, the study found.

It showed the same was true of 61 per cent of all written questions in the Lords.

The analysis also found a handful of members had claimed hundreds of thousand in attendance payments without carrying out any discernible parliamentary work.

Most peers do not receive a salary for being a member of the Lords but are able to claim a tax-free attendance allowance of £361 for each day they attend Parliament.

The study showed that Lord Paul, previously a major Labour donor, claimed just over £100,000 for 314 days attendance over the course of the last parliament.

But, during that time, he did not speak in the Lords, never submitted a written question, and voted only once.

The vast majority of work in the House of Lords is done by only a quarter of peers while 24 members do nothing, an analysis has shown

Lord Paul, pictured with Lady Paul in 2008, claimed just over £100,000 for 314 days attendance over the course of the last parliament

A number of other peers were also shown to have claimed five-figure sums over multiple months with very little parliamentary activity recorded.

Elsewhere, the analysis revealed that taxpayers stumped up £1.5million in air travel costs for peers over the last parliament of which half was claimed by just 14 people.

Total travel expenses claimed by peers since December 2019 reached £5.4million, of which flights accounted for nearly a third.

Rail, ferry and coach costs accounted for £2.53million, while just over £1 million was expensed for car journeys.

In addition, nearly £300,000 was claimed for taxis, tolls and parking. 

A Lords spokesperson said: Members of the House of Lords are not full-time politicians and approach their parliamentary duties in different ways.

Many will only speak on issues of which they have expertise or experience.

The contribution those Members make to improving legislation and holding the Government to account can be enhanced rather than diminished by limiting their contributions to areas on which they have significant knowledge.

Members can only claim allowances for days they attend the House and undertake Parliamentary work.

The allowances system is designed to enable Members from all parts of the UK to attend the House and make an important contribution to improving legislation and holding the Government to account, irrespective of where they live in the UK or their financial circumstances.

Inevitably Members attending the House from areas of the UK further from London will incur higher travel costs.

It is important that voices from all parts of the UK are not excluded from attending by prohibitive costs.

All claims for journeys on public transport require documentation of the cost incurred.

MailOnline has attempted to contact Lord Paul via his Caparo Group business.