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The Committee normally conducts its business by correspondence. It considers cases where an individual who has been honoured is judged to have brought the honours system into disrepute, for example if he or she:

• has been found guilty by the courts of a criminal offence and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three months or more, or
• has been censured, struck off etc by the relevant professional or other regulatory authority for action or inaction which was directly relevant to the granting of the honours.

The Committee is not restricted to these two criteria, and if there is other compelling evidence that an individual has brought the honours system into disrepute, then it is open to the Committee to consider such cases as well.

The Committee also considers matters of general policy regarding forfeiture.

The Committee has a majority of independent members. It comprises:

• Head of the Civil Service (Chair)
• Treasury Solicitor
• chair of the specialist committee which recommended the honour to be forfeited
• two other specialist committee chairs who have no association with the case(s) under consideration

The Committee’s recommendations are submitted to The Queen through the Prime Minister.

The subjects discussed by the Committee remain confidential. Decisions on forfeiture are published in the London Gazette.