How does the honours system actually work?
Through a nomination and committee process rather than by application — anyone can nominate anyone, which is the fact least widely known and which shapes who ends up being considered.
How someone is nominated. Any member of the public can nominate any UK citizen, through an official form, with supporting letters. Nominations also come from government departments, which is how many awards for public service arise.
What happens next:
Independent committees, organised by field — arts, science, sport, health, community, business, state — assess nominations against published criteria.
Vetting, including tax compliance and criminal record checks.
Recommendation to the Prime Minister, then to the monarch, who formally confers them.
Twice-yearly lists, at New Year and on the sovereign's official birthday, plus separate diplomatic, overseas and resignation honours.
The main levels, in ascending order within the Order of the British Empire: BEM, then MBE, OBE, CBE, and knighthoods and damehoods. Other orders exist for specific fields, and some — the Order of Merit and the Royal Victorian Order — are in the monarch's personal gift.
What they are formally for: achievement, service to the community, and contribution beyond what a role requires. The stated intention is to recognise voluntary and community contribution as much as prominence, and the committees explicitly seek nominations from underrepresented groups and ordinary communities.
The criticisms, which are substantive:
Automatic honours attached to certain civil service and military ranks, which sit awkwardly with the stated purpose.
Political honours, including resignation lists, which are periodically controversial.
The imperial name, which some recipients decline on principle — and refusals are confidential unless the individual discloses them.
Distribution, which analyses have found skewed by geography, class and sector despite reform efforts.
Forfeiture, where honours can be removed for conduct, through a committee process.
What an honour actually confers: no money, no legal privilege, and no title except for knighthoods and damehoods, which carry "Sir" or "Dame". Post-nominal letters may be used.
Nominations take a long time — frequently well over a year.