Financial hit of jury service

[Pheasantsfeather]

I've just been summoned for jury service. Checked the terms and conditions and our company will grant special leave to attend but you are unpaid. You can claim £64 per day back in expenses. My take home per day is three times that.

I am fully supportive of why I need to do it, but I can't believe I'm expected to take such a financial hit. If it were to go on for the full 10 days, I will be over £1000 out of pocket. I can't afford that, we have nursery and holiday club fees for 3x children and a mortgage to pay.

How can you be duty bound to do something that costs you so much in lost earnings?

Find a reason to refuse. I cited hip pain, u able to sit for long periods while waiting for hip replacement. Mostly true, esp the latter.
accepted without query

My husband was excused because we couldn’t afford for him to do it (I was on maternity leave and his work wouldn’t make up the difference). He hasn’t been asked since and that was 10 years ago.

Yes, I remember the Maxeell brothers trial, went on for months 😕

I’ve just been summoned also. I’m on gruelling cancer treatment and am now unwell with Heart failure from chemo! I’ve asked to be excused!

I agree with you. I think it's ridiculous that people are expected to lose considerable amounts of money for taking time off work,to do their duty! If the powers that be didn't want people to say they can't do it then maybe they should try offering them adequate compensation for their lost wages.

I agreed to do it back in April and then asked to be excused a few weeks before the start date and they accepted.
Didn't have to give dates that I could do in the future either. I think I got lucky.
I was all up for it at first then realised the massive impact it would have with my work, toddler & money, I just couldn't commit.

They make up earnings nett of income tax and N.I. contributions, so you'd reach the £129 cap at about £43k - £44k (assuming the standard personal allowance). But extra childcare expenses aren't paid on top; the cap is on loss of earnings plus extra childcare expenses. Even without having to fork out more for childcare, you'd still be £650 out of pocket for the 10 days £65 cap was applied.

I've been called 3 times, & cited childcare issues.
The real reason was the financial loss.
It was granted, no checks were made, & the last time DS was c.15.

To everyone saying employers should pay, why them and not the government? It could be crippling for a small business.

The usher on my case said the longest one she’d seen was just short of 3 years - summing up took over 3 months 🤯. The trial I was on was 10 days (sa of a child under 13) and that was plenty long enough for me even though I’d been really keen to do jury service. It was a really interesting experience though (and my employer paid the extra above the court allowance)

Or how about employers have to administrate opt-out insurance, rather like pensions?

Is that a thing?

I just used his email account.

Say you cannot afford it, you wouldn’t be able to pay your mortgage etc this is a valid excusal reason.

My dsis was summoned for jury duty . She read the letter but didn’t bother replying
She believed that if she replied she would have to think of a good excuse to avoid jury duty and she didn’t think that financial loss implications would be accepted

That’s not entirely true. I am none of those things, my employer paid my two weeks in full. Most of my jury were people who had interesting jobs. In fact two were retired and one had a living wage job. The case did over run slightly though and so I claimed loss of earnings for three days I believe.

Did they chase up the letter do you know ?
A pp also mentions ignoring the letter , i live in dread of being called up , i got out of it about 20 years ago and i'm wondering about doing this if i get called again.

Thanks all. I think I will have to try and get exemption. It's a shame but I can't take the hit with small children.

I'm really interested about all the comments around sitting around and getting sent home? Why is it not better organised

I did it a couple of years back. My employer wouldn't pay me while I was attending.

I turned up diligently every morning for 10 days. I sat in a room for a few hours. They said I was not needed and sent me home.

I didn't get to do any actual jury service and was only given about £30 per day as I'd only been there for half a day.

It was a massive loss of earnings. I'm single and had to dip into my savings to cover my basic living costs.

I would try and get out of it if they called me up again.

Cut-off for jury service is aged 70 - who would be just in right place to serve, rather than working people and those with children. Get that those may not be the demographic they want, but they need to be realistic.

Reply immediately and say this will cause severe financial hardship if your employer won't pay it .
Some pay in full .. they will ask for proof of hardship .

I am public sector so would be paid as usual but my DH is self-employed and charges more than £64 an hour. Plus he would lose customers if he could not say when he would be able to return to work. For that reason he always opts out which is a shame but he should not be out of pocket for doing his civic duty!

Good luck with your treatment x

Thanks 😊

Generally they would ask more people to turn up than they need, because some people won't turn up due to illness/forgetting/transport issues etc, so it is better to inconvenience a few jurors than not have enough jurors abd risk the whole trial having to be adjourned as that is extremely expensive plus unjust to defendants and victims who have likely already waited a long time for this date.

Also sometimes defendants change their plea to guilty on the morning of trial so they may have fewer trials than anticipated.

The sitting around can also be down to legal argument going on in the court that the jury can't hear e.g. if there is a dispute about whether a particular piece of evidence can be put before the jury