Jury service can I be excused?

[babylamb4]

Received the dreaded letter today, the date falls on February half term 🤦🏻‍♀️

I have bpd and am currently unmedicated, I’m not mentally capable to do jury service. I also have dd9 who has adhd and won’t let anyone other than me look after her, she won’t even go to grandparents so won’t have childcare. If I call them tomorrow will those reasons be good enough?

Yes I refused twice , once because I was going to be travelling and once because I had social phobia/anxiety. It was back when you had to write to them. I didn’t have to do it.

Yes I believe so. Medical issues and caring for dependents are both valid grounds.

Also even if they refuse you can appeal. We appealed for DH because they refused his request to be excused because apparently living in Japan was not a good enough reason 😂 A human then checked it over upon appeal and agreed he could be excused/defer.

Send an email explaining your situation and the anxiety doing jury service would cause. Hubby was excused as he is self-employed and would loose his customers.

Here's what it says on the government website:

Ask to be excused from jury service
If it’s not possible for you to do jury service in the next 12 months, you can ask to be excused. You’ll only be allowed to do this in exceptional circumstances, for example:

• you have a serious illness or disability that prevents you from doing jury service
• you’re a full time carer of someone with an illness or disability
• you’re a new parent and will not be able to serve at any other time in the next 12 months
• you’re currently living outside England or Wales

You can also ask to be excused from jury service if you’ve done it in the last 2 years. If you do not do jury service this time, you could still receive a summons in the future. To ask to be excused, reply to your jury summons explaining your reasons in detail. You might need to give proof, for example, if you’re ill you might be asked for a letter from your doctor. If your request is turned down, you can still ask to change the date of your jury service.

No, you "respond to the summons" and follow the instructions from there.

Thats what he did. And he was excused.