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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if anyone has been excused from Jury Duty.....

53 replies

RolyWatts · 18/06/2019 22:10

because they have no child care. Been asked to attend during the school holidays and I have no one else to watch my children. I looked at the exemptions sheet and it doesn't mention childcare. Just wondering if anyone else had encountered this and what you did?

OP posts:
ThePants999 · 18/06/2019 23:16

While I'd never condone such a thing, the advice I've heard before is to bin the summons and, if asked, you never received it. They didn't send it recorded delivery, so they can't prove you received it, and they summon enough people that they generally don't bother chasing up those few who don't reply.

Procrastination4 · 18/06/2019 23:18

I think you have a very valid reason for being unable to do jury service. Now if the court provided free childcare for the duration it would be different. They don’t so what arrangements are you supposed to devise and pay for, over an indefinite time scale?? Childcare facilities don’t operate like this. Explain your situation and hopefully it will be successful for you. As for those who wither on about “civic duty”...the OP will most likely be in a position to do jury duty in years to come. Right now, she can’t, and shouldn’t he made feel guilty about it.

Procrastination4 · 18/06/2019 23:18

Be!

Chocolate35 · 18/06/2019 23:21

I was excused because I was a single parent with no help. Explain your situation, they’ll be fine. Agree with PP, excuse yourself don’t defer. I’m now married with more children but still wouldn’t be able to.

BackforGood · 18/06/2019 23:21

I never said you were being a dick Hmm

You asked a question, and I was letting you know what it said on the form I'd recently had to fill in, and that it was borne out but several other jurors I chatted to, not being allowed to ' not do jury service' even though they either had young children themselves, or they were the carers for other children (ie two ladies I spoke to at different times were Grannies who looked after little dc whilst their parents worked.).
No need to have a go at me for sharing the information sent out by the court.

I think breastfeeding is different, but am surprised 'childcare' is treated differently by different courts.

Diversion · 18/06/2019 23:26

I was called some years ago when my 4 children were all very young during the summer holidays. I explained that finding childcare in one setting for all four was almost impossible and that it would cost approx £100 per day. They excused me and said that I could be called again in the future and I am still waiting.

salsmum · 18/06/2019 23:31

I was excused twice as I'm a full time Carer for my daughter.. the third time my daughter was living independently so I was able to get time off my agency and went. It was a London court and I rang and asked for a more local court nearer home and they obliged they said the areas just come up randomly on the computer it turned out to be 2 weeks and 3 different cases. They oblige when they can.

BillStickersIsInnocent · 18/06/2019 23:36

I worry about the impact on sex representation on juries for this reason - women have the bulk of unpaid care responsibilities and therefore will be excused more often than men.

I sat on a jury earlier this year - it was a sexual assault case. The pool was 4/5ths men and the resulting jury was 10 men 2 women. Add to that the male barristers, judge, bailiffs etc the whole experience was predominately male and the conduct in court and results were predictable.

Obviously anecdote isn’t data - I’ve never been able to find stats for jury representation in England but would be so interested in this.

LizziesTwin · 19/06/2019 00:13

DD had hers deferred while she was doing uni finals and will be on jury duty in September.

@BillStickersIsInnocent - a very good point. I wonder whether anyone is trying to address it.

Original poster
RolyWatts · 19/06/2019 00:37

I worry about the impact on sex representation on juries for this reason - women have the bulk of unpaid care responsibilities and therefore will be excused more often than men.

Yes excellent point @BillStickersIsInnocent. I'd love to see figures on this too. More googling to be done.

@BackforGood not saying you did or that you were having a go. And I wasnt having a go at you. Genuinely baffled at what people who can't "find childcare" do?

OP posts:
24hourhomeedderandcarer · 19/06/2019 01:58

as my user name says thats what i am even though i have a partner that does the same

i had a letter last year that expected me to go to a court house an hour and half away at my own expense and as i dont drive(our household has a car though as my partner drives) and public transport is every few hours it wasnt happening

i rang and told them what i do and as we have the 2 kids that need constant care each my partner cant cope with 2 by himself

they excused me straight away because of the caring not the HE and ive heard nothing since

sodonesooverit · 19/06/2019 06:31

Yes, I've been deferred 3 times - twice for breastfeeding and most recently as I have no childcare

itsagodawfulsmallaffair · 19/06/2019 06:34

Yes. 18 years ago toddler and new baby. Never asked again.

BackforGood · 19/06/2019 20:51

@BillStickersIsInnocent
I'm interested in 'representation' too.
As I said, I've recently done jury service, and was on a single case for the whole time so got to chat to the fellow jurors over many days.
I said how surprised I was how unrepresentative the Jury was, of the population of the City / County. Not (in my case) by sex, but colour / education / religion /class / appearance (in that no-one had any facial piercings or visible tattoos or extreme haircuts etc etc etc). I understand picking the jury randomly isn't going to be the same as 'proportional' to the population as a whole, but you think there'd be some correlation.

Shootingstar1115 · 19/06/2019 20:55

Me 🙋‍♀️ About 5 years ago I was called up when DS was about 2 and not yet in nursery or pre school. I rang up and explained how I wasn’t willing to start him in nursery just for the sake of jury service (was planning to wait until 2.5) and also had no family readily available to have him. I was told I had to put it in writing and I was excused thankfully.

I was told I may be called up again BUT have heard nothing since thankfully!

NoBaggyPants · 19/06/2019 21:04

You're given the option to continue after 2 weeks of it's a long case iirc.

This is not correct. If a case is expected to last longer than your duty then you are given the option of whether you wish to sit on the jury or not. You can't leave two weeks into a trial!

LoafofSellotape · 19/06/2019 21:10

NoBaggyPants

You can't leave two weeks into a trial! You are given the choice of after two weeks if you want to continue,are you not?

Babyroobs · 19/06/2019 21:11

Yes I was excused on the basis of having 4 small children at the time and it being just too hard to organise ! I have never been called back since.

LoafofSellotape · 19/06/2019 21:11

Oh I see what you mean! So you are told at yeh beginning how long the trial will be?

LoafofSellotape · 19/06/2019 21:12

Typos,sorry!

Buunylover · 19/06/2019 21:22

Twice, one for booked holiday and the othér was new job.

Minai · 19/06/2019 21:24

Yes. I was heavily pregnant and also had no childcare for my then 16 month old. I also put that I am the main carer for him as my husband is often working abroad and have no family support nearby and was excused from jury duty

Merryoldgoat · 19/06/2019 21:25

I was excused for this very reason. I had a 2yo and worked part-time.

I explained my son was looked after by family 3 days and I looked after him the other two. I could not get full-time childcare for the period as my family were not able to provide it and no nursery/CM was an option on a temp basis.

They wrote straight back excusing me.

AutumnColours9 · 19/06/2019 21:27

I would decline it. There are plenty of people to call upon with no childcare issues.

EggysMom · 19/06/2019 21:28

You are given the choice of after two weeks if you want to continue,are you not?

No, you are warned whether a case could last longer than two weeks and asked if there is a reason why you couldn't sit on that jury. In my case, the school holidays started three weeks from the start of my call to service, so I used 'childcare' as the reason why I couldn't put myself forward for the long case. I got three short (couple of days) cases instead.