to want to be excused from Jury Service due to Covid?

[MiaThermopolis]

As 2020 is the year that keeps on giving, jury summons arrived this morning for february.

I am going to ask to be excused on the basis of 4 primary aged DC for who I am sole carer outside of school hours (DH works long hours). They could also be required to isolate at any given time and clearly you can't outsource childcare for self isolating DC!

I am also asthmatic and fat, my risk of complications from Covid is high and the thought of spending time in the city centre and then inside buildings with strangers terrifies me (I live rurally and bar the kids going to school and my weekly shop delivery I have seen no-one for months.).

Will this be enough to get me excused? I just can't deal with this right now!!

DH has no more leave until March. he would be unpaid if he had to take time off.

Also just worked out that i can't physically get from the DC's school to the courts in time even if i did put them in breakfast club. club starts at 8.45. 10 min walk back to car, 1 hour to the city, then 10-15 walk from car park to court. the earliest i could get there is 9.10am and thats assuming no delays to DC going in and no traffic.

This doesnt help with the DC who's school has no club!

Please tell me how i magic up childcare for this?!

I do appreciate this is some people's every day, i've aldready said that but its not something we are setup for or have planned for. especially in the midst of a pandemic.

Do they really expect spouses to take unpaid leave to facilitate their partner's jury service?

I have submitted the online form explaining my childcare reasons.

7-10 days to get a response.

It's triggering my anxiety just thinking about going into a city centre never mind the logistics of my home life!

@MiaThermopolis i completely understand, and I don't know why people are saying you sound entitled and that that's what most people do every day of the week with childcare etc. That's so different from this - childcare is already sorted and in place for them! Our school has a breakfast club from 8 but no after school clubs at all - even in normal times they don't really have anything after school, only ones that run for certain year groups for 6 weeks, and once you've had your turn in it, that's it - for example last year DD did cookery club for 6 weeks. They have nothing at all that would be any sort of childcare provision.

You have no childcare available and your DH doesn't have any holidays left, I don't know how people are expecting you to magic up childcare or extra holidays for DH. It's even harder just now to get child care - if it was me, in normal times DD could go to my parents or one of her school friends but just now, I'd really struggle. DH can't always just get time off work when he wants.

I think you should phone them and explain your circumstances. Hope you manage to get it sorted out.

You can apparently get something for loss of earnings but it isn't much, I don't think.

As an aside it does piss me off a little when people say that being a sahp is a privilege. Some people cannot afford the childcare costs as they would more than wipe out the wage the sahp could earn. Where it's not a straightforward financial necessity, it's simply a choice that entails exchanging money for additional time. Some people would prefer to work ft instead and it's like saying that this is a privilege too!
OP has every right to feel uncomfortable not putting her kids into childcare that is unfamiliar to them.
That being said, I'd try really hard to do this OP - if we want to live in a society where we can have trial by jury, we must be willing to serve on one. If you really can't manage it now, then delay for 12 months and make proper preparations to do this next time. It really is important to have representatives from all of society on juries.

I don’t think anything ever starts at 9am in court so that won’t be a problem.

You can probably get it pushed back and then DH can use leave. I do think you may need to get over worry of wraparound. What if there was an emergency/illness?

If your husband doesn't want to take unpaid leave he will have to plan accordingly in the event of you being called at a later date.

jangle in an emergency i have friends/family i can ask. outside of the pandemic and if DH had leave it would be possible (still bloody awkward) but I can't expect friends and family to look after my kids, who are attending schools, while we have a pandemic going on. i certainly wouldn't want other people's kids in my home right now.

how exactly do you 'plan' for this? do people sit on two weeks leave just in case? do people pay a childminder to hold a place just in case? and where do i get money for 4 sets of childcare?!

YANBU. Clearly plenty of people on here who would happily take your place, OP. You don’t need the additional stress or anxiety in the midst of a pandemic!

mrshunt thank you. indeed any salary i could make would not cover the childcare! (and before people start, we have family money, any salary i could earn, combined with DH's would not cover out bills plus childcare for 4)

If you know you've deferred yes, he will have to put two weeks leave aside.

i've asked to be excused, not deferred.

Your DH could take a DC to breakfast club, even if he starts work earlier than 8:45 he could just do what everybody else had to do when childcare was closed: log on earlier, do some work, then log off while you drop off the DC and back to work.
For the one with no bk club can’t you drop him off in the morning at a friends with a DC in the same class? One of the perks of being a SAHM is that you usually have other SAHM friends who wouldn’t mind doing this (and you are in the position to return the favour later on)

@MiaThermopolis

i've asked to be excused, not deferred.

I think they would be more likely to allow you to defer. Obviously they make the decision but I can imagine they would see no reason to exempt you from service completely.

OP I doubt you’ll get excused and in fact I’d be thoroughly disappointed with the system if you do. They should prioritise pre schooler SAHP parents who say they are anxious about putting non verbal children in a new childcare setting. your kids are old enough to understand this is just for 2 weeks and probably at school with kids they know! And it will be reimbursed by court. The rest of us just get on with things like this - id drop my kids off at breakfast club then get 4 separate of public transport to work. I make it work because it has to and to earn enough to support us. My DH also more than does his load!

i don't know any of the parents at DC1's school. She's only been there a year so only had one term before lockdown hit so i've not had chance to meet people.

DH can't really log on and work while trying to get 4DC ready for school, his work is not something that can be multi-tasked.

Ring up explain. You will likely be excused. Do not, as someone has suggested, ring up on day and say you have Covid. The criminal justice system has huge backlogs. People are on remand for years. There will be people who have to self isolate and can’t attend on day and that will be creating enough problems - without people faking the situation.

jangle you're not comparing like with like. you have always done this so have a plan in place to do it, your DC are used to it. I just get on with doing all the 'wifework' as its termed on here, and DH just gets on with long days at the office to support us because thats what we need to do to make things work for our situation. If you were told your childcare was closed for two weeks, you or your DH would have to be unpaid to care for them or it would cost you more than you would be reimbursed to find alternative care i doubt you'd think it was easy.

Court will only reimburse a small amount, it will never cover 4 DC in childcare. plus DC1's school has no wraparound care available anyway.

I'd be disappointed if you were excused too. I see no reason for you to be. No reason why you can't get plans in place to deal with it at a future time.

Our childcare was closed for six months! We have zero help from anyone and held down two jobs.

Look I’m sure you’ll sort this out, and it’s not ideal but I’d struggle to see why a court would think this is a sufficient reason to cancel entirely. Hope for the best, plan for the worst! Hopefully a deferral to a non covid time.

I was deferred for a year as I was due to start 3 days after my DS was born. I got rescheduled for a week after I started back at work!
My DH had to take 2 days a week off (unpaid as self employed) so I could do it as well as drop kids at nursery. We lost money both from him losing pay and not getting full cost of childcare back. But I felt it was important to do it.

I agree with a previous comment that one issue is our juries I'll become mostly retired people or middle aged men.

Having said that covid is a massive issue in terms of grandparents not being able to help out and appreciate your anxiety about this OP especially after the news this week.

@Jangle33

OP I doubt you’ll get excused and in fact I’d be thoroughly disappointed with the system if you do. They should prioritise pre schooler SAHP parents who say they are anxious about putting non verbal children in a new childcare setting. your kids are old enough to understand this is just for 2 weeks and probably at school with kids they know! And it will be reimbursed by court. The rest of us just get on with things like this - id drop my kids off at breakfast club then get 4 separate of public transport to work. I make it work because it has to and to earn enough to support us. My DH also more than does his load!

Really? Under normal circumstances fine, for a few weeks the OP could look at wraparound care and see if friends could help out, though even then that's a big ask with 4. But many schools are not operating wrap around care, and those that are (like ours) are having to constantly shut after-school care bubbles because of covid positive tests. Friends who'd normally help out won't be allowed to, unless they form a childcare bubble with one other family, and how many people are going to be open to taking of 4 kids?

Sure, her DH could take time off, but as the sole earner in a pandemic, with no paid leave left, that has to be a last resort.

OP I agree with your course of action, good luck.

overtherubicon thank you for understanding. in normally circumstances it would be bloody awkward, with covid it is impossible!

to be clear, without covid I would be looking to defer to allow DH to use some leave and then would also have my parents to help to provide wrap around care. covid prevents this from being possible.

I would be stunned if you were excused. Much more likely to be given permission to defer. If you do that then you will have to do it the next time you are called up.
This isn’t about COVID. It’s a childcare issue. You’d have to do what most people do. Ask a friend to walk a child to school. Husband start late or finish early. Use childcare settings.

You shouldn’t do if it you won’t be able to focus on jury duty. It’s an extremely important job. It’s no wonder the jury system of justice is a shambles if people are made to do it when they’re unable to give it their full attention.