Jury duty expenses - crippling!

[Budapest99]

Hi there,
Ive been called up for Jury Duty which Im super excited about & really want to do it. However on completing the forms, Ive realised the court will pay a max of £65 per day for loss of earnings & childcare costs combined. My company will deduct the £65 per day from my salary leaving me no money for childcare. I have 2 kids at nursery costing £70 each Mon & Tues so I will need to add Wed to Fri as extra, costing me £840!!!! (£70 per kid for 6 extra days). I would have thought I would be paid the £65 reimbursable for loss of earnings & EXTRA money for childcare. I will need to try & excuse myself as I cannot afford it. What do you think? x

Sorry not to be clear, no youre right that wanot the excuse. However, I guess these days you could say you have phobia of public transport, I do. However, I'd recommed using another excuse unless you have been diagnosed with that as it can happen for various reasons etc

Bloody hell, that's brutal!! As if the jurors are on trial!

You've been wrongly advised. You can't claim childcare costs you usually pay while working only loss of earnings - but you can claim for additional childcare costs incurred as a result of jury service.

I did jury service last month. I usually work mon-weds. I couldn't claim for childcare costs mon-weds, but I could claim for childcare costs incurred Thurs and Fri whilst on jury service.

Form here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6405b8168fa8f527fc6d9d4a/5223Bclaimm0621save.pdf

I was called during maternity leave and had to give 3 dates I could do in the next year to postpone. I then had a date in place about 10 months in advance. My husband had to take annual leave to cover one day childcare, no compensation for this. I then had to put baby in nursery an extra day which was not covered when travel expenses were included. They would only pay travel expenses for the park and ride, not to park in the city centre. I had to drive 16 miles to work/nursery to drop baby off then 20 miles back to the city. The only way I could do this and then the reverse before nursery shut was to use the near car park. It was very stressful, I was considerably out of pocket and they couldn't care less.
And after all that I wasn't selected but had to sit in a room for 3 days waiting!

Work should only be able to deduct the £65 for the two days you work as that is effectively a payment allowance. Work don't pay you for your other 3 days so those would be expenses for childcare so you should get to keep the £65 for those days. I know it doesn't pay for everything but it should help.

We had a similar problem when DH was called last year. Small company that doesn't pay for Jury service so it would have cost us around £1500 for him to do it. Fortunately he didn't have to attend every day so with that and some evening work we managed for him to only miss about 50% of his working hours so they paid him for the rest.

You will be able to get out of it if you have no childcare.

Shes said she wfh the other days & doesn't need childcare then

Exactly my experience too - i as shocked and the solicitor was a female aswell but kept vetoing all young women
OP -i dunno why you are excited - it was one of the most boring drawn out things in my life -hopefully never ever ever again - nothing like TV at all 😅
No bloody WIFI either so you could work while you were hanging around

I was summoned last summer when my youngest was a few weeks old. I deferred until April as I knew I’d be back at work again.

After looking at the logistics and finances of it, it was completely unaffordable as I need extra childcare for baby and also for my primary school aged child.

I asked to be excused, main reason due to still breastfeeding baby, but I did mention finances.

There is guidance for parents of children under primary school aged as a valid reason for deferral.

I wonder what would happen if you took your children in with you?

Maybe assuming that there was a creche?

I did it a 2.5 years ago. Was v good timing as I was between jobs and started my current one a month later!
I think we got let off on the Wednesday of the first week - I didn’t want a long trial for various reasons so was v lucky we got a ‘simple’ case with one witness.
Re the ‘selection’ - we got told that we could present an ‘excuse’ to the judge as we went in, but most wouldn’t be taken in to account.
Maybe just hope for that?

Similar to me

What they pay doesn't even cover what I earn (se) so not sick /holiday pay

I would love to do it

But not financially viable

So I declined and said why. They were fine

And that's if your lucky enough to get a case that lasts just a week.

Man doesnt understand implications of lack of/cost of childcare. What a surprise ....

@ChanelNo19EDT I was excused from jury duty (with a doctors note) because it was a rape/dometic abuse case. My own trauma around the subject meant I could not safely expose myself to the evidence.

I guess I'm not alone in that.

It's a challenge because I recognise that does leave a jury made up of less understanding / empathetic people. I just couldn't do it.

Fortunately, in the case I was called for, a guilty verdict was delivered.

I was deferred from jury service as it would have been over my due date. They then called me up again a year later, at which point I worked 2 days a week and had a nanny on those days for my 4 kids under 5. I phoned up to ask about childcare expenses, and the woman on the other end of the phone agreed it would involve ludicrous expenses, and excused me on those grounds.

I know a contractor who was called up for jury duty, indeed got compensated ~£65 instead of her normal day rate of £800, and lost the whole assignment as no one was prepared to wait for three or more weeks for her to come back. I don't think the whole system takes into account the modern working realities. Tell them you don't speak English well.

I was also called for jury duty about 15 years ago, a long complicated case that was expected to last 13 weeks. I was self-employed and was offered £120 per week. I was not excused. Thankfully I was not picked but I wasted about 4 days during the protracted jury selection process, which included multiple sessions of us sitting in a room while lawyers hammered out ome 'technical issue'.

The whole system doesn't work.

I'm called this month. I'm self employed, earning around £40k per year. I'm being offered £64.95 per day which is a lot less than minimum wage. It goes up to double that after six days, but basically I'm looking at paying out of my savings for the privilege of serving.

I'm afraid there's no guarantee that this issue will get you excused......

So basically working mothers can't do jury service? Suddenly makes sense why so few are convicted of rape and sexual attacks

Yes, we get that. But she still be out of pocket for childcare costs for 2 children!

Well, it's too bad, isn't it.

It's not an excuse, it's a reality. They must hear it time and time again though.

No person should be out of pocket for doing jury service. It should be like in the USA where you are paid to do it.

Also I don’t think it’s as simple as just telling them it’s a shame but you can’t do it. They can refuse your excusal or they may require proof eg of a medical exemption.

Huh, men are parents too and nearly all families irs a joint expense, what you on about.