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

You won’t need to do it .it’s ridiculous that they actually think £65 covers anything other than transport these days

yes but just because you think that's how it should be (and I happen to agree with you), that doesn't mean it's how it is currently in the UK.

i don’t think that poster was remotely suggesting that because he/she thought something “should” happen in the UK, that it does

You can ask for it to be deferred OP. I was called for jury service but being self employed, I would have had not enough income to cover my monthly bills. I showed evidence of income and outgoings and they sent me a deferral.

@Budapest99 The advice given on here, as far as I can see is all based on what happens in England. In Scotland, while being very similar to England, it does, in fact, vary slightly. So where are you in the UK?

The biggest difference is in relation to 'deferring' Jury Service. This is not an option in Scotland. Here, if you are granted an exemption, you will likely be called again in quite a short time-frame. They tell you that on the forms

Tbh - I have been called quite a few times and only ever had to actually attend the court on three occasions. One was cancelled last minute, when I got there and I didn't get balloted onto the jury in the other two, so even if you have to attend, there is every chance you won't actually be required to serve

I looked up the expenses thing in England. You get to claim for both childcare and loss of earnings, so although there is a maximum for loss of earnings, the additional childcare expenses can be claimed separately and in addition to loss of earnings

They said 'that's too bad isn't it', implying that the person could just refuse due to the cost. Which could land the OP in a lot of trouble.

OP has clarified that £65 per day is the maximum she can claim for both expenses and child care.

Does your employer know your children are at home with you?

Dd was in a similar position. She put on the form that she had a pre school child and no available childcare for 2 days of the week. She was excused.

I wrote a letter explaining my circumstances regarding childcare issues and they said they defer it. Twenty years later I’ve heard nothing.

They absolutely should on moral grounds, but whether they will or not is a different matter. I hope they do!

Civic duty? Well perhaps they need to catch up. The social contract has been broken It was alright to insist on people doing their civic duty....
a. in the days when only one parent in a couple worked.
b. that one job used to be able to get you a mortgage , now its two jobs just to pay a RENT on a place.
c. more people are self employed with all the ramifications that entails. Maybe people are sick of duty only being one way!

The system needs to catch up with these changes and realise that people doing the civic duty they like to wax lyrical about shouldnt cost them , money their job or their home.

I was gutted when I was called for jury service (always wanted to do it) but it was financially impossible to take that hit - especially as there is no guarantee that it will only be for the couple of weeks specified. It can last months. A simple phone call sorted it out and I was excused, but I was still disappointed.

While my children are older so I didn't have childcare expenses, I did jury service the last two weeks.

We were told very early on by one of the Court Ushers that Jury Service is is at least 2 weeks, not just for 2 weeks. A lot of the jurors there were on 3, 4, 6 , 7 week trials and some were on a 9 week trial.

I had a holiday booked in April so while I was on the 9 week jury pool, my reason was accepted and I did 2 short cases instead.

Some people who needed to pay for childcare or weren't being paid by their company were very worried about the loss of income or the delay in receiving expenses

DH contracts. We have some savings but they are for rainy day and to support the kids through college or university (very soon) He was called last year and managed to defer but he knows it will come again soon. He earns @£600 a day and our mortgage and outgoings reflect this.

How is it fair that we must spend our savings supporting ourselves through DH’s jury service? The system needs an overhaul.

Hi all,
thanks everyone for your comments. Seems like Im not the only one who thinks that £65 is a crazy figure. How do they think it can cover childcare for multiple kids & loss of earning (in England)!!!
x

Make sure you claim it.
For one reason and another I didn't submit my forms when I did it and still kick myself when I think about it.

So what are you supposed to do if you can’t pay your bills because you’re normally earning say £40k and they’re paying you the equivalent of £17k? I know you said you had savings but lots of people don’t, and why should they spend them anyway?

Why is your employer deducting the £65? They have a choice to either pay you your salary or not pay it. If they don’t pay, then you claim. They are not supposed to offset the £65 you can receive by reducing your salary by that amount. The paperwork you get makes this very clear.

You do so much waiting around on jury service you can bring a laptop and get a lot of online work done

But she will need child care to serve on the jury

You despise public transport ...not good enough for you? Entitled

Hang on, you can’t claim the actual cost of the childcare? That’s absurd.

I had this. You can get excused very easily and do it in a few years time.

Turn up to the courthouse with both kids. That will get the message through! Of one is breastfeeding, even better.