To not understand what they expect me to do?

[bloodypublicservice]

I was called up for jury service starting in less than two weeks from now. I work Saturdays only as I otherwise do all of the childcare whilst my partner works full time. Originally I stated I was available as my MIL was going to have our daughter, however MIL has experienced a significant and unexpected health issue resulting in being hospitalised for the foreseeable. I've contacted the relevant department to have received a response stating that my request to be excused from this call for service has been refused and that I must still attend at the stated day/time. It mentions appealing but that a hearing is likely to be called, and given the start date is so soon, it's realistically not going to be resolved before starting.

WIBU to show up on my start date with my child and ask what else they expected me to do? We have no other local family and no provision for external childcare.

It’s ridiculous to assume that everyone cited has ready availability of childcare or family support. Plenty don’t. It’s not a thing to just put a child in a nursery at the drop of the hat for however long the jury duty takes. You might find the odd childminder who would do it. But why should you leave a child with a stranger? And what about the cost? I bet the expenses don’t even come close to covering it. Suppose a childminder charges £45 a day (I know that’s probably a conservative estimate), and you are needed for a full week, that’s £225 for the week? Oh, and you are usually asked to call up on a daily basis, so you have to mess the childminder around for the week you are cited. Even in a two parent family so, what, the other parent is supposed to take unpaid leave? Annual leave? This leaving them with less leave for other times it’s needed. And again there is the issue of having to call up every day- does the other parent does just have to tell their boss on a daily basis whether they will or won’t be in? Stuff that.
Jury duty should be paid and/or they should arrange childcare or provide a crèche. Or at the very least accept childcare as a valid reason for exemption.

Even if the courts provided crèche facilities I personally would not leave my 14 month old in one because it would be too distressing for them, and me. For some people it would be a solution but really the system needs to acknowledge that people rightly prioritise their families including not getting into financial hardship. People should not be worse off for performing their civic duty. I’m more than happy to do so when DC are grown up but for now if pushed would have to pay the fine.

For people saying what if I were hospitalised, that is an emergency and we would have to figure it out. Family members might be prepared to travel and help out in a way that they would not for jury service.

Tell them your child is exclusively breastfed, your husband cannot get leave, you have no available family to turn to and there is a x month waiting list for childcare. Ask them to defer until your child is older and less physically and emotionally dependent on you.

Yes, and it’s literally part of their job to assess those reasons. Nearly all the people going to court plead innocence and it’s the courts job to decide. They should all do their jobs.

Perhaps they just don't want to do it, and that's perfectly OK and understandable not to want to. I didn't want to, but I didn't have a valid reason so accepted it. People have jobs to go to, not everyone has family to fall back on, not everyone can afford to take the financial hit, not everyone has reasonable, flexible employers, not everyone has instant childcare. Jury service might not only be for 2 weeks, you might end up on a case that lasts longer. It puts some people into a really difficult predicament.

This lady is clearly in a difficult position and they should consider cases like this on individual merit. Someone said further up 'what would happen if you had to go to hospital' as if that 'helpful' comment solves her problem. The answer to this is, she'd probably still be in the same, difficult position as she finds herself in now. She's struggling and she asked for helpful suggestions, not half the smart arse responses she's getting on here.

Why and how is that relevant?! 😂
Usually you do get advance notice of operations and partner would take time off work?
Plenty of people suggesting it’s op’s fault that she doesn’t have family nearby etc. I think the question is different here. Annual leave may already be planned for and allocated and not everyone can take time off at the drop of a hat - she had arranged childcare and it fell through.

Those suggesting she goes to nursery or childminder must live in a lovely area where these things are possible spontaneously and not planned months in advance.

The link to gov.uk advice on what to do if not working is the most helpful response I’ve seen here op - good luck but you will need to prove you have exhausted all avenues before tuning up with a child.

When my daughter was a baby and in childcare, I had been made redundant and the only work I could get was as a contractor on a fraction of my previous salary. I was called for jury duty and would not have been paid but would have had to pay the childminder plus travel to the court. We were already struggling and whilst I was a willing juror, the daily expenses were a fraction of my outgoings. I called them up and the person I spoke to was kind and suggested I say that serving would cause me significant financial hardship, which it would have done. I was successful.
Good luck - very stressful.

This was pretty much my situation 13 years ago.

Jury service is a duty and if you are called you must do it unless you are flat on your back and seriously ill. I know they don't take childcare into account; they don't take finals at university into account either (DS did jury service in the run-up to his exams - no exemption). Take your child with you and take stuff to entertain because you will be sitting about for hours and hours. You may receive a form asking if you are available for a long trial - if so, say no. Once you have filled this in it is fairly unlikely you will be called...but chances are if you walk in with a small child they will exempt you.

Juat day you can no longer get childcare and will defer until you are available. Such as when your child is in school. They are happy to defer but just don't like hearing the excuse of "I just can't do it".
That's all I did and it was accepted.

Who could find childcare for two weeks like that? I never could have. And why should the other parent use up two weeks' annual leave?

@Grammarnut my brother and I both deferred jury service during university (different years). I never got called again but he was on a trial that lasted about 2 months.

Yes jury service is a duty but people are human and have lives and if they are saying ‘not now’ rather than ‘never’ that is fair enough. And if some people are always going to struggle financially to the extent that jury service causes real hardship
then the system needs to be reviewed because juries are supposed to be a cross-section of society.

My partner did jury service a while ago, he was told that there are always people who don’t show up and they don’t seem to care, they always call up more than needed and some are sent home anyway.

i was excused years ago due to childcare.

I would contact again and just say you simply cannot do it unless they want you to bring DC along which obviously they wouldn’t and appeal if needs be.

your partner can’t be expected to take time off with such short notice! My partners work would never allow and it would put us into hardship.

Cannot believe some of the responses on here.

1. Her partner may not have any holidays left - so should he risk losing his job by not going in?
2. Nursery’s across the country are full to bursting so doubtful she will just be able to place the child in one temporarily.
3. There are plenty more people in this country that could be called upon.
4. Who in their right mind would leave their child with, effectively, a stranger ie a random neighbour?

OP you are absolutely not being unreasonable.

My partner notified them they were unable to attend due to work / caring duties / child care. I was told I couldn’t have time off work to cover partner being on jury duty - I’ve set holidays at work & my request to take unpaid leave wasn’t granted. Partner wouldn’t be excused. We contacted them several times to say they would not be attending & gave reasons why. We were told that several local childcare centres offer ad hoc provision for such circumstances - we’ve rarely left the kids with anyone & we absolutely weren’t leaving them with perfect strangers. When the day came, my partner just didn’t turn up. We were told they would be fined but they weren’t as it was seen that we’d contacted them several times before the actual day to say that they weren’t in a position to attend. We’ll be in the same scenario if called again.

I’d turn up with my kid and say you refused me to be excused what would you like me to do now and then I’d say I have brought xyz to entertain said child but I can’t make any promises

Has hubby asked his employer for parental leave?

😂😂😂 as if it’s that easy to get childcare this short notice. I had to book my son’s nursery place for when he was 3 before he was even born

They will have 15 jurors lined up but will only select 12 . Sometimes it will be that a juror isn't suitable because of their job or they are familiar with the case or could potentially be .

My DS was excused as he had University exams ( which obviously he couldn't work round )
He was called again in his holiday/break but not selected , probably as they had 3 in reserve ?

I love it when people on MN call why can't your DH take leave like all jobs allow you to take short notice leave for any reason.

I needed to have a phone consultation/visit my GP myself to request support for jury excusal due to mental health issues. Court offices just told me to get a letter and send it to them. They were really brusque and unhelpful. GP was lovely, but I was really unhappy that it meant I had to discuss childhood and relationship trauma when I had been doing really well emotionally. Had to do so twice within a year. I was eventually given permanent excusal due to how stressed just receiving the citations makes me.

This. Fuck it. You're not a miracle worker, you can't just pull magic childcare out of your arse.

Yes. If you don't have childcare, you can't do it. And no, people can't just get time off work, either. And no, people don't have x years of childcare planned out when they have kids.

I'd turn up with my chid and ask what they expect me to do as well.

Time we did away with jury service. Works fine without in other European countries. If it came to it I'd just pay the fine.

I think you need a month's notice for that.

🤦‍♀️

Which is why parents of small children, students taking exams and people who can't afford to do jury service must be included, otherwise it is not a cross-section of society.

NB It wasn't my DS's finals, but term exams, and he applied for an exemption but was told not even if finals, so turn up.