Can I ask to be excused from jury service on the day??

[Campari20]

Already deferred once.

Due to start in the new year.

Want to be excused owing to caring responsibilities and lack of childcare, my first reason for deferring was I had literally just started a new job.

Is it possible I can ask on the first day if I can be excused? I'm a single parent and have no outside help.

My brother deferred and the time he went he was in the middle of bar exams and was excused indefinitely, never got called back.

Is it possible I can ask on the day??

They would expect you to use the childcare that you use to work; and they’ll reimburse you. It’d be different if you didn’t work; but OP does, or did.

If you really couldn’t find anyone, they’d accept that as a reason to defer, as long as you haven’t previously done it.

I do sympathise, we’d have no one to have DS, insert is full and he only goes two days a week, and we have no family support. Just because he’s 3 doesn’t mean I can suddenly find somewhere to take him for a week or two… but those are the rules. And bending them is going to be really difficult given that OP has already deferred, and the proximity to the trial.

If you work then who provides childcare? I'm guessing the child is in school and therefore at school during the day, breakfast club, after school club etc.

Jury times tend to be shorter than an office work day. So if you work 9-5pm, then your current childcare would cover it.

It is. Where is the child when OP is at work?

To be honest I think it’s bullshit that they can just tell you that you have to do it… finding childcare last minute isn’t easy and not everyone can do it.

People have a life and it just urges people to agree with the majority in the room to get it over and done with as quick as possible.

I work but I’m allowed to work from home with my kids at home so I don’t use wrap around care and I would have no one to pick them up and collect.

OP may work from home and do school runs so wouldn't be able to leave early enough or be back in time

As another poster said the days in court are really quite short, certainly not until 5pm

If I had to do jury service I would probably use the bus so would have to start out early and get back late as bus takes well over an hour, I have never done it but I'm retired now so it would be fine but would be difficult with young DC as it's a long day if the Court is not very local.

And?

school finishes anywhere between 3-3.20 and depending where she lives it could be up to an hours drive …

Is your child young enough to still be breastfed? 🤔😉

Some people may have to travel 20 or 30 miles to the Court on public transport

Write and tell them you don't have childcare. Say you are out of work at present and don't have any childcare provider. My friend (who is not a single parent) did this and was excused. I said I was sick when I was last called.....is that an option.

I find it unfair that some people are called every few years and others are never called.

Only taken into account if child is under 1 year of age.

So I don't use childcare. I work flexibly. I do all school runs. DD could go to breakfast club at school but pick ups would be problematic, I do them every day. I've tried to draft a couple of friends in to help on the odd day but if I'm selected as a juror and it's a two week case or longer it's be a problem.

It's not "last minute". I served on a jury in May/June-ish this year and was cited at the end of March, it was at least 8 weeks' notice.

Yes it's a pain and yes it's inconvenient sometimes but they need a representative jury. If all parents were excused, and all people who needed to work were excused, you're left with retired people only.

If family or friend looks after your child you can claim £2.50 per hour. Just offer a parent at the school this to pick your child up and look after them. If their child and your child get on well and go to the same school, its easy money.

Court sessions are normally 10 to 1 then 2 to 4, but can finish earlier/start later depending upon the listing for that day/week.

How old is DD, obviously it's a lot easier if she is10 than 5 to pay a friend for childcare and claim the money

If you're self employed and have kids, surely they will accept that you work around school hours and don't have any childcare set up especially if you don't have family support nearby.

It baffles me how they can expect parents who don't have a childcare provider magic one up and how they can expect these children to change their routine completely.

"Yes it's a pain and yes it's inconvenient sometimes but they need a representative jury. If all parents were excused, and all people who needed to work were excused, you're left with retired people only."

I honestly get that. But not everyone can just get childcare. Not everyone can easily miss work, especially if self employed.

The reality is you end up with a room full of resentful people who maybe aren't in the best frame of mind to hear a case and decide someone's fate. People end up missing events etc that they were looking forward to.

Add in the extraordinary amount of time that's wasted in the legal system and that increases the resentment.

The second day of the case I was selected for was mostly spent in the jury room due to the legal arguments that had to be heard without us. Including rewording the indictment.

Honestly was farcical. The prosecution looked like they had never seen the case before. Struggled to ask coherent questions without flicking through pages of notes.

There actually wasn't evidence to support the original charge, which astounded me - surely the court needs to be sure that the charges made are supported by actual evidence?

I honestly don't know how else to do it, and I get it's important. But it really isn't ideal either.

My partner was cited for jury duty during Covid. He had to take the week off work as he would have had no way to get to the court (cinema at the time) due to his work as he works in construction and isn't local. Ended up the case wasn't heard.

I'm done though. If cited again I will do my very best to get out of it.

Why does WFH matter? All working parents need to either leave early enough to do the school run or pay for clubs. After school club or goes round to a friend's house and return the favour at a later date. Breakfast club in the morning. You shouldn't be WFH whilst having sole responsibility of a young child. OP's child could be in Year 6 or older and able to stay at home alone for an hour or so until Op comes home.

You can give it a go. You might get a sympathetic judge.

But the fact that you have already deferred once before might well make the judge less sympathetic to you. Because it starts to look like you haven't really tried to make it work.

You don't need to worry about more than 2 weeks, you can say no to a case that is longer than that.

If I were you, I would try and sort out childcare - it's 10 school pick ups and you can claim expenses. Obviously ideally you would have sorted it out when you found out the dates rather than leaving it to the last minute

Is there a lovely sensible teenager in your street who could do the school
run and a couple of hours baby sitting after school for the duration? They would likely be glad of the money and be more than capable of making a snack and playing with your DC till you arrive,

Surely the fact that it's a problem when you ask someone to do it as a favour for free when it's a non-vital reason has no bearing on or proof that it would be a problem in this circumstance. You are allowed to claim for reasonable expenses. Everyone knows that jury service is an obligatory duty and will be more flexible. You should whatsapp the parents of all DDs friends offering £10 per day for child to be picked up from school and looked after till you can get there, then you claim £10 per day from the court. People feeling rather impoverished after Christmas will be happy to earn a bit extra. You could easily have got this sorted weeks ago and not bothering to do so does make you guilty of contempt of court.

Fgs do your duty