Jury service

[Rach7291]

My partner has been called for Jury service. It says that it will be 10 days but can go on for longer. I’m due to go back to work from maternity leave 2 weeks after his jury service ends. Its also our babies 1st birthday. Does he have to stay if the case is longer than 10 days? We have no childcare and I can’t take time off work as i’m not the one on jury service.

The judge will ask if it is anticipated to be longer than 10 days, so he can state his circumstances if asked and ask not to be put on that case.

when I did jury service, the most robust reason that made sure that you weren't kept on a jury for more than your 10 days is a 'prebooked holiday'. are you able to book a family trip (even just 2-3 days) over the weekend and the first day of the week after the jury service? say DH took baby to visit family somewhere else in the UK with prebooked train tickets. Then it is possible to honestly write on the jury form 'I have a prebooked trip on X date' and then the court is unlikely to keep your DH longer than the 10 days.

He can ask to deffer to a later date.

My friend did Jury Service last year, she postponed it once, due to holiday and she was given The Old Bailey, so would have taken her 90 minutes each way to travel, so she asked to be given somewhere else at a different time, which they did. She did 2 days where she wasn’t called and was sent home by 11.30 am. She then had a funeral of a close friend on the second week and when she told the Court this, they said she would be excused so tell your partner to let them know asap and see what they say.

He can ask to defer - assuming he hasn't done that already - details will be in his letter.

If not, he can make them aware of the situation on the first day and ask not to be in the pool for anything that is expected to last a long time (they'll know to roughly within a day how long simpler cases are likely to last).

He'll probably serve on the first week if selected, then be discharged.

At the end of the day long trials cost the public purse a fortune; they take every precaution possible not to risk anything on the jury side. If your partner was to not show up one day due to a childcare emergency, it'd cause all sorts of issues. They won't risk it.

Also - and I'm not advocating this as it's a bit naughty - if he hasn't yet replied then there's every chance that he simply 'missed' the summons, or it got lost in the post, eaten by the dog etc.

When I served a few years back they told us they they had absolutely zero resources/inclination to go after/fine no-shows, and with no way of proving that a summons has been read, even if they wanted to it's not a reasonable use of public funds. I imagine that's never been more true post-covid with the mess the courts are in.

I do believe in doing your civic duty, but family first. He could always 'find' the summons when you're in a better position childcare wise and get back in touch 👀

I phoned up when I received my summons and was told that I have to tell the clerk on day one that I can only do the legally required 10 days. Then they'll put me on shorter cases. I'm due to start on Monday.

He’ll be allowed to state reasons to opt out if the judge thinks the trial might last longer than 10 days - childcare is a pretty good reason.
DH was called last year and was sent home on the first day because they didn’t need him.

I’ve deferred mine due to a prebooked holiday and got to select some dates i was available.