jury service...being excused

[Mrspanic]

has anyone been summoned and been excused as opposed to simply having it deferred ?

I'm a sahm and have just received a summons. as I understand it "deferral" can only be granted once, so I'm going to ask for an excusal.

I just don't see how, completely lacking as I am in wraparound childcare, I'm going to be able to do it ! (date is end June). My youngest dc is at pt nursery and i have 3 older ones at ft school, in different locations. only one of those is old enough to make his own way to and from school.

Will this set-up offer me enough grounds to be excused ?

Mrspanic, my mum was called for jury service when I was just over a year old. She got it deferred due to childcare etc and the fact she was expecting my brother not long b4 the date she was called for. That was 27 years ago and she has not been called for again yet!
You will probably only have grounds to defer your jury service but the chances are it will be a long time(or maybe never)until you are called again and your circumstances could be completely different.

I was called for jury service when I was 18 and I loved it,got 2 weeks off work,spent most of the time sitting around chatting with the other jurors and got our lunches in the pub opposite the court paid for us!

Thanks fiodyl. What worries me is they're much stricter now (since about 2004 I think). I got summoned then too, when dc4 was a couple of months old. Can't remember whether that was deferral or excusal, but obviously used new babe/bfeeding/young children as my reason then. Wondering whether my name has come up again randomly, as it's supposed to, or whether I'm on some "list" somewhere !

actually wouldn't mind a week or 2 doing it, but seriously have NO childcare, so it would mean ££ employing a nanny, plus would have a real horror of being locked into a longer trial, maybe even having to stay overnight somewhere grim if verdict delayed etc.

Will draft a letter tonight. anyone else have this experience ?

Was that recently amicissima ? It's the only logical response, surely ? One thing to try to wriggle out of it if your dcs are at university or something, but it can't be a reasonable thing to be asked to do if you're the ft sah parent of younger children.

I have been summoned twice and have been excused, I work 9.15 to 1.15, wouldn't get paid for the rest of the day (they only make up wages), work on commission and would have to pay someone to have dd.
I wish they would make it financially viable.

I've been excused. I just explained my situation (SAHM of school age children with no childcare).

You wouldn't get locked into a long trial. They know roughly how long each trial will take (depends on amount of evidence, witnesses etc) and ask the jurors around at the time to find people who can do a longer trial, if it is likely to exceed 2 weeks.

I think the best approach would be to ring them or write to them, explaining your situation, and hope they can at least defer you.

If you apply for a deferral you have to let them know what dates you can't do and they will then allocate you a suitable date (which you can't get out off - execpt in extreme circumstances). You want to apply to be excused.

You will only be excused if the Jury Summoning Officer is satisfied that it isn't reasonable to expect you to do jury service during the next year. If you are excused, your name may still be called at random again from the electoral register, and you will have to go through the same process of accepting, deferring or asking to be excused.

BTW you get travel allowance, a certain amount daily for food/drinks, and you can claim for childcare fees if they are purely because of you having to do jury service.

I recently was called and rang them to say I was BF DD and didn't know how long was going to be BF for. I was excused completely. Give them a ring and explain, and see what they say. When I spoke to them they were v understanding and helpful.