Self-employment and jury service

[MMQC]

Hello all!

I've just been called for jury service. I'm self-employed, by which I mean I am an employee of a limited company owned and operated by myself and my husband.

Reading the blurb, it seems my chances of getting out of it are slim, and the 'average term' is two weeks. Will they compensate me for loss of earnings? And is there a cap on what they are prepared to pay out? Clearly expenses are covered, but this would really only be a drop in the ocean ...

Any advice greatfully received!

I've just phoned up the jury service people and have the answer, so I thought I'd share, just in case!

There is a daily allowance of £65 to cover childcare, food, etc. (travel is separate). This daily allowance is also supposed to cover loss of earnings if you are self-employed. (I laughed when she told me that, and she admitted it was ridiculous.) I said it wouldn't even come close and she advised that I apply for excusal, which I have.

MMQC> The amount sounds about right but are you sure thats what everyone gets. When i did jury service you only got the full amount if your loss of earnings were that much. Quite a few of the people still got paid by work (they worked in the public sector!) so they couldn't claim anything apart from travel and food, also retired people only got travel and food.

Morph
for self employed - yes - for employees they get a proportion of their wages
its a PITA

i thought you were allowed to defer jury service - but only once.

My DH got out of it on the basis that it would cause us significant financial hardship (he is a sole trader). He had to go and speak to the Judge in chambers and it was made quite clear that he wouldn't get away with it again.

If you can't get out of it my advice when you report for duty is to dress very smartly, very conservatively and look extremely middle class. Defence solicitor/counsel is allowed a shifty at potential jurors before trial starts and won't touch you with a barge pole. You may have to hang around in case you are needed for another trial but you will probably get out of it entirely.

MMQC I was in the same position as you employment wise when I got called for jury service. Luckily we could take the hit for a couple of weeks so I just went and did it.

Have to warn you though, everyone I know who has excused themselves has been called again within 6 months and there are no excuses next time. There is no escaping jury service unless due to illness. Best get it out of the way when you haven't got any holidays or major projects on. And pray you don't have some marathon case that goes on for months.

Do you have any form of critical employee or business insurance as this sometimes covers jury service.

A friend of mind got called for JS and just didn't turn up - never any consequences.
When I did my JS there were at least 3 'no-shows' - they over call to allow for this - and the clerks just seemed to shrug their shoulders.

I must be an anomaly then because I got called twice but didn't attend either time.

First time my employer wrote to them saying he couldn't spare me (I was his only employee) so they deferred it and called me again about 6 months later at which point I was sitting professional exams so they let me off again. I'm hoping they never ask again as I am self employed also and it would break me financially.

LMAO at £65 to cover childcare, food and loss of earnings, on what planet exactly?

my self employed ex bil got called for js and couldn't get out of it. the case he was on was quite famous and it sat for 7 months!!! he worked weekends and evenings to make some money but it was a nightmare.
my sis on the other hand is a teacher and has been excused each time she's been called.