Juries for long running trials.

[m-in-m]

I was wondering if anyone knew how juries were selected for long running trials. I know certainly in England and Wales juries are selected at random and for trials of a between a day and up to two or so weeks that all seems generally manageable for most businesses, albeit probably inconvenient. How though does it work for a trial that might last six months to a year? Are they still selected at random and does the employer still have to pick up the cost between what the court reimburse and your normal basic salary? Does the employer or individual have the ability to object more easily? The self employed would presumably be very much affected by longer running trials.

[Martin Phillp]

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/overview

[simonipswich]

I was wondering if anyone knew how juries were selected for long running trials. I know certainly in England and Wales juries are selected at random and for trials of a between a day and up to two or so weeks that all seems generally manageable for most businesses, albeit probably inconvenient. How though does it work for a trial that might last six months to a year? Are they still selected at random and does the employer still have to pick up the cost between what the court reimburse and your normal basic salary? Does the employer or individual have the ability to object more easily? The self employed would presumably be very much affected by longer running trials.

I did Jury Service last November which lasted for just over 3 weeks; 28 of us were led into court to be picked and they would not take work as a valid reason for not doing more than the two weeks. The only reason they would accept was if you were booked to go away for a holiday providing it was AFTER the two normal weeks and if so you had to provide proof of the booking. There was a self employed book keeper who had end of the month VAT returns to do for clients and she was told that was not a valid reason by the Judge.

Employers have to be prepared that in some cases it will be more than two weeks.

You are paid a basic daily amount for loss of earnings which is just over £32 per day. Your employer is not legally responsible to make up any difference in loss and nor is the Court. So if you are paid say £60 per day you lose out! You do get your travel refunded and also a canteen allowance which in Ipswich was £5.71 per day and any amount not used you did get at the end of your service. There was several people who said they would end up out of pocket at the end of the trial.

[simonipswich]

£32 per day??

Yes that's correct, £32 per day.

[scottishtv]

It depends how long the court day lasts, and how many days the case lasts.

Rates for England and Wales are here, and for Scotland here.

It's only £32 if you're there for under four hours.

[cwathen]

It depends how long the court day lasts, and how many days the case lasts.

Rates for England and Wales are here, and for Scotland here.

It's only £32 if you're there for under four hours.

This shocked me. I've made it to the age of 31 without getting called up to jury duty yet, but when I run out of luck I always assumed that the court would have to pay my full salary, yet according to the link I'd need a trial to get into day 11 with me doing over 4 hour days before I'd be able to claim back what I earn in a day. If they only need me for short days then over a 2 week period my income will drop to about 40% of what it would be if I was at work, I don't know how I'd cope with that kind of loss.

It never entered my head that I could suffer financially - I can't even see how it's legal for the state to forcibly cripple someone's income in that way. It is of course particularly irksome that benefits claimants will still get their full wedge whilst performing duties of the state whilst working people that actually pay into the system are financially punished for doing nothing wrong.

At the other end of the scale, it surprised me that refusing to perform jury duty is punishable only with a £1000 fine - so if you're a sufficiently high earner you can effectively pay off the state to get out of doing it and still have your full salary intact.

[Nick Harvey]

benefits claimants will still get their full wedge whilst performing duties of the state

Correct.

The once I had to do jury duty was whilst I was between gigs and being paid by that nice Mrs Thatcher.

[m-in-m]

Thank you all for the information. It does seem that the allowance could mean a lot of people could suffer financially. Of course it depends on your employer and whether they pay you throughout your jury service. I believe my employer pays full pay less the amount paid by HMCS. Of course they require you to return to work whenever possible during jury service.

It seems strange to me that for someone who is self employed the impact of jury service really could have a damaging impact on their business.

[Alexia]

[JAS84]

I've made it to the age of 31 without getting called up to jury duty yet, but when I run out of luck I always assumed that the court would have to pay my full salary, yet according to the link I'd need a trial to get into day 11 with me doing over 4 hour days before I'd be able to claim back what I earn in a day. If they only need me for short days then over a 2 week period my income will drop to about 40% of what it would be if I was at work, I don't know how I'd cope with that kind of loss.

I've just been called up (age 30), and according to the form I had to fill out, you're not too old to do it unless you're aged 70 or over. There's plenty of time yet for you to get a Jury Summons.