Jury Duty

Are you actually being called or have you just been added to the pool? If you have been called then there are limited circumstances under which you can be exempted. More commonly they defer your attendance but then you can be called at a later date.
They would normally expect a young child to be cared for by other half/family etc although they do allow for the cost of a childminder to be claimed as expenses while on jury duty if a childminder is not part of your normal care arrangements. If you have been called I suggest you contact the court as quickly as possible. Send them a letter explaining your circumstances but I suspect you will need to show that your participation on a jury may cause undue hardship in the care of your child and even jeopardize the health of your child. Doesn't necessarily mean they will exempt you but you have to let them know the circumstance.
If you are just in the pool then just wait - you may never actually be called.

I got called for jury duty here in Australia and sent back the form explaining why I would need to be excused. It is actually something I would have liked to do but just not a possibility as a carer to Khaleb.

annettekp said:

I've been called for jury duty in a few weeks time. I'm a stay at home mum and my other half works full time. Do you think its reasonable to ask to be excused on the grounds that I have no child care?

My son is 2 and has type 1. We count carbs and he's on 5 injections a day. My partner and I have no-one we can leave him with who can do everything. We're only just persuading relatives to check his blood sugar.

I have no idea how strict the courts are about this, never having been called before.

Thanks

Annette

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Here is a link to a previous post about this subject:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12072&p=131350&hilit=jury#p112244

I notice that you are from Orkney, this might mean that the situation is dealt with in a different manner to the one shown which is the position in the rest of the UK. Check with the Court that sent you the notice for their rules and guidelines. Do not leave it until you are summoned to appear for Jury Service.

Ken

Hi

ring them asap - I was called and was excused as I was self employed. I found them very helpful and they sorted it in a few weeks- I had to write and explain the problems!

Hi Annette,

My wife was excused from Jury Duty when she explained that my daughter was due to have an operation, she didn't know the date of the op at that time, I imagine you should have a case on similar grounds, good luck.