Jury duty for the self employed – any experience?

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 Georgert 29 Nov 2021

A jury duty letter dropped through my door this morning. The initial feeling of pride to serve my community was quickly overpowered with fear however, when I saw how little I can claim for loss of earnings... 

I'm self-employed, and rely heavily on the ability to a) be available for my clients at short notice, and b) maintain repeat business through being reliably available.

What if I'm caught in a 10+ day nightmare where I end up losing clients and have to somehow pay my mortgage from 60 quid a day??

Does anyone have any experience with jury duty as a self-employed person / business owner? Genuinely a little worried at the impact it could have, and the .gov site is less than comforting... 

1
 Rick51 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

I did it in the mid-70's. Fortunately it was only a week but I had to swallow the drop in earnings.

 tony 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

My wife and I have had a couple of jury duty call-ups in the last few years while we've been working as freelancers. We've been able to get letters from our clients saying that our work on projects was essential and urgent, and we've then been excused from jury duty. If you have regular clients, you may be able to get them to write such letters.

Note this is in Scotland - different rules may apply in England.

2
Removed User 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

I thought you could refuse first time?

 kwoods 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

I refused a couple times, first on basis of holidays and ferry/accomodation already booked. Second was in the middle of several weeks freelancing, the employer gave me a letter to pass on. Both times they seemed very forgiving of circumstances and given a reason there seemed to be no problem.

They also kept sending a letter about once a year. This spring I got one, hadn't anything else to do on that date, went along and was finished by the afternoon.

Edit: Scotland

Post edited at 15:36
 jimtitt 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

Brick through a police station window, you won't be called.

In reply to Removed User:

Nope-but there is quite a long list of exemptions-getting out of it should be fairly simple.

 chris_r 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

Just explain you're exempt as you are a solicitor, recently working on the high profile Hardonicus case.

 girlymonkey 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

I got called up in a quiet period so turned up for it. If it had been in my busy season I would have had no qualms turning it down. I believe it is easy enough to do.

Turned out a friend had also been called, so we sat and nattered for the several hours we were kept waiting before we were sent away!

OP Georgert 29 Nov 2021
In reply to kwoods:

This sounds feasible for me. Did you refuse first, then supply the letter afterwards? Or send everything all at once? 

 kwoods 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

Exemptions were listed in the letter. I attached the docs to a provided address and they decided.

 jonfun21 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

Seems to be a difference between England & Wales vs. Scotland....looks like you have seen the below:

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/delaying-or-being-excused-from-jury-service

When I did it in England about 4 years ago we were told if the case was going to be long (e.g. more than 2 weeks) you would be asked if there were reasons you couldn't serve for this duration - it wasn't that clear what would be a valid reason but seemed to be the judge had the power/lattitude to decide.

As it turned out my case was just 4 days and we were discharged after it (i.e. didn't have to come back the following Monday for the second week). Father in law went every day for 2 weeks but never got called for a case.....so take a good book/some entertainment.

 flatlandrich 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

I got called up about ten years ago. Decided to go along as I was also quite interested in seeing how it all worked.  I spoke to a member of staff once I was there as I had the same financial concerns as you. Within an hour I was excused and on my way home with compensation for the time I'd spent. 

I'm not sure if I was lucky or if that's the way they usually work. The do seem to call up more people than they expect to need, possibly expecting to release some people. 

In reply to Georgert:

I wrote a letter and explained I needed to work when I had business and there was no-one to take over for me and they let me off.  That was years ago and they've not asked again.

 Tobes 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

Just don’t answer the phone when they call you - they’ll move along the list to the next name -

For Scotland we had to check in each evening to a recorded message to see what was required tow following day (normally said wait for a call) - got on with local stuff and no call so call later to recorded message and so on - eventually did get a call (genuinely missed it) but no message is left and the number didn’t match the numbers on the paper work but it was them - called back and a court administrator just said ‘they may call back or move onto the next name’ - they never called back and I was never selected.

they’ll have a lot more names than required to factor in redundancy etc. 

 summo 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

It's a box of chocolates, you won't know what you're going get. My uncle did it out of duty, after dodging it a few times, which I think you'll have no problem with. He couldn't discuss much with us and even after didn't, it was grim. Women(raped and battered) and her kids battered by partner, he denied, both adults weren't the most fortunate in society, kids went into care. Took 4 weeks and the guy rightly went down. I think it demoralised him totally on what hope there was for some individuals. They did vet the jury quite carefully knowing it was going to be a bit grim and potentially long. 

 DenzelLN 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

I got out of jury duty for a coroners court, I was keen but it landed in the first week of a masters degree so they let me off without much fuss.

I have since heard that they contact many people knowing that many will not be able to do it.

 Rob Exile Ward 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

Going back 20 years, but when I phoned up and said that I was self employed they let me off straightaway!

Ironically  I  said I wanted to go anyway, was just interested in a few details, and had a fascinating couple of weeks. 

 streapadair 29 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

I was called up twice when working (FAI and Sheriff Court) and was only too happy to oblige. After I took (with both hands) early retirement I was summoned again, just ignored it and never heard anything more.

OP Georgert 30 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

Thanks all. Will give writing a letter a go and see what comes of it. I do actually have work booked for the dates they've suggested, so here's hoping... 

 Timmd 30 Nov 2021
In reply to summo:

Having known people go through the same things I'm glad the guy went down.

 FreshSlate 30 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

> A jury duty letter dropped through my door this morning. The initial feeling of pride to serve my community was quickly overpowered with fear however, when I saw how little I can claim for loss of earnings... 

> I'm self-employed, and rely heavily on the ability to a) be available for my clients at short notice, and b) maintain repeat business through being reliably available.

> What if I'm caught in a 10+ day nightmare where I end up losing clients and have to somehow pay my mortgage from 60 quid a day??

> Does anyone have any experience with jury duty as a self-employed person / business owner? Genuinely a little worried at the impact it could have, and the .gov site is less than comforting... 

Apparently it goes up from 65 to 130 quid a day after day 10. Did not know this. 

From this thread it looks like you're more likely to be excused than not. I'd actually like to do it one day but fortunate enough that my employer would pay me to do it. 

OP Georgert 30 Nov 2021
In reply to FreshSlate:

Feels like a miss not to be able to nominate a stand-in. I'm sure there are countless people that'd jump at the opportunity (I know I would, were I in full-time employment).  

 FreshSlate 30 Nov 2021
In reply to Georgert:

> Feels like a miss not to be able to nominate a stand-in. I'm sure there are countless people that'd jump at the opportunity (I know I would, were I in full-time employment).  

Yeah, I would happily stand in for you if I could...

OP Georgert 03 Dec 2021
In reply to Georgert:

Just got an email to tell me I'm excused. Thanks for the help all! 

 Siward 04 Dec 2021
In reply to Georgert:

The point is that it is supposed to be a random ballot. Selecting particular individuals goes against that.

It's also the only civic duty left (as far as I can think) in our society which is why government has tightened up on the ease with which one can just say sorry, not interested. 

Post edited at 09:22

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