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Deferral of jury service

[Letter]

Further information on jury service deferrals and excusals

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Is there a right to full pay during jury service?

Who can be called?

An individual is qualified for jury service if they:

• are at least 18 years old but under 76 on the day their jury service starts
• are registered on a parliamentary or local government electoral roll; and
• have lived in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man for at least five consecutive years since the age of 13.

Random selection

Jurors are randomly selected electronically. That means someone may be called up for jury service several times whereas another person may never be selected at all. The normal expectation is that everyone who is summoned for jury service will serve at the time for which they are summoned.

However, it is also recognised that there will be occasions when this won’t be possible, either due to personal or work commitments.

Deferral and excusal

In these circumstances, the individual can apply to the Jury Central Summoning Bureau and ask for their jury service to be deferred to a later date or to be excused altogether assuming they meet the criteria (see The next step ). Applications for deferrals and excusals aren’t guaranteed, so it’s possible that one of your employees will be called up at some point.

According to research published in April 2022, two thirds of employees believe that they are entitled to receive full pay in the event that they are required to carry out jury service . However, this isn’t correct.

Pay position

Where an employee is required to carry out this public duty, you are only obliged to grant them unpaid leave.

Generally speaking, jury service lasts around ten working days - but it can be longer, particularly in complicated criminal trials - meaning that the employee could be significantly out of pocket.

Claim for expenses

Whilst they can’t use loss of earnings arguments to get out of jury service , the employee is entitled to apply for loss of earnings and other related expenses, e.g. for subsistence and travel.

The most they can claim for loss of earnings is £64.95 per day. This means that the average employee who carries out jury service would be £260 per week out of pocket and £520 out of pocket if they carry out ten days’ jury service.

Tip. Where an employee receives a jury summons, they must reply within seven days. Therefore, they should not sit on an application for deferral or excusal if they intend to make either one.

Tip. You can’t apply for a deferral or excusal, or do so on the employee’s behalf, but you may write a letter in support of their application. We’ve created a deferral of jury service letter that you can use (see The next step ).

For further information on jury service deferrals and excusals and a deferral of jury service letter, visit https://www.tips-and-advice.co.uk , Download Zone, year 23, issue 09.