Jury service leaving people out of pocket
New study finds statutory payments not always enough.
If you get called up for jury service you could be left seriously out of pocket thanks to meagre Government allowances.
There is no legal obligation for companies to pay employees while they are on jury service. However, jurors are entitled to claim a loss of earnings allowance from the court.
This allowance is meagre though at a maximum of £32.47 a day for the first 10 days when serving for less than four hours and £64.95 a day if in court for longer than that.
Research by Churchill Home Insurance has found that one in 20 employers don’t pay any wages to employees when they are on jury service. While the majority pay something, a third of companies stop paying employees if they are on a jury for more than five days, while 11% stop paying after only one day.
The law sets out that a juror could have to sit on a case that lasts up to six months but only 12% of employers would pay someone for that length of leave for jury service.
“Completing jury service is a civic duty that many Britons take pride in, but our research reveals it often leaves them out of pocket,” says Martin Scott, head of Churchill Home Insurance. “For a juror sitting on a long trial, with an employer not paying their regular wages, surviving on statutory payments while meeting their regular financial commitments could be very difficult.”
Of course, if you're self-employed the potential loss could be far greater.
Getting money back
With approximately 178,000 people in England and Wales carrying out jury service each year the financial ramifications could be hefty. As well as daily expenses, you are also entitled to claim for travel, lunch and refreshments and other expenses such as additional childcare that are beyond your normal arrangements.
One way to claim a potential loss of earnings back is to see if your home insurance policy includes legal protection. If it does read the wording as some policies do cover your salary while on jury service.
“One freelance lawyer claimed over £5,000 from their policy for lost wages when they were called to serve on a jury for eight days,” Martin Scott added.
How to cut your home insurance costs
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Comments
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Whilst I would not wish to argue that many jurors are left out of pocket I would like to address some of the comments made of the way jurors are treated generally. I am retired after 36 years in the Court Service and have very many years of experience of dealing with jurors. The staff do everything within their power to lessen the many inconveniences of jury service but are similarly frustrated with the many aspects which are out of their control. In response to the comments about the judge who was late back/did not return from lunch I would wish to suggest that this was not actually the fault of the judge but rather the lawyers and their clients who do everything they can to "play the system". The judge was most likely sitting in his chambers fuming himself whilst the lawyers wasted time with negotiations which should have taken place long before the trial started. As evidence emerges during the trial instructions from clients often change and tactics have to change accordingly. Many clients only change their plea to guilty at the door of the court thus wasting the time of everyone involved in preparing for a trial which never takes place but allows the guilty party to either remain on bail or remand for as long as possible. Just prior to my retirement I was working on a new national initiative to resolve some of these problems and it saddens me to think that they do not appear to have worked. I have a huge amount of sympathy for the plight of jurors and am not trying to say that there have not been incidents where Court officials have not treated them as well as they might have done but please believe me when I say that an awful lot goes on behind the scenes which jurors are strictly forbidden from being privy to which annoy/frustrate the **** out of everyone else involved!
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Yes, there is RBGOS, and that is to employ professional jurors. A good solution for several reasons.
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Yes, there is RBGOS; and a good solution, for several good reasons would be to employ professional jurors.
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25 July 2015