Jury Service: Eligibility, Pay and Getting Out of It

Your name is chosen at random from the electoral register. In England and Wales, to be eligible for jury service you must:

• ✓Yes: Be aged between 18 and 75 on the day you start jury service
• ✓Yes: Have lived in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man for at least 5 years since the age of 13, without any gaps
• ✓Yes: Be registered to vote

You'll be part of a jury of 12 people deciding the outcome of a criminal trial.

Having a criminal record doesn't automatically stop you serving on a jury, but you're disqualified from jury service in England and Wales if you:

• ✗No: Are currently on bail
• ✗No: Have received a prison sentence, detention order, suspended sentence or community sentence in the last 10 years
• ✗No: Have ever received a prison sentence or detention order of 5 years or more, including life or indeterminate sentences
• ✗No: Are currently sectioned under the Mental Health Act, or lack the mental capacity to understand or make a decision about a case

You must respond to your jury summons within 7 days of getting it, either online or by returning the form by post. You can be fined up to £1,000 if you do not return the form or turn up for your jury service.

After you respond, the Jury Central Summoning Bureau sends you a letter confirming the details of your jury service, including when and where it will take place.

Changing the date. You can ask to change the date of your jury service to another date within the next 12 months, but only once, and you need a good reason: for example, you're having an operation, sitting an exam, or your employer says your absence would seriously affect their business. Reply to your jury summons explaining your reasons in detail and suggest up to 3 possible dates.

Being excused. If it's not possible for you to do jury service at all in the next 12 months, you can ask to be excused, but only in exceptional circumstances, such as:

• ✓Yes: A serious illness or disability that prevents you doing jury service
• ✓Yes: Being a full-time carer for someone with an illness or disability
• ✓Yes: Being a new parent who won't be able to serve at any other time in the next 12 months
• ✓Yes: Currently living outside England or Wales

You can also ask to be excused if you've done jury service in the last 2 years. If you're excused this time, you could still be summoned again in future. To ask, reply to your summons explaining your reasons in detail; you might need to provide proof.

You will not be paid for doing jury service, but for each day you're at court you can claim towards your loss of earnings and the cost of any care or childcare outside your usual arrangements, plus £5.71 a day for food and drink and the cost of travel.

How much you can claim for loss of earnings and care costs depends on how long your jury service lasts and how many hours you spend at court each day:

• ✓Yes: First 10 days: up to £64.95 a day if you spend more than 4 hours at court, or £32.47 a day if you spend 4 hours or less
• ✓Yes: From day 11 onwards: up to £129.91 a day if you spend more than 4 hours at court, or £64.95 a day if you spend 4 hours or less

This applies whether you're employed, self-employed, or not working. If your employer doesn't pay you, you can claim your loss of earnings from the court; if you're self-employed, you claim for the income you've lost instead.

Give a copy of your jury summons to your employer. Your employer must let you have time off work, but can ask you to delay your jury service if your absence would have a serious effect on their business. Your employer can choose whether or not to pay you during your service; if they don't, you claim loss of earnings from the court instead.

If you're not allowed time off work for jury service, you can complain to an employment tribunal. If you're sacked because you do jury service, you may be able to claim unfair dismissal.

There's no strict dress code: you can wear clothes you're comfortable in, such as jeans and a t-shirt. You cannot wear very casual clothing such as beachwear, or anything on your head unless it's for religious reasons.

You can take a phone or laptop into the court building and use it in the jury assembly area, but not into the deliberation room. All courts have lockers or somewhere to safely store personal items, and most have free wifi.

Scotland runs its own system through the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. You're sent a citation, not a summons, and you're qualified for jury service if you'll be at least 18 years old on the day your jury service starts, you're registered as a parliamentary or local government elector, and you've lived in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man for at least 5 years since you were 13.

Instead of being told in advance whether you're needed, jurors are selected by a ballot: after 5pm the evening before the date on your citation, you phone the number on your citation for a recorded message telling you whether to expect a call the next day. There's no guarantee you won't be selected again soon after a previous jury: names are drawn electronically from the electoral register, so the same person can be cited on multiple occasions or not at all for a long period.

Age and excusal. Unlike England and Wales's hard cutoff at 75, there's no upper age limit for jury service in Scotland, but you can apply for excusal as of right once you're 71 or over.

Disqualification. You're disqualified if you're on bail in connection with criminal proceedings anywhere in the UK. You're permanently disqualified if you've been sentenced to imprisonment or detention for life or for more than 48 months. Shorter sentences disqualify you temporarily: the disqualification runs for the sentence length plus 2 years (for 3 to 12 months), plus 4 years (for over 12 months up to 30 months), or plus 6 years (for over 30 up to 48 months). People working in the administration of justice, such as police officers and prison staff, are ineligible.

Pay. You can claim loss of earnings if your employer doesn't pay you, or if you're self-employed and lose income. Up to and including day 5, you can claim £32.47 a day if you're at court 4 hours or less, or £64.95 for more than 4 hours; from day 6 up to day 100 it's a flat whole-day rate of £129.91, rising to £230 a day after that. Employers don't have to pay you while you're doing jury service, but many do.

In Northern Ireland you receive a jury notice rather than a summons, and must complete and return a Form of Return within 14 days. If you're over 18, you can be called for jury service, and there's no upper age limit, but you can ask to be excused once you're over 70.

Disqualification. A criminal conviction doesn't automatically rule you out, but you're permanently disqualified if you were sentenced to imprisonment for life, a term of 5 years or more, or an indeterminate custodial sentence. You're disqualified for 10 years if, in that time, you served any part of a prison or detention sentence, were held in a Young Offenders' Centre, or received a suspended sentence or a community order. People with certain jobs in the administration of justice, such as police officers, are ineligible. If you're on bail you cannot serve on a Crown Court jury, but you can serve on a High Court or Coroner's Court jury.

Employer's duty. Your employer must allow you time off for jury service; if they don't, they could be in contempt of court. You have the right not to be treated unfairly, for example being passed over for promotion, because of your jury service.

Pay. The rates match England and Wales: up to £32.47 a day for the first 10 days if you're at court 4 hours or less, £64.95 a day for the first 10 days over 4 hours, then £64.95 and £129.91 a day respectively from day 11 onwards.