Jury Service: Eligibility, Pay and Getting Out of It

Your name was chosen randomly from the electoral register, and you will be part of a jury of 12 people deciding the outcome of a criminal trial. 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 without any gaps, after the age of 13
• ✓Yes: Be registered to vote

You cannot do jury service in England and Wales if you:

• ✗No: Are on bail
• ✗No: Have received a prison sentence, detention order, suspended sentence or community sentence in the last 10 years
• ✗No: Have ever got 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
• ✗No: Lack the mental capacity to serve on a jury, for example because you will be unable to understand or make a decision about a case

Scotland and Northern Ireland also list jobs that make you ineligible, covered in their sections below.

You must respond to your jury summons within 7 days of getting it, either by replying to the jury summons online or by completing and 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 will send you a letter to confirm details of your jury service, including when and where it will take place. If you asked to change the date or to be excused, the letter will explain if your request was accepted. You will need to bring your summons or confirmation letter to court on your first day.

Changing the date

You might be able to change the date of your jury service to another date within the next 12 months, but you will need a good reason, for example:

• you are having an operation
• you are sitting an exam
• your employer will not give you time off work
• you have a holiday booked
• you are a new parent
• you are currently living outside England or Wales

You can only ask to change the date once. To change the date, reply to your jury summons explaining your reasons in detail, and you can suggest 3 possible dates in the next 12 months that work for you.

Being excused

If it is not possible for you to do jury service in the next 12 months, you can ask to be excused, but you will only be allowed to do this in exceptional circumstances, for example:

• a serious illness or disability that prevents you from doing jury service
• being a full time carer of someone with an illness or disability
• being a new parent who will not be able to serve at any other time in the next 12 months
• currently living outside England or Wales

You can also ask to be excused if you have done jury service in the last 2 years. If you do not do jury service this time, you could still receive a summons in the future. To ask, reply to your jury summons explaining your reasons in detail; you might need to give proof, for example a letter from your doctor if you are ill. If your request is turned down, you can still ask to change the date of your jury service.

You can appeal if your request to change the date of your jury service or be excused is refused, by writing to the Jury Central Summoning Bureau. Include why you disagree with the decision, your juror number and the dates of your jury service, along with your name, address and date of birth and the name and address of the court.

You will not be paid for doing jury service, but you can claim some money back if your earnings are affected. For each day you are at court you can usually claim up to £64.95 to help cover your loss of earnings and the cost of any care or childcare outside of your usual arrangements, £5.71 for food and drink, and the cost of travel to and from court.

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

Employees can claim loss of earnings, childcare and other care costs, and so can the self-employed, while people who are not working can claim childcare and other care costs. If your employer has told you they are not going to pay you, they need to fill in a loss of earnings form. If you are self-employed, fill in a self-employed loss of earnings form and include evidence of lost earnings, such as your most recent tax return.

For food and drink, how much you can claim depends on how many hours you spend in court each day: up to £5.71 a day for up to and including 10 hours, and up to £12.17 a day for over 10 hours. You can only claim for the cost of travel inside England and Wales, and you cannot claim for accommodation.

Make your claim for expenses at the end of your jury service, and no more than 12 months after your jury service started. You will usually be paid 7 to 10 working days after submitting your claim form.

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 will have a serious effect on their business. Your employer can choose whether or not to pay you during your service; if they do not, you can claim for loss of earnings from the court.

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

Jury service usually lasts up to 10 working days. If the trial is likely to last longer than 10 days, jury staff will let you know. You will usually need to be at court from 10am to 5:30pm Monday to Friday, but times can vary.

On your first day, bring:

• your jury summons form or your jury service confirmation letter
• some identification, such as your passport, photo driving licence or Home Office documents showing your UK immigration status

There is no strict dress code and you can wear clothes you are 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 is for religious reasons.

You can bring your mobile phone, tablet or laptop into the court building and use it in the jury assembly area, but you cannot take them into the deliberation room. All courts have lockers or somewhere you can safely store your personal items, and there is free wifi in most courts.

If you have a disability or physical or mental health condition, courts can make reasonable adjustments to help you when serving on a jury, and you request the help you will need when you reply to your jury summons.

Jurors in Scotland are selected at random from the electoral register and can be cited for criminal trials in the sheriff court or the High Court, or for civil cases in the Court of Session or the All Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court. There are 15 people in a criminal jury trial and 12 in a civil jury trial. Names are selected electronically, so an individual may be selected on multiple occasions or not at all for a lengthy period.

You are qualified for jury service if you will be at least 18 years old on the date that you start, you are registered as a parliamentary or local government elector, and you have lived in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands or Isle of Man for any period of at least 5 years since you were 13 years old.

You respond to your citation online using the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service page, or by calling the court noted in your citation letter. Jurors are then selected through a ballot: after 17:00 on the evening before the date on your citation, you phone the number on your citation, and a recorded message tells you whether you are due to be included in a ballot the next day and should expect a phone call from the court, or whether you should call again at a later date. If you are selected for the jury, you will get another phone call to tell you this.

Disqualification

You are disqualified if you are on bail in or in connection with criminal proceedings in any part of the United Kingdom, or have at any time been sentenced to imprisonment for life or for a term of more than 48 months.

You are also disqualified if you were convicted of an offence and a probation order, community service order, drug treatment and testing order, restriction of liberty order or community payback order was made, and 12 months have not passed from the date of conviction (6 months if you were under 18) or any requirement of the order is still in force. You are ineligible if anything in list B of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service guidance applies to you, which includes advocates and solicitors, officers and staff of any court whose work is wholly or mainly concerned with the day-to-day administration of the court, constables of the Police Service of Scotland, and officers of prisons, detention centres and young offenders institutions.

Excusal

You may apply for excusal as of right if you are aged 71 or over or if the information in list C applies to you, and if you are 71 or over you can apply for excusal until the day you attend court. List C includes people who have served as a juror in the last 5 years. The court can also consider an application for excusal for other special reasons, such as commitments at work, previously booked holidays, study and exams or family commitments, but it is not always able to excuse everybody who applies. If you apply on the ground of ill health or disability, you must include a medical certificate along with your response.

Pay

You are not paid for jury service, but you are allowed to claim expenses up to maximum amounts. You can claim loss of earnings if your employer does not pay you or you suffer financial loss, for example because you are self-employed, based on the actual amount you have lost in net earnings. If you are self-employed, you will need to provide evidence of your earnings, such as an HMRC self-assessment tax return or certified accounts for the previous year.

For subsistence you can claim £5.71 if you are away from home or business for 10 hours or less and £12.17 for over 10 hours, but not if the court has provided or offered to provide your meals or refreshments. You must be allowed time off by your employer if you are called up to serve on a jury. Employers do not have to pay you while you are doing jury service, but many do.

In Northern Ireland you receive a jury notice rather than a summons. When you get a jury notice you must complete a Form of Return online or by post, and you must fill in, sign and return it to the Juries Officer within 14 days of getting the jury notice. If you do not return it within 14 days or give false information, you could be fined up to £1,000 by a magistrate's court. If you are selected for jury service you will receive a jury summons.

If you are over 18 years old, you can be called for jury service. There is no upper age limit to being called, but you can ask to be excused if you are over 70 years old, and there is no automatic exemption due to your age.

Disqualification

A criminal conviction does not automatically rule you out, but you are disqualified if you were convicted by a court in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man and sentenced to imprisonment for life or for a term of five years or more, were detained during Her Majesty's pleasure or during the pleasure of the Secretary of State or the Governor of Northern Ireland, or have an indeterminate custodial sentence. You are also disqualified if, within the last 10 years, you served any part of a sentence of imprisonment or detention, were detained in a Young Offenders' Centre, received a suspended sentence of imprisonment or an order for detention, or received a community service order or a community payback order with an unpaid work or other activity requirement.

If you are on bail you cannot serve on a Crown Court jury, but you can serve on a High Court or Coroner's Court jury. You are not eligible if you have or have had certain jobs in the administration of justice, including police officers and anyone with the powers and privileges of a constable, or if you have a mental disorder or do not understand English.

Employer's duty

Your employer must allow you time off from work for jury service, and if they do not they could be in contempt of court. You have the right not to be treated unfairly, for example not being considered for promotion, because of your jury service. Your employer does not have to pay you while you are on jury service. If you are sacked because you have been called for or completed jury service, you can claim unfair dismissal.

Pay

You can claim for financial loss, including loss of earnings, up to a maximum allowance:

You must send your claim within 14 days of doing jury service, and you can claim a meal allowance if you are away from your home or place of work for more than five hours.