Jury Service Out of Pocket

CKhalvashi

lisyloo said:

peanut99 said:

lisyloo said:

Why isn’t 34p per mile enough? What are you driving?

A car but that's not the point. It's extra journeys that I wouldn't usually make. I use my car to pootle around town  get to work and do the school run. A tank of fuel usually lasts a month. I've already filled it twice. 

Sure it’s extra journeys, but 34p per mile should cover those particular costs for the fuel for a car.

Not necessarily any extra maintenance and depreciation on that car though.

We have a Skoda Yeti, it uses about 20p of diesel per mile driven. Ours is quite an old car now so depreciation isn't really a problem, but if it were a petrol version of a similar car and a bit newer I could see OP being out of pocket on that overall.

Another option they may wish to consider is public transport which will generally be payable at cost.

OP, if you are likely to suffer financial hardship, speak to the court to see if some expenses can be paid to you I think every 2 weeks (it's been a long time since my jury service). If I remember also, after day 11 the amount that can be claimed daily doubles, to IIRC around £120 for over 4 hours in court plus £5-ish for lunch.

MorningcoffeeIV

peanut99 said:

theoretica said:

And similarly, why should different people on the jury be paid different amounts for doing the same thing, just because of what they normally earn? 

I believe that the loss of earnings you may claim doubles after 10 days.

Plenty of people in the country sat on benefits that refuse to work, make them do it instead. 

Yet the law states that anyone accused of a crime should have the right to be tried in front of their peers.

Why do you believe that all defendants are on benefits?

Some defendants might even be night workers.

Savvy_Sue

MorningcoffeeIV said:

peanut99 said:

lisyloo said:

Why isn’t 34p per mile enough? What are you driving?

A car but that's not the point. It's extra journeys that I wouldn't usually make.

That's why you're recieving extra money you wouldn't normally receive.

Except that they're not being paid by their employer. 

We would top the court payments up to normal wages, and people would be able to work at short notice and for half days. For the OP, that's not an option. 

MorningcoffeeIV

Savvy_Sue said:

MorningcoffeeIV said:

peanut99 said:

lisyloo said:

Why isn’t 34p per mile enough? What are you driving?

A car but that's not the point. It's extra journeys that I wouldn't usually make.

That's why you're recieving extra money you wouldn't normally receive.

Except that they're not being paid by their employer. 

No. They're being paid the mileage through the court.

It's nothing to do with their employer, as the travel is not business related.

The additional journeys are incurred by the jury service, hence the mileage payment..

saker75

I understand what you’re saying and I too suffered financially when I did jury service. However that’s a cost we need to factor in. It’s only right and proper that we’re ready to serve. My self employed rate was £500/day and had just come out of a fallow period. I agree that the courts should pay at a rate more equitable to earnings it would be hard for them to do so.

lisyloo

CKhalvashi said:

lisyloo said:

peanut99 said:

lisyloo said:

Why isn’t 34p per mile enough? What are you driving?

A car but that's not the point. It's extra journeys that I wouldn't usually make. I use my car to pootle around town  get to work and do the school run. A tank of fuel usually lasts a month. I've already filled it twice. 

Sure it’s extra journeys, but 34p per mile should cover those particular costs for the fuel for a car.

Not necessarily any extra maintenance and depreciation on that car though.

We have a Skoda Yeti, it uses about 20p of diesel per mile driven. Ours is quite an old car now so depreciation isn't really a problem, but if it were a petrol version of a similar car and a bit newer I could see OP being out of pocket on that overall.

Another option they may wish to consider is public transport which will generally be payable at cost.

OP, if you are likely to suffer financial hardship, speak to the court to see if some expenses can be paid to you I think every 2 weeks (it's been a long time since my jury service). If I remember also, after day 11 the amount that can be claimed daily doubles, to IIRC around £120 for over 4 hours in court plus £5-ish for lunch.

I agree with you that it won't cover all the capital costs of running a car such as depreciation. They may have to replace their brake pads one day earlier in 18 months time.
However the OP is talking about immediate financial hardship and 34p a mile should cover fuel costs unless they are going by private jet.

I do sympathise greatly with the overall position but I don't agree 34p won't cover immediate fuel costs.
The ideal answer is to have some emergency savings for known unknowns and unknown unknowns but we know a lot of people are not in a position to do this.

The OP is in a particularly bad position in having to knock a 12 hour shift on the head for a 4 hour stint.

Doesn't help to rant about things that aren't valid though (unless they have an explanation for spending more than 34p per mile).

MattMattMattUK

peanut99 said:
Plenty of people in the country sat on benefits that refuse to work, make them do it instead. 

I do not want those kinds of people anywhere near being jurors. 

peanut99 said:

You've clearly never done Jury Service and had to suffer the financial consequences as a result judging by your comment, which didn't even answer my question 🙄 

I have never had to do jury service, I have been a witness, 25p per mile, I think I got around a quarter of what I would have got if I was working, I had to sit around waiting for six working days as it kept getting delayed, it was a pain in the behind and I was not allowed to take my laptop so I could not even work whilst sat around waiting. Yes it was far from ideal, but it is what it is. 

born_again

peanut99 said:

theoretica said:

And similarly, why should different people on the jury be paid different amounts for doing the same thing, just because of what they normally earn? 

I believe that the loss of earnings you may claim doubles after 10 days.

The point is that I'm being forced to not work thus putting me in financial hardship. The court pay £30ish for up to 4hrs sitting and around £60 for sitting over 4hrs in a day. I would've worked 12hrs! Some days we've sat for less than 4hrs. That's a loss of upto £90 a day in wages on the days I should've worked. Times that by 4 shifts so far that I've lost and that's a loss of over £300 in earnings. You might not see that as a problem but I have a house to run and bills to pay! 
Jurors should get full pay regardless! We're not choosing not to work and that's my point. Plenty of people in the country sat on benefits that refuse to work, make them do it instead. 

You've clearly never done Jury Service and had to suffer the financial consequences as a result judging by your comment, which didn't even answer my question 🙄 

So daughter has just been called for jury service, got the nice claims limits.

1st 10 days  loss of earnings & care costs: More than 4 hours = £64.95 Less = £32.47
11 days or more: More than 4 hours = £129.91 Less = £64.95

Travel costs Bus cost of ticket (std return)
Car 31.4 per mile

Daughter is expected to work if not on case & sent home early.

So OP could have gone to work, when less than 4 hours. Thus would have got £32.47 + wages.

CKhalvashi

born_again said:

peanut99 said:

theoretica said:

And similarly, why should different people on the jury be paid different amounts for doing the same thing, just because of what they normally earn? 

I believe that the loss of earnings you may claim doubles after 10 days.

The point is that I'm being forced to not work thus putting me in financial hardship. The court pay £30ish for up to 4hrs sitting and around £60 for sitting over 4hrs in a day. I would've worked 12hrs! Some days we've sat for less than 4hrs. That's a loss of upto £90 a day in wages on the days I should've worked. Times that by 4 shifts so far that I've lost and that's a loss of over £300 in earnings. You might not see that as a problem but I have a house to run and bills to pay! 
Jurors should get full pay regardless! We're not choosing not to work and that's my point. Plenty of people in the country sat on benefits that refuse to work, make them do it instead. 

You've clearly never done Jury Service and had to suffer the financial consequences as a result judging by your comment, which didn't even answer my question 🙄 

So daughter has just been called for jury service, got the nice claims limits.

1st 10 days  loss of earnings & care costs: More than 4 hours = £64.95 Less = £32.47
11 days or more: More than 4 hours = £129.91 Less = £64.95

Travel costs Bus cost of ticket (std return)
Car 31.4 per mile

Daughter is expected to work if not on case & sent home early.

So OP could have gone to work, when less than 4 hours. Thus would have got £32.47 + wages.

That would be up to the employer though. For shift work and when rostering needs to be done in advance it's not always that easy.

I'm in a lucky position of being able to work fully remotely, many however aren't in that position.

MattMattMattUK

born_again said:

peanut99 said:

theoretica said:

And similarly, why should different people on the jury be paid different amounts for doing the same thing, just because of what they normally earn? 

I believe that the loss of earnings you may claim doubles after 10 days.

The point is that I'm being forced to not work thus putting me in financial hardship. The court pay £30ish for up to 4hrs sitting and around £60 for sitting over 4hrs in a day. I would've worked 12hrs! Some days we've sat for less than 4hrs. That's a loss of upto £90 a day in wages on the days I should've worked. Times that by 4 shifts so far that I've lost and that's a loss of over £300 in earnings. You might not see that as a problem but I have a house to run and bills to pay! 
Jurors should get full pay regardless! We're not choosing not to work and that's my point. Plenty of people in the country sat on benefits that refuse to work, make them do it instead. 

You've clearly never done Jury Service and had to suffer the financial consequences as a result judging by your comment, which didn't even answer my question 🙄 

So daughter has just been called for jury service, got the nice claims limits.

1st 10 days  loss of earnings & care costs: More than 4 hours = £64.95 Less = £32.47
11 days or more: More than 4 hours = £129.91 Less = £64.95

Travel costs Bus cost of ticket (std return)
Car 31.4 per mile

Daughter is expected to work if not on case & sent home early.

So OP could have gone to work, when less than 4 hours. Thus would have got £32.47 + wages.

In fairness that only works if it can fit in with the employer/shift patterns etc. and shifts rarely allow one to just rock up at a day/time of one's choosing, though it might work very well for those who were on flexible working.