Naturally, your anxiety level will be at its peak if you have been called for jury service. Several questions will pop up in your mind to make you restless. Since this is a legal activity, you should not take it lightly.
As a UK citizen, jury duty is, of course, not an unfamiliar thing to you. Now, it must be your turn as you are making efforts to understand the process. Besides, it might have happened in the life of someone who you know very well.
The name for jury service is chosen randomly. You cannot give up on the chances of you being summoned for it the next time. A lot of misconceptions also prevail concerning this topic.
Thus, getting misguided is easy as you do not know what to and what not to believe. For example, out of confusion, you might step back from making vital decisions. You tend to overlook options like guaranteed loans that can promise to suppress the ongoing financial unrest on the go.
All because you are too insecure to decide which decision is right or wrong in this situation. Calm down your nerves, as this blog can clear up your doubts.
What to know when you are called for jury duty?
The very thought of losing the job might scare you because attending jury duty is a must. You lack the proper information about it, i.e. a few months earlier or so. This makes it difficult for you to plan for the upcoming holiday.
What should you do in this situation? Educate yourself by going through some of the typical questions that be going on in your mind.
§ What actually is jury duty?
This is an essential process of the UK judicial system. In this regard, the first thing that bothers you is what will happen next. Then, you want to know if anything will happen if you refuse to attend it.
According to the Government, the normal people should treat this as another civic duty. The person’s selection will be summoned is done on a random basis. The electoral register will be used for this purpose.
The person who has been called for jury duty will receive the summon at their home address. The summon letter will comprise a form that should be filled out and sent within 7 days. If you are not able to send the form within the given duration, it can result in a fine of£ 1000.
A valid reason for not being able to return the completed form will only be accepted. Suppose you have been out of station for some reason; you must make sure to return it as soon as possible. Do not ignore this aspect even when the 7-day deadline is over.
§ How long this jury service will stretch?
This is going to be a legal process, and feeling nervous on your part is natural. One good thing is that the legal procedure will be conducted near your home address. A general period of 10 days will be provided for when you must appear.
The duration can stretch longer even. You will receive information about the extension of the duration. One of the staff will inform you about it. While the term is going on, you need to be on a jury following one or more trials.
This might happen if your trial rounds up within 10 days. On your first day, you should not arrive late as early arrival is expected. After that, for the upcoming trials, you might be asked to visit the court between 10 am and 5.50 pm.
From Monday to Friday, on any day, you might have to come for the jury date. The summon letter will have all the information about dates and times. You must go through it carefully.
§ Is there a possibility to refuse going for the summon?
You cannot deny attending such legal requirement. If you deny, you might have to face a penalty. It might happen that you face an emergency situation on the same day when jury duty has to happen.
Some health issues might also arise on this very day as such things are not on your hands. In this circumstances, the first thing should be to get in touch with the jury duty calculator tool officer. You can find the contact details that have been mentioned in the summon letter.
There are a few instances when you can send a plea for changing the date. These are:
- You have a pre-booked holiday
- You need to go under the knife
- There is an exam that you cannot miss
- You have become a new parent and cannot leave your child
- It is impossible for you to get an off from your employer
Changing the dates is not that easy or hard as well. You must disclose the exact reason why you need a change of date. It should be done while you respond to the summon letter.
Do not forget to provide three alternate dates when you will surely make it to the summon. The dates should fall within 12 months. Please note that you cannot request a change of date again and again.
This is just allowed for once. It will be allowed if you have prior experience of attending jury dates within the last two years. Besides, this exemption is possible if you have a chronic illness or disability and you cannot skip meals because of jury dates.
The other case when you can seek a change of date is when you are a caregiver to someone who is seriously ill. If you have been admitted to the hospital, attending the jury date session would be impossible. In this case, also, you can get a grant for a change of date.
The bottom line
If you are stressed out thinking about how you can repay 5000 pound loans without a job, this will not happen. Your employer will have no right to terminate you from your job.
However, they can decide if you should get the salary for that day, which coincides with the jury date. Despite this, you can get money for specific expenses by claiming compensation.
Williams Adams is the Senior Content Writer and Loan Advisor at Loansevents. He is passionate about finance writing and has written thousands of blogs for the top platforms worldwide. In more than 13 years of experience, he has worked with leading lending firms in the UK providing various loans. At Loansevents, Williams does the major task of writing researched-full blogs on multiple loans and financial concepts. He has done MBA in Finance in the UK to back his finance skills.
