Receiving and responding to a summons
If you are selected for jury service you will receive a Jury Summons Form containing all the details relating to the jury service, such as where and when the jury service starts and how to reply to the summons. The summons form must be returned to the Jury Central Summoning Bureau within 7 days of receipt and returned in the envelope provided, or there may be a fine of £1,000. Due to the short timescale for responding, you should seek further guidance from your Division as soon as possible to understand how the University can support you undertaking jury service.
The normal expectation is that a juror will serve at the time of being summoned. If you are asked to serve on a case that is likely to last more than 10 days, you may want to consider the potential impact on your programme and academic progress.
What happens if I can't do jury service?
There may be instances where serving on a jury would interfere with your studies and/or impact on assessment and examinations. In these cases, it may be possible for you to request a deferral by writing directly to the Jury Central Summoning Bureau and explaining the potential impact on your studies.
The Jury Central Summoning Bureau may be able to change the location of your jury service if you’ve been summoned to a court far from where you live - for example if you’re at university and you’ve been summoned to a court near your family home.
When requesting a deferral, you may be asked to provide a list of dates when you will be available in the 12 months after the jury service was supposed to start. You should consider your programme requirements and exclude dates when assessment will occur. Your Division will be able to provide information on this if you are unsure. Please note that deferral of jury service is not an automatic right and will only be accepted in exceptional circumstances. All jurors can request one deferral to a jury summons but when a second date is set, the juror must attend. It is unlikely that students will be excused entirely from jury service. For further information, please visit the Government website.
The University cannot request a deferral on a student’s behalf, but the University can provide you with a status letter confirming student status and registration, which may be used to support the deferral request.
If you are unable to defer your jury service, or it is deferred to a time where there is an impact on study, you should consider submitting mitigating circumstances (concessions). Divisions will be able to provide further guidance.
After you respond to the summons
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’ll need to bring your summons or confirmation letter, along with some identification, to court with you on your first day of jury service.
Who can I contact if I have questions?
You can seek further guidance from your Division to understand how the University can support you undertaking jury service.
If you need directions or have a question about your expenses claim, contact the court directly.
You can contact the Jury Central Summoning Bureau if you have questions about jury service or about a decision:
Jury Central Summoning Bureau
jurysummoning@justice.gov.uk
Telephone: 0300 456 1024
Monday to Thursday 9am to 5pm
Friday 9am to 3pm
Find out about call charges