childcare during jury service

[canela]

Has anyone had any experience of claiming childcare costs whilst doing jury service? It says you have to claim at the end of your period, but I wondered if there were any rules around using registered providers etc.

start of half-term not a great time to be called for this!

[slh2009]

I'm not sure if the Childcare provider had to be registered but I had to provide an invoice for extra days my son had to attend nursery so I guess maybe they do....

[canela]

Yes, I would imagine they do. It's just a bit difficult as mine are older so when we need school pick-ups etc we ask an old au pair friend who is not registered. So I need to find a childminder nearby who suddenly has two extra spaces just for two weeks!

slh2009, did they pay back the expenses quickly at the end?

[slh2009]

It's tricky.....yes I think it was paid back within a couple of weeks but can't remember exactly. You could try and defer your attendance on childcare basis maybe? It might mean you don't get called again though as think you would just go back into the "pot". There should be a contact no on the letter, maybe ring them and ask what proof of payment they need? Hope you get something sorted, I found it a fascinating experience....

[etta166]

You can use an unregistered caregiver, but I think the rate is different and lower. The amount that you will get reimbursed is much less than what it will actually cost you. The booklet that you get sent when you accept the summons has all the detials in it that you need.

I used a combination of a registered nanny and family/friends to provide childcare for me. Both were accepted and I reimbursed to some extent.

[canela]

thanks all. etta166, wierdly this info is no longer in the booklet! but I did call and they pay ?2.50 per hour for unregistered care, or the full amount for registered care.

[etta166]

That is odd! I definitely did not get the full amount for registered care, so I hope this is an improvement. There was a daily cap on the total claim when I did it in December last year, and so a full day of childcare wasn't covered. All in, including the loss of earnings and extra childcare, it cost me over ?100 to do jury service!

[canela]

No you are right - there is a daily cap! So for two children for a whole day you end up shelling out quite a lot!

I must admit am torn in how I feel. Jury service sounds fascinating but we are a one income family on a not very high salary, and this is going to have quite an impact on our budget.

[etta166]

I don't think I fully appreciated how much it would cost me to do it. I did strongly feel that I was my civic duty to say yes, but the timing was awful (the 2 weeks before christmas, I was busy at work already, we were going on holiday immediately afterwards...). I am glad that I did it, but it was not easy to accommodate. You can defer it or asked to be excused if you think it would be better to do it another time.

[canela]

thanks for all your comments.

i did ask for it to be deferred but was told I would be fined.

am open to an interesting experience, if a bit of a hassle