Expenses for Jury Service

You are not paid for jury service, but you are allowed to claim expenses.  A maximum amount can be claimed and these rates are decided by Scottish Ministers. The maximum amounts which can be claimed are shown below. A juror cannot be paid more than these maximum amounts.

This guide explains what types of expenses are available, how much you can claim, and how you can submit your claim. Please read this guide carefully prior to attending court.  

What can I claim?

You may be able to claim six kinds of expenses:

Travel 

For the cost of transport to and from court;

Subsistence

For the extra cost of meals etc that you buy while attending court;

Loss of earnings or benefits

Childminding
For the extra cost of childminding and babysitting

Adult carer allowance

For the extra cost of caring for a dependant adult

Other expenses

You may be entitled to claim for any other unusual expenses, however this must be pre-approved by the clerk of court before attending court. Please discuss when attending the court or call the number on the citation to ask before incurring any costs not mentioned below.

What conditions apply and what are the maximum amounts that can be claimed?

Travel

This expense is for the cost of travelling from your home to court. Please note: you may not claim travelling expenses from any address other than your own unless you have permission from the court in advance.  The amount you can claim depends on whether you used public or private transport (please see the table below for details).

Public transport: You must include your tickets/receipt of purchase along with your claim form as evidence of your journey. Please note that if you are travelling by rail, you will only be able to claim a standard class fare.

Own transport: If you have travelled by motor car or motorcycle, you will normally only be able to claim the public transport rate of payment, unless the clerk of court accepts that you used your own transport because there was no alternative public transport. In this case the standard rate may be payable. The rates are given in the table below. Please note: parking costs will normally only be paid where public transport is unavailable or unsuitable for your personal needs.

Taxi: If you consider that you need to use a taxi, you must agree this with the clerk of court before you attend for jury service. The clerk of court will need to agree that no other kind of transport is available to you or that a journey using public transport would take an unreasonable time. If travel by taxi is approved, you must include a receipt showing the fare which you paid.

You are not eligible to claim parking for attending court.

Subsistence

This allowance is for the extra expense of meals and other out of pocket expense you pay while attending court (please see the table below).  You cannot claim this allowance if the court has provided, or offered to provide, your meals or refreshments. Must be pre-approved by the court.

Loss of Earnings

For the period you serve as a juror, you are entitled to claim if:

Your employer does not pay you; or

You suffer financial loss – for example, you are self-employed and suffer loss of earnings or have to pay someone to substitute for you while you are away, however we will not be able to pay you for both loss of earnings and for someone to substitute for you.

You can claim the actual amount you have lost on the basis of net earnings (after tax and National Insurance have been deducted).  If you are self-employed, HMRC rules mean that this will be based on your gross earnings and you will be responsible for declaring the money you get along with your business’s other income.  In both cases the amounts you can claim are subject to the following limits:

To claim loss of earnings, you should first ask your employer to fill in and stamp the Certificate of Loss of Earnings.  If your employer does not have an official stamp, another piece of evidence will be required before payment can be made (for example headed notepaper or an invoice).

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 to support your claim.

Loss of Benefit

You may be able to apply for loss of benefit if your benefit is withdrawn during your period of jury service.  You should contact your local benefits office to advise them of the requirement for you to attend for jury service.  If they tell you that they are going to withdraw your benefit during your period of jury service, you should ask the benefits office to complete a Certificate of Loss of Benefit  which should be submitted alongside your claim.  Without this certificate being completed and produced, payment cannot be made.

Childminding/dependant adult carer expenses

These expenses are for the extra expenses of employing a childminder or a carer for a dependant adult.  If you normally employ a childminder or carer, we will only pay the allowance, if court attendance means you have to employ them for long than usual.  Please make sure that you and your childminder/carer fill in the Childminding / Adult Carer Certificate and submit it with your claim.  The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service set the childminding/carer allowance.  If you are claiming for a registered carer for a dependant adult, or for a registered childminder, a maximum of £6 per hour can be claimed.  If your childminder/carer is not registered, we will only be able to pay £1 per hour per child/adult.  Without this certificate being completed and produced, payment cannot be made.

Other expenses

You may be entitled to claim for any other unusual expenses.  Please make sure that you attach evidence to verify them and discuss this with the court to get it pre-approved before attending.

Claiming expenses

Juror expenses have moved online. Our new digital payments service ensures prompt payment of expenses through our self service claim website found at https://deps.scotcourts.gov.uk/. Please ensure you read the above guidance fully before submitting your claim.

For help in completing the claim or if you have any questions please contact the central digital expenses team by email at expenses@scotcourts.gov.uk or by telephone on 0808 196 9138.

The Digital Expenses Payment System has been developed by SCTS to allow you as a Juror to claim for expenses online, either by using your mobile phone or a computer. The system enables your claim to be processed quickly and payments to be made directly into a bank account nominated by you.

How will I receive payment?
Your claim will be checked and verified within 5 working days of the claim being submitted and if the claim is accepted you will receive an email from NatWest Bank asking you to claim your payment. The payment is made into your bank account, normally within a few hours.

How do I Claim Expenses?
The below document ‘Guide to applying for expenses for jury service – Digital Expense Claim’ offers guidance on how to submit a successful claim. The link below which will take you to the Digital Expenses website to allow you to complete your claim.

Please note that if you are claiming any of the following expenses the additional certificates must also be included with your submission:

If you are claiming loss of earnings – Include “Certificate for Loss of Earnings” 

If you are claiming loss of benefit – Include “Certificate for Loss of Benefit” 

If you are claiming childminding expenses –Include Childminding / Adult Carer Certificate

If you are claiming adult carer expenses – Include Childminding / Adult Carer Certificate

Please also remember to upload any receipts/tickets for any other expenses you are claiming e.g. travel/other expenses.

If you fail to include any certificates or receipts this may delay your claim being processed and your claim may not be paid if they cannot be produced.

The certificates and receipts can be uploaded as the following file types:

PNG’s;

PDF’s; or

JPEG’s

If a file does not upload if may be due to the file type being incorrect or the file size being too large.

To apply for Digital Expenses click on the following link;

https://deps.scotcourts.gov.uk/

Guidance and forms are available to assist you in completing your claim and can be found below;

Guide to applying for expenses for jury service - Digital Expenses Claim