On ESA & PIP but called for jury service?!

Hi,

I'm in the Support Group for ESA and on the Enhanced Rate for both components of PIP but today I have received a "jury summons" saying "You have been selected for jury service". There is no way that I can do this, as I am far too ill. Was I sent this summons by mistake? What should I do? I'm panicking so I hope that someone can advise me please?

Many thanks

Thank you BIS!

Hi faith,

A few years back, I too was summoned for Jury service.
I was in ESA wrag during that time.

I wrote back to the sent letter from the jury service/sand in my document to them i simply wrote: I would like to be excused from all and any future jury services (summons) due to ill health, which is declining and will continue to worsen due to ..please see below health condition / illnesses/ disease's etc.

Phyical health: ( example your symptoms could be different) >> fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatics, neuropathic nerve pains, spinal degenerative disk disease cervical & lumbar + others.

Mental health: severe chronic depression + severe social anxiety.


Then again I simply explained in not too much details how my health conditions affect me on a daily basis. But I never went into too much detail to be honest, just highlights.

example:

1 - Due to severe spinal disk degeneration, i am unable to sit / stand for periods longer than 10 minutes due to the severe pain and discomfort i incur.

2 - Due to suffering with an over active bladder and having daily bouts of incontinence, means i can be incontinent at any time, of which is unpredictable. Hence i would be left sitting / standing in wet clothes/ or i'd need to clean up and get changed into fresh clothes etc.

3 - Fibromyalgia, and or , or both CFS (CHRONIC FATIGUE) due to these medical conditions i am in chronic severe pain, which affect all my muscles and my joints, which leaves me exhausted, and with loss of concentration.

4- Due to my severe chronic depression, and or social anxiety means that I rarely can leave my home, not unless i'm accompanied by a close friend or family member. Even then my depression and anxiety can cause me to be antisocial and i am often lacking concentration, hence my decision making is in decline (lacks) you get my drift by now.

Then i simply end the correspondence with ...... if i was to be forced maybe not use force but in fact you are, i would not be able to physical be able to attend, and i would not be able to make a sound decision as in regards to the case in court ie i could end up either contributing to getting someone locked up, or aquited.

How you write the above is down to yourself, but as you can see what i wrote means no jury services would want me sitting on one of the 12 chairs in crown court or whatever. I ended saying due my physical, and mental health i am therefore unreliable and i would make wrong decisions.


They responded back to me with a letter saying:

MrFibro,

you are not expected to be summoned for jury services.

And that was the end of it, I have not heard a peep from them again, and if I do, i'll simply just write back to them again stating my reasons why i cannot attend.

My reasons for declining jury service was based on a moral sense of duty, which is i am too ill to pass a correct judgement in a court of law in a criminal case, and this impedes me doing so due to severe chronic worsening deteriorating health conditions both physical and mental.

Apart from that dwp and assessors etc wont like it if you can sit in an hotel room for a week or more and in a crown court for hours everyday, whilst a murder case is going on. Even if you don't tell them, Dwp may cross reference various departments to see what you have been upto, ie traveling abroad, jury service who knows.

So to those reading this it's your choice.
ps the sooner you correspond back to them the better, you may want to sent in with your letter some other relative evidence to justify you not being competent to attend jury service. Such as doctors/ mental nurse, scans, medications etc.

I hope what I have written may be of some help to yourself & others Good luck.

Hi Faith,

I had this a few years ago. As BIS suggests, you just need to contact them and get a letter from your GP. I did that and there wasn't a problem.

Susie