A baffled Brit has exposed what you can actually afford for lunch while doing jury service after revealing that the budget hasn’t changed in 15 years.
Ellie Davies was left shocked when she saw the tiny amount she had been given to get herself lunch after being selected for the service.
The 30-year-old was limited to spending just £5.71 on her food while spending the day in court.
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As a content creator, she decided to set herself a task of discovering the best lunches her money could buy during the trial and later shared her experiment online.
“Most days I couldn’t stretch to a side and a drink,” Ellie, from London, told What’s The Jam.
“I think the budget is pretty low.
“Especially given the area you’re in.
“Trying to find something cheap enough in central London is tough.”
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The jury service food and drink allowance in England and Wales was last amended in 2010, as confirmed on the Government website.
For people spending up to and including 10 hours at court, they have a £5.71 daily allowance, whilst over 10 hours at court is £12.17 per day.
Ellie spent six days on jury service in October.
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As the trial was based in central London, notorious for having higher prices, the challenge proved to be a tough task, with most places charging £10 minimum for a meal.
On her first day, she claimed she couldn’t even afford a portion of olives at a local spot – with the snack priced at £6.
Ellie said: “I had the limit of £5.71 per lunch, an expense amount that hasn’t changed in over 15 years.
“Over the six days, I managed to find lunch that fitted the budget.
“But I had to explore a lot to find things.
“I mostly found local family-run sandwich shops.
“I did also manage to get a small broth from Itsu one day, and an M&S lunch another day.”
Since completing her jury service, Ellie has shared her series ‘Jury Duty Lunches’ on social media.
Brits have gone wild for the instalments, whilst also sharing their own tales.
One person said: “By the end of the six-week trial I was doing, ended up taking my own lunch in and still able to claim the lunch allowance.”
Another person added: “I worked my way through a lot of the options in the Boots meal deal and the security guards used to rate my choices each day.”
Someone else said: “This should be part of a campaign to increase compensation for jury duty. It’s ridiculous that it doesn’t keep up with inflation on such long days.”
Another person said: “This was my favourite part of jury duty, getting lunch in the city.”
Someone else added: “Jury duty was the worst experience of my life I’m not going to lie.”
Jam Press has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.
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