DORSET Police is adhering to best practice policy when it comes to rearranging days off for officers.

Police forces across the UK were asked to provide the number of rest days owed to frontline officers on the last day the country’s terror alert level was recorded as ‘critical’ – September 17, 2017.

Frontline police officers in some forces are owed well over a week off in unclaimed rest days, new figures reveal, amid claims of staff shortages across England and Wales.

Dorset Police responded to a Freedom of Information request stating that, as of September 30 there were no rest days owed to the 1,368 full-time equivalent officers. The force said all frontline officers "are re-rostered rest days at the point of cancellation so there are no rest days outstanding nor waiting to be re-rostered".

According to best practice, police forces should re-rota rest days when they are cancelled.

Dorset Police’s data suggested they adhered to this policy completely, the only force to do so.

Calum McLeod, chairman of Police Federation in England and Wales, said cancelling rest days - the equivalent of a weekend off during a working week - was having a worrying impact on morale, mental and physical health, and the efficiency of the service.

Snapshot figures obtained by the Press Association under Freedom of Information laws show there were almost a quarter-of-a-million rest days owed to 70,000 police officers in England and Wales as of September 17 last year - the last time the country's terror alert was at "critical" following the Parsons Green terror attack, often resulting in holidays and time off being cancelled.