Figures hint that terror attacks and staff shortage puts pressure on police officers (Picture: Getty)

Police officers are owed the equivalent of nearly 700 years of rest days across the UK as a result of staff shortages and escalating violent crime, figures have revealed.

In total, 250,000 rest days are owed to 70,000 police officers in England and Wales, the Police Federation said.

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Calum Macleod, chairman of Police Federation, said cancelling the equivalent of a weekend off during a working week was having a worrying impact on mental and physical health, and the efficiency of the service.

Mr Macleod said: ‘Policing is in crisis. We do not have the resources at the moment to meet the demands of the public – whether that be in an event, a terrorist incident, or whether that be from a police officer’s perspective of actually achieving their rest days.’




More than 237,697 rest days were either cancelled, outstanding or waiting to be re-roasted per officers, according to over 30 forces with data.

Calum Macleod, chairman of the Police Federation in England and Wales, has said frontline officers are feeling the impact of stretched resources (Picture: PA)

However, the numbers are expected to be far higher as the largest forces – Metropolitan and West Midlands Police – didn’t provide comparable data.

Mr Macleod added: ‘It’s really important that anybody has rest between their shift patterns because if that isn’t happening what you tend to find is people getting fatigued very easily.

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‘If that isn’t happening and rest days are being banked, it’s a dangerous situation for the public, it’s a dangerous situation for policing and it needs to be addressed.’

He added that the government needs to take this situation seriously, calling it a model that ‘isn’t working’.

‘Officers put their lives on the line for the public day after day.

‘They need to listen, they need to listen quickly, because if they don’t we are on the brink of disaster.’

The numbers were linked to increased crime and terror attacks (Picture: Getty)

Rest days owed equals 685 years (Picture: Getty)

South Wales Police data showed there were 35,857 rest days cancelled – relating to 2,862 officers – since September, last year.

Figures for City of London showed 6,601 unclaimed rest days, around 10 days per officer.

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A typical full-time officer would expect to have around nine rest days in a standard month, although some forces said officers could be paid instead of receiving the time back.

The figures are linked to the dealing of unprecedented demand on resources, following a string of terror attacks in London and Manchester, and the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Mr Macleod continued: ‘We do not have the resource to engage with the public, all we’re doing is firefighting going from one call to the next call, dealing with one crisis after another.

‘That cannot continue. If we cannot engage with the public and gain intelligence from them, our policing model fails in this country.’

The data comes amid a row over police staffing levels after a key Home Office report into tackling violent crime this month failed to acknowledge officer numbers.

The number of police officers is at its lowest since 1985 (Picture: Getty)

The union representing rank-and-file officers described the situation as being ‘in crisis’, with the lowest number of police in a generation.

The figures compound Home Office data released last summer showed that there were 123,142 officers across all ranks in England and Wales at the end of March last year, which the report said was thought to be the lowest number since 1985.



Home Secretary Amber Rudd later told police leaders to focus on cutting crime instead of lobbying the Government for more money.

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However, the government’s 114-page blueprint to make Britain’s streets safe – published on Monday – contained no analysis of any impact from reductions in officer numbers.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Policing, by its nature, can be a very challenging and demanding job and it is the responsibility of chief officers – supported by the College of Policing – to ensure that good management systems are in place to support officers in their work.

‘Police forces have a statutory duty to manage the working time and welfare of officers and ensure they can take the leave and rest days to which they are entitled.’

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