Avon & Somerset Police is the second worst force in the country for officers and staff failing to take days off, research has revealed.

Employees racked up almost 90,000 hours – equal to 10 years – of unused annual leave in 2018/19, according to data released under a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request.

Officers are risking burnout and major reforms are needed to ensure officers take their full holiday to remain at the "top of their game when protecting local communities", says shift planning software provider WhosOffice which gathered the statistics.

A police spokesman accepted it had been recognised as an issue and said measures had been taken to address it.

Forty-one forces were contacted for the information, and of the 23 who responded to the FOI, Avon & Somerset ranked second worst with 89,664 hours of unclaimed leave, behind only Humberside Police on a staggering 286,474 hours.

Lancashire Police had the third highest with 61,599 hours, well in excess of Staffordshire Police in fourth on 28,847 hours and City of London Police fifth with 23,104.

By contrast, both Cheshire and Northamptonshire forces had zero hours of unused holiday in 2018/19.

WhosOffice co-founder and director Reg Groombridge said: "Britain's police forces are incredibly hard-working, with many officers going beyond the call of duty.

"But failing to take time off can lead to problems with illness, stress and burnout.

"To avoid this, it's important that senior personnel keep a close eye on whether their teams are using their full holiday entitlement – particularly within constabularies with high amounts of unclaimed leave, like Avon & Somerset.

"Major reforms are needed around holiday to make sure police employees are at the top of their game when protecting local communities."

He urged forces to invest in shift planning and holiday management to help staff strike a healthy work/life balance.

An Avon & Somerset Police spokesman said: "The wellbeing of our police officers and staff is of paramount importance to us and we actively encourage them to take their holiday entitlement in full.

"Policing is an immensely rewarding profession, but also one that can be taxing and we believe it is vital staff and officers use their annual leave.

"The unpredictable nature of policing means there are some occasions where employees are unable to take their full holiday entitlement in a given financial year, for example leave can be cancelled for operational reasons or due to ill health.

"Therefore they are permitted to carry over a small number of hours into the next year if necessary, but we ask for that to be kept to a minimum.

"Although the overall figure of approximately 89,000 hours untaken leave is large, it is important to bear in mind the size of the force.

"With more than 5,800 police officers, PCSOs and staff employed by the force, that equates to less than two days of annual leave a year per person on average.

"But we have recognised this potential issue and have taken steps since 2018/19.

"We're proactively managing this through regular communication about the importance of taking annual leave and we're working with managers to highlight cases where individuals have only taken a small amount of their entitlement.

"For comparison, August saw a 24 per cent year-on-year increase in annual leave being taken."