POLICE in North Yorkshire hope that a radical new shift system which comes into operation on Monday will help to reduce sickness and make more officers available at peak times.

The switch to a five-band system from the existing four bands means that the force will comply with the European directive on working hours and follows the recommendations of a working party set up 12 months ago.

The change, which is being supported by North Yorkshire Police Federation following a referendum among members, will involve longer shifts for officers but they will have at least 11 hours between shifts and more rest days. Its effectiveness and popularity among officers will be evaluated after 18 months.

A revised shift system was signalled by chief constable Mr David Kenworthy in January, when he announced that £2m from the Home Office would help to pay for 100 new officers.

A police spokesman said: "We believe the new system will give us the flexibility to have more people working at peak times, which means better cover. We also hope that there will be less sickness among officers, because shifts will be more more healthy, and that morale will improve."

Mr Dave Stockport, county secretary of the Police Federation, who was a member of the working party, said: "There has been a good deal of dissatisfaction with the current shift system. Officers will be working nine or ten hours a shift but there will not be such quick changeovers between shifts and officers will be getting additional days off. It spreads the workload better.

"One of the criticisms of the force has been lack of training and specific days can be allocated for training purposes."