DORSET Police are the worst in the country for conducting Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks on time.

Statistics today reveal that the force has the worst figures in the UK for carrying out criminal record checks on time.

According to the DBS report, Dorset Police carried out 25 percent of required checks within the maximum 60 days in May, the worst figures out of 50 forces across a 10-month range.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: "The Dorset Police Disclosure and Barring unit (DBS) is currently experiencing a delay in processing applications. This has been caused in part by a turnover in staff and an increase in the volume of applications.

"Dorset Police understands the frustration created by this delay and apologises to anyone inconvenienced.

"We are fully committed to delivering the very best service possible in order to serve the community and protect vulnerable people and a number of steps have been put in place to address these issues.

"We are working closely with the Disclosure and Barring Service to improve the timeliness of our local processes. We have also deployed additional staff to the team and we are recruiting and training further staff.

"We anticipate that as a result of these changes we will start to see significant improvements in our timeliness in processing applications in the coming weeks."

The targets are for 85 per cent of checks to be completed in 14 days, 90 per cent in 18 days, 95 per cent in 25 days and 100 per cent of checks completed in 60 days.

Disclosure and Barring Service checks are required for anyone working or volunteering with children and vulnerable adults.

DBS replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

The consequences of these figures mean that Dorset residents will have experienced delays with waiting to start a job that requires a background check.

The Latest statistics from the DBS show Dorset Police failed to meet its 60 day target five times from July 2014 to May 2015.

Figures for April and May show Dorset met 33 per cent and 25 per cent of its target respectively.

These are the lowest percentages the statistics have recorded out of 50 forces across its 10-month range.

The figures show that the majority of forces completed all their targets.