A third of police officers carried out no front-line work in the last year and even those who did worked when it suited them and not when needed by the public, it was claimed today.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary will say in a report that double the number of staff were deployed to front-line work at 9am on a weekday rather than at midnight on a weekend.

The report, which is likely to prove highly controversial when it is released tomorrow, defines front-line policing as any work which the public can see the police doing in their communities.

It also includes work done by specialist units that has a “serious impact” on criminals.

Ministers are expected to argue that the report justifies their cuts and that it strengthens the argument for decisions on police deployment to be handed to elected commissioners.

And they will argue that officers on front-line duties are “choosing when to work based on their own preferences, rather than on the needs of the public”.

News of the report comes on the day that five West Midlands Police officers who were forced to retire after 30 years’ service were speaking out against the Government’s cuts.

The forced retirement plan has affected 189 officers who would have served for 30 years or more by Thursday. The move, approved in December, is part of the force’s plan to save £123 million over the coming years.

It has put an end to the practice of officers retiring for one day, collecting their lump sums and then immediately rejoining the force.

But it has sparked anger from some because it will end the careers of well-respected detectives with vast local knowledge.

Today West Midlands Police Federation was parading five officers, described as among the “best and most experienced in the West Midlands”, who are being forced to retire.

Erdington MP Jack Dromey said: “The Government has put chief constables in an impossible position and that results in the loss of some of the West Midlands Police’s best officers.

It’s clear that the forced retirements are taking police off our streets and out of crime detection and prevention.”