Scotland’s frontline leaders have claimed pay talks have broken down.

Officers is Scotland could go on radio silence during rest days if their pay dispute worsens, their leaders have warned.

And that would be in response to the silence they claim to have had from the staff side since officers rejected a flat £565 pay offer in February.

Fed leaders had already tabled a request for a 3.5% increase – now completely overtaken by the cost-of-living increases in inflation, interest rates and household bills.

Last month the Fed went public with their formal response to employers which rounded on employers adding “words cannot adequately convey the anger the Staff side has caused.”

The update said it was up to employers to improve their offer or go to arbitration.

Public responses from Police Scotland and the negotiating board claimed there was a dialogue under way aimed at resolving the dispute.

The Scottish government had claimed it could not step in as the two sides were still having discussions.

A spokesman said negotiations are “currently ongoing… through the Police Negotiation Board”.

And Police Scotland said it could not comment on the pay offer “while those discussions are ongoing”.

But frontline leaders reacted with fury.

Calum Steele, General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “There have been NO negotiations Negotiations are NOT ongoing There is NO dialogue You cannot negotiate by yourself Time for @scotgov to abandon the match they are currently clinging to like a life belt; stop the spin, and start to talk.”

Members have now started to raise the possibility of action – but stopping short of industrial action which they cannot take by law.

Among the suggestions is that officers stop answering work calls on rest days which is when they are called to cover other officers.

Mr Steele said the Police Scotland’s framing of the talks had fanned the flames making action more likely: “It reinforces a denial of the reality, and shows a disturbing lack of appreciation of the scale of police officer anger.”