The families of the 22 people killed in the Manchester Arena bombing are set to each receive £250,000 from money donated by the public.

Those bereaved have already been able to claim £70,000 from the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund, set up in the wake of the attack at the Ariana Grande concert on May 22.

The charity's trustees have now announced they will be eligible for a further £180,000, which they should receive in the coming weeks. 

The latest round of payments from the fund will mean more than half of the £18m raised will have been distributed, including £3.5m to those injured in the atrocity.

Trustees of the fund, which has provided access to free financial counselling for the bereaved families, will next decide how and when to distribute the rest of the money. This is in contrast to the families of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster. 

Only a portion of the £18.9million raised for survivors has been distributed so far, according to Charity Commission figures.  

Councillor Sue Murphy, chair of the trustees of the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund, said: 'The city and the world responded with such extreme kindness, generosity and solidarity in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena attack. 'Thanks to this we have raised more than £18m and we were conscious that we had to get some of swiftly this to those with immediate needs.

'We have therefore given a around third of the total to the bereaved families and £3.5m to those who were hospitalised after the attack.

'In total this means we have allocated over half of the existing money already. We will now spend some time looking at how we will distribute the rest of the funds.

'This will be a complex and sensitive process as we will need to assess the long-term impacts of the attack. We will issue an update as soon as we know more.'

Eleven people are still in hospital following the arena attack and the fund has yet to decide whether those injured should receive more money to cope with life-changing injuries.

Any payments from the We Love Manchester fund are separate from compensation from the government’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. 

Ms Murphy said the Department for Work and Pensions had assured her anyone in receipt of money from the Manchester fund would not have their benefits cut.