It’s been announced the families of the 22 people tragically killed in the Manchester Arena bomb attack will each receive £250,000 from donations made by the public.
One of the families includes two sisters, a 12-year-old and a 20-year-old, who lost both their parents in the attack.
Patrycia and Alex Klis will receive £500,000 between them after their mother and father died while waiting to pick them up from the Ariana Grande gig on 22 May.
57 people who spent seven or more nights in hospital have so far received £60,000 each from the We Love Manchester fund.
The fund is expected to reach somewhere between £16m and £17m.
According to Sue Murphy, chair of the fund and deputy leader of Manchester City council, 11 people are still in hospital with injuries.
The fund has yet to decide whether those injured should receive more money to cope with life-changing injuries, she said, reports The Guardian.
A further 96 people who spent between one night and seven days in hospital have so far been given £3,500 each, but some are likely to receive more if they were off work as a result.
Sue explained:
There are some grey areas, for example, people who were quickly discharged from hospital but have since had to return for further operations.
£250,000 will be given to the next of kin of each of the 22 victims.
Sue revealed:
They have already received the first £70,000 and should get the balance in the coming weeks.
According to The Guardian, the decision to give all the money to just one family member has caused unhappiness among some of the bereaved, though exceptions can be made for divorced parents who shared custody of a child who died.
Any payments from the We Love Manchester fund are separate to compensation from the government’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.
The final fund total will not be confirmed until all of the pledged money comes in, including £2m raised via text donations from the One Love concert, when Ariana Grande returned to Manchester.
Ariana returned to the city, less than two weeks after the fatal attack.
Sue revealed there are further frustrations surrounding costs:
We remain frustrated that the government has not yet agreed to fund the administration costs.
We believe that the members of the public who generously donated to the We Love Manchester appeal want to see their money to directly to the victims.
Sue stated the hardest job for the fund trustees is figuring out how to use funds to help people with mental, rather than physical problems:
The trickiest part of it is going to be mental health issues.
It’s difficult to predict. Some people might not know yet how they are going to be affected in the long term.
Sue also confirmed that Greater Manchester Police have said 300 witnesses to the bomb would each be offered trauma counselling.
A separate fund is reportedly going to be established to pay for a permanent memorial to the victims.
Suggestions reportedly include a statue of Ariana Grande – she was made Manchester’s first honorary citizen last month, and a garden planted with flowers particularly attractive to bees – Manchester’s civic symbol.
Our thoughts go out to all those affected by the events of 22 May.
