The first million pounds of a £6m fund initiated by the Manchester Evening News is set to be distributed to the families of those killed and injured in the city’s terror attack.

The MEN has announced Trustees of a new charity set up to distribute money from the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund have agreed to release £1m immediately for a first round of payments, and police family liaison officers assigned to affected families are working with them to make applications.

The MEN had initially hoped to raise £250,000 for those affected by the attack, which killed 22 people at the Manchester Arena two weeks ago.

More than £6.2m has now been raised through the appeal, which has been led by Manchester Council in partnership with the British Red Cross.

Flowers and tributes left in St Ann’s Square, Manchester

The MEN’s ‘We Stand Together’ campaign has raised more than £2m of the growing total, with other regional newspapers supporting the fundraising effort.

Bereaved families will be given an initial payment of £20,000, those who have been in hospital for more than seven days will get £10,000 and those who were in hospital overnight receiving a payment of £3,500.

MEN editor Rob Irvine told HTFP: “The response of our readers and local businesses has been quite brilliant and money has been pouring in.

“Along with the other trustees of the new We Love Manchester Emergency Fund I was very keen to make sure we could get some financial support to the families affected by this tragedy as soon as possible.

“These are just initial payments and we really need people to keep the contributions coming in so we can continue to provide help.”

In the days following the attack, 30 journalists from across the MEN’s Trinity Mirror sister dailies volunteered for secondment to Manchester in order to relieve staff who had covered the tragedy and its aftermath.