Manchester and Salford riots 'cost force almost £9m'

Riots took place across Manchester city centre and Salford

The riots in Manchester and Salford cost Greater Manchester Police (GMP) an estimated £8.7m, it has emerged.

Thousands of police officers were deployed during the disturbances on 9 August and subsequent nights.

Overtime payments have cost the force £2.3m so far, a report to Greater Manchester Police Authority (GMPA)'s Value for Money Committee said.

The report added that GMPA would be submitting a bid to the Home Office to help cover some of the £8.7m.

It said that if the force had to meet the full costs, it would lead to an overspend of its budget.

GMP's annual £580m budget has been reduced this year by £50m with a further £85m savings to be made over the next two years.

The GMPA has previously warned that plans to improve policing would be scrapped unless the government helped pay riot compensation. It said that without extra grants the force's capability would be "eroded".

The Home Office said it had not yet received any financial requests from the authority.

Rioting and looting

The government has previously announced that Manchester will receive £1m from its High Street Support Scheme, to help the city recover from the riots.

However, the GMPA said the money from that scheme was separate to the authority having to compensate businesses where police failed to protect them from looters and criminal damage. It would go directly to traders and could not be used to the reduce the authority's liability, it said.

A total of 188 city centre businesses were damaged during the rioting and looting - more than 100 stores suffered criminal damage, four were subject to arson and 77 were burgled.

Some 200 people have appeared before magistrates charged with riot-related offences.