CHARITY payouts to victims of London's July 7 bombings have reached £7m.

Anyone who has not yet contacted the London Bombing Relief Charitable Fund has until March 31.

After that date the fund cannot guarantee awards to new applicants.

But it will treat applications "with compassion where there are exceptional circumstances, and within the funds it has available", a spokesman said.

Donations to the fund have hit £9m and are aimed at helping people to rebuild their lives.

A bereaved spouse or partner is set to receive another £10,000 in the latest round of awards, making a total of £55,000 per person from the fund.

The next-of-kin of someone who died, but who had no spouse or partner, is in line for £5,000 more, bringing their total from the fund up to £40,000.

Previous grants were paid between July and November.

The charity's chairman of trustees, Gerald Oppenheim, said: "These grants represent the final slice of substantial help to the bereaved and seriously injured.

"We are writing to each of the victims who were most seriously affected enclosing their final payment from the fund.

"Our grants can never make up for what they have lost. But we know from the many letters of thanks we have received that the extra financial aid the fund has given to the victims has been a help to them in dealing with their immediate needs and in starting to rebuild their lives."

Victims also get Government compensation.

The casualties were all victims of the four suicide bombers from West Yorkshire.

The bombers were Jermaine Lindsay, from Rawthorpe, Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, of Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury; and Shehzad Tanweer and Hasib Hussain, both from Leeds.