Hillsborough inquests: Families' legal fees were £63.6m Published duration 2 November 2016

image caption The inquests, the longest in UK legal history, ran between March 2014 and April 2016

Legal costs for the families at the inquests into the deaths of the 96 Hillsborough victims totalled £63.6m.

They were paid by the Home Office, which also spent nearly £20m on lawyers for the former chief constable of South Yorkshire Police and eight ex-officers.

The inquests concluded in April that fans were unlawfully killed in the 1989 disaster.

The inquests, running between 31 March 2014 and 26 April 2016, were the longest in British legal history.

The £83.6m total includes costs of solicitors, experts, counsel, and disbursements between 31 December 2012 and 30 June 2016.

Lawyers for the families received the same rates as police counsel, the BBC understands.

image copyright other image caption 96 football fans died at the FA Cup match on 15 April 1989

The inquests into the deaths of 96 fans - after a crush during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest - followed a 27-year campaign by victims' families.

In April, it was reported South Yorkshire Police's legal bill for the inquests was £25.1m, with £20m of this paid by the Home Office.

Figures released by the police and crime commissioner showed the force had paid about £4.3m of the total legal bill.

Of the £63.6m cost for representing the victims' families, £34.3m went to the firm Birnberg Peirce while Broudie Jackson Canter received £19.8m.

The rest was spent on six other legal firms representing the families.

Analysis: Judith Moritz, BBC North of England correspondent

image copyright Reuters image caption Family members and supporters reacted with jubilation after the conclusion of the inquests

For nearly a quarter of a century the Hillsborough families fought for justice - but they were also forced to campaign for money, to fund the process of achieving it.

Many felt it put them at a disadvantage, when pitted against police officers and organisations with corporate or state backing.

Things changed in 2012 when the families felt they had learned the truth about the disaster after the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report.

But it opened up a new journey to justice which threatened to be long and costly.

The then Home Secretary Theresa May acknowledged their fears and promised a level playing field.

She committed the government to covering the families' costs under a new fund - the Hillsborough Families Legal Representation Scheme.

It meant they could be represented by top lawyers throughout the longest inquests in British legal history.

Survivors of the crush were not given funds for legal representation at the inquests.

Two criminal investigations are being conducted into the 1989 disaster and its aftermath - one into the fans' deaths, the other into police conduct - with future prosecutions possible.

The Home Office has said that its financial support for the victims' families will continue.

Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram, Labour's mayoral candidate for the Liverpool City Region, said: "The public purse could have been spared this cost and the Hillsborough families the heartache of a two-and-a-half decade delay in reaching the right verdict, if they had received sufficient legal funding for the first inquest in November 1990.

"If they could have afforded the best lawyers 26 years ago, the injustice wouldn't have happened.

"It shows yet again why, when bereaved families are up against public bodies at inquests, they need fair legal funding."