The investigation into Madeleine McCann has been allocated further funding

The Met Police has been granted more funds to continue its 11-year-long search for Madeleine McCann.

The Home Office revealed today it had allocated further funds to Operation Grange - the Met's investigation into her disappearance.

The new fund is believed to be as large as £150,000.

A representative of the Home Office told MailOnline: 'The Government remains committed to the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

'We have briefed the Metropolitan Police Service that its application for Special Grant funding for Operation Grange will be granted.'

Detectives refused to discuss details of the 'important final line of inquiry' they are pursuing.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson said: 'We cannot give a running commentary on the investigation while it is ongoing.'

Kate and Gerry McCann are 'incredibly grateful' to the Home Office for approving Scotland Yard's latest cash request amid stringent Government cutbacks, family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said tonight

'They are very encouraged that the Met Police still believe there is work left to be done and they are incredibly grateful to the Home Office for providing an extra budget for the investigation,' he said.

'It gives them hope that one day they may finally find out what happened to their daughter.'

Scotland Yard has received an amount, thought to be around £150,000, towards the search for Madeleine McCann (pictured: left, aged three; and right, in 2007)

Last week it was revealed Madeleine's parents have set aside almost £750,000 to fund a private search if police stop looking for their missing daughter

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann applied for more funding for the search in February.

Government funding for the investigation has historically been agreed every six months, with £154,000 being granted from October last year.

That funding is due to run out in just five days.

More than £11million has been spent so far on the probe to find the missing girl, who vanished from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal in May 2007, aged three.

She would now be nearly 15.

More than £11 million has been spent so far on the probe to find the missing girl, who vanished from the family's holiday apartment (pictured) in Praia da Luz in Portugal in May 2007

A Home Office spokesperson added: 'The inquiry has not reached a conclusion and we're continuing with focus and determination. There are no immediate plans to reduce officer numbers further at this time.'

Operation Grange has been one of the longest, most high-profile and costly police investigations in history.

Launched in May 2011, officers have sifted (and translated) 40,000 documents produced by Portuguese police who conducted the initial investigation, and by the eight teams of private detectives who have worked on the case.

Some 600 'persons of interest' have been examined and 'sightings' of Madeleine — in Brazil, India, Morocco and Paraguay, on a German plane and in a New Zealand supermarket — assessed.

The Portuguese investigation of Madeleine's disappearance was criticised by the British authorities as being not fit for purpose.

Scotland Yard began an investigative review into the disappearance in 2011, on the orders of then-Prime Minister David Cameron.

It comes after the couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, pledged to ‘never give up’ on Madeleine in a message to supporters at Christmas.

They wrote on the Find Madeleine Facebook page: ‘We just wanted to pass on our love and thanks to everyone who has continued to support us throughout another year.

‘Friendship, solidarity and warm wishes go a long way in giving us the strength to get through and make the very best of it.’

Mrs McCann has previously said that Christmas is always ‘tinged with pain and longing’, saying: ‘Madeleine should be here and we should be celebrating with her.’

She has also said that she would simply like to know if her daughter is alive or dead because the not knowing is the worst part.