Manchester Arena Inquiry: Timeline

Key dates in the inquiry's progress, assembled from its recorded milestones and hearing phases.

Hearing-phase dates are taken from the published hearing days; some earlier milestone dates are approximate where the inquiry has not published an exact date.

Milestones & hearing phases

Milestone Hearing phase Reports & costs Still to come
22 May 2017
Manchester Arena Attack
Terrorist attack at Manchester Arena killed 22 people.
22 Oct 2019
Inquiry Announced
Home Secretary announced a public inquiry.
22 Oct 2019
Chair Appointed
Sir John Saunders appointed as Chair.
22 Nov 2019 to 23 Jul 2020
Procedural / preliminary hearing
6 sitting days
7 Sep 2020 to 14 Mar 2022
Evidential hearings
143 sitting days
14 Sep 2020 to 23 Sep 2020
Commemorative & impact hearings
5 sitting days
17 Jun 2021
Volume 1 Published
Volume 1 report on security published.
3 Nov 2022
Volume 2 Published
Volume 2 report on emergency response published.
2 Mar 2023
Volume 3 Published
Final volume on radicalisation of the attacker published.
2 Mar 2023
Final report
8 Jun 2023
Government Response
Government published response accepting recommendations.
31 Aug 2023
Costs to date: £36.3m
Cumulative Total Oct 2019 - Aug 2023